Author Topic: "He who controls the past controls the future."  (Read 2492 times)

Ziggy_Monroe

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"He who controls the past controls the future."
« on: September 30, 2006, 09:46:54 PM »
After suffering through your Hearts and Minds reviews I could only be reminded of the above quote from George Orwell's 1984. Seems certain quaters of society have been so successful in selling the Forrest Gump/John Rambo revisionist history of the Vietnam era (with a nice slice of warm apple pie) to the point where a film actually made at the time and which presents a contrary view cannot be understood as anything but...just mocking America. It is also telling that you have been anticipating the moment when the documentaries you are watching become "Michael Moore like." How about questioning the perceptions of a generation who have never known a Rush Limbaugh-less media. A non-corporate owned media.

Our current President (who routinely refers to world leaders as evil) recently got called the devil at the United Nations and a whole generation of offended and outraged American Gumpbos don't get why the general assembly applauded and laughed at the description.

Yes, it will be easy to sell the next war. I can smell the pie baking. Umm, wholesome and good.

Golly, it's just wrong to mock America and the American way of life. It's like, un-American. And Michael Moore is a hate-America-first librrrul propagandist. I haven't done any research on that; I just know it has to be true because I feel so strongly about it and he got booed at the Oscars. I'm not gullible. A  guy I know told me he saw a thing on TV where some guy was saying there were all kinds of lies and inaccuracies  in Michael Moore films, but who has time to check facts and counter facts for their veracity. It's so much faster to just dismiss the un-American opinion and trust in the wisdom of the masses. I mean, we didn't see much of that Fahrenheit 9/11 footage on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC, or PBS so why should I believe it's real and not CGI! It's not like those media outlets and all of the others are owned by a handful of likeminded corporations with a similar world view or anything. Gosh, that's so conspiracy! Next you'll be telling me that Disney-owned ABC rewrote history in a recent pre-election TV movie to blame Bill Clinton for 9/11 just because Disney is the studio that tried to supress the release of...wait for it...Fahrenheit 9/11! What are you going to tell me next, that John Kerry was a war hero and George Bush was a deserter! That's like the exact opposite of what is true! That's...wait for it...Orwellian!

Here is some more wartime fun!

It is amazing that the absurd dialogue below was paraphrased by our beloved leader and swallowed whole by a populace too busy putting flags on their car antennas and responding to terror alerts to think or question anything...because...that would be un-American.

Excerpt from Full Metal Jacket

COLONEL
Whose side are you on, son?

JOKER
Our side, sir.

COLONEL
Don't you love your country?

JOKER
Yes, sir.

COLONEL
Then how about getting with the program?
Why don't you jump on the team and come
on in for the big win?

JOKER
Yes, sir!

COLONEL
Son, all I've ever asked of my marines is
that they obey my orders as they would the
word of God. We are here to help the
Vietnamese, because inside every gook there
is an American trying to get out. It's a
hardball world, son. We've gotta keep our
heads until this peace craze blows over.

JOKER
Aye-aye, sir.

***

Previously, inside the office of the Stars and Stripes:

LOCKHART (reading) "Marines on a search and destroy mission don't like to be interrupted while eating chow." Search and destroy. Uh, we have a new directive from M.A.F. on this. In the future, in place of "search and destroy," substitute the phrase "sweep and clear." Got it?

JOKER
Got it. Very catchy.

***

You may now return to fond memories of playing with your Star Wars toys.

winrit

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"He who controls the past controls the future."
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2006, 10:45:53 PM »
What is the answer then?  What should we do?  I vote.  I run a high school for kids that have dropped out of high school.  I help the kids understand that knowledge is not fact, that democracy is the best system we have right now until we come up with something different or better, that the only thing that will make a difference in this world is a group of people who believe in something.  I ask the kids and myself to question the world like you do, just don't take it as it comes.  Sometimes we feel overwhelmed, like the world is spinning apart, but we keep putting one foot in front of the other.  We keep trying to do what we can.  Maybe it isn't enough, but it is what we have to give, it's what I have to give.
"Kickboxing. Sport of the future."

MagnusFromBerlin

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"He who controls the past controls the future."
« Reply #2 on: October 01, 2006, 11:37:03 AM »
hello Ziggy_Monroe,
i assume you mean what you say above, so I'm going to give you my honest opinion, but let me first preface this by saying that I'm completely opposed to the US involvement in Vietnam and to the current government of the US and their foreign & domestic policies...
Now that being said I absolutely agree with Adam & Sam's review of "Hearts & Minds" plus I would also discredit the scenes that worked for Adam. Now I do understand what Micheal Moore does and to a certain degree I even support his efforts, but if you choose to battle the Rush Limbaugh's of this world with their own weapons, meaning with highly opinionated pieces & documentaries that won't stand the test of cold unbias analysis then you must be prepaired to take the same criticism for them, you reserve for Rush Limbaugh. I have heard a lot of interviews with Micheal Moore and he is very aware of this and more than willing to take criticism for it. He's extremely good in bringing issues to the fore-front, he however is very bad in initiating valid discussions. And if you really what to bring forward change, there are a lot of conservatives disappointed by the current government (who do think Micheal Moore is evil) and the best way would be to find the common ground and start change on common issues. But this is something that neither a Micheal Moore nor a Rush Limbaugh can or will help you with. As long as the american people stay on that level, of highly one-sided opinionated argumentation, there will not be any change, you will just tear each other down in meaningless battles...
I'm sorry if any of this is preachy or self-evident or you think I'm just one of those overly clever european who thinks their excrement does not smell... this is just my opinion, as clearly as i can state it.

Adam

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"He who controls the past controls the future."
« Reply #3 on: October 01, 2006, 02:55:28 PM »
Ziggy... you don't know anything about our politics -- certainly not based on our review of Hearts and Minds. We spent 14 minutes critiquing the form of the documentary and spent about 60 seconds talking about "America" -- and the way you interpreted Sam's comments isn't at all what he was trying to say.

We never even addressed the rightness or wrongness of fighting the war in Vietnam ... the latter of which may have been still a startling position in 1974 but by now is more or less accepted as fact.

Sorry we weren't clearer.
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