Independence Day was on last night. Yes, it’s a silly movie, but I like it! And as corny as the scene is, I still get a chill when “President Whitmore” gives his speech and this part of it seems a bit significant these days…
“…We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom… Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist…”
The radical Islamists would certainly like to annihilate us…
The funny thing is, Anna: Those crazy radical Islamists were probably aligned with us against the threat of alien invasion in the movie.
I admit, I liked the movie as well. That summer, a favorite FOX tv series was canceled: Space: Above and Beyond. I think Indpendence Day would have given the tv series a boost. It was a story about a squadron of Marine space aviators, with decent wartime drama. Like Independence Day, the earth was united against a common foe. The concepts of these shows is interesting, because I think they fulfill both conservative and liberal worldviews: a United Nations/United earth/Federation of Planets/globalist kind of utopian vision….and pro-military, patriotic pride in the human race and human condition.
Wish I could explain it better.
I, too, recognize the correlation, and the Islamic threat is more real and more deadly than anything that Hollywierd could ever dream up.
Well, yes, they were aligned with us in the movie. OK, the Middle East countries were, we don’t know what their religious/world views were! But, yes, Word, you’re probably right about it being something that we all want, but sadly will probably never have.
You’re right, Douglas. There was nothing subtle about the aliens…blow it up and kill everything while the fanatics are trying to sneak in and strike us from within.
“…to exist” I think part of the problem is the left can’t imagine us not existing…our way of life…their freedom to rage against the country that let’s them rage…with no consequences. Just makes me sad.
Hadn’t thought of that, M*A, but it certainly makes sense!
MAry*Ann has something there. The chattering masses simply can not take the imaginative leap required to postulate what if President Bush’s nefarious invasion of Iraq is thwarted and the Islamofascists are not satisfied to stay in their sand-box. They are betting people chanting for a global caliphate or the coming of the 12th Iman wont carry out the deeds needed to see their visions come about. Talk about delusional. When someone aims a .357 Magnum in your face and demans your money, you better take them seriously or you will most assuredly be leaking blood all over the place.
They hear the words Anna, but they still don’t believe. Those in London are seeing more and more as are the people in Minnesota here, but the majority will neither see nor understand until they are faced with said .357!
The funny thing is, Anna: Those crazy radical Islamists were probably aligned with us against the threat of alien invasion in the movie.
They were probably the first cannon fodder to be used. John Ringo wrote of that kind of scenario as well. And given the Arab’s ability to plan military operations… well let us just say that they will resist, but not for long.
That summer, a favorite FOX tv series was canceled: Space: Above and Beyond.
I remember that series. Downloaded the torrent batch for the 1 or 2 seasons.
Wish I could explain it better.
The theme usually that describes Earth vs aliens is usually that of Space Opera. Within the greater envelope of “science fiction” of course. But Space Opera is aspecific niche of SF.
David Weber and various other writers have written many great stories about a humanity that needs to unite against an external threat.
In light of what the two Annas said. I believe that individuals of the Left have invested too much into their delusions and self-deceptions to ever go back. Some people like Neo-Neocon and Bookworm were always open minded to a certain extent, in the beginning. They did not try to delude themselves, meaning they did not invest enormous time and resources into fortifying their position against any kind of change.
But people of the Left, many in fact, have done exactly that. It is like what you see in many stories and movies. When a person starts lying or refusing to tell the truth, doesn’t he keep putting off telling the truth later and later? And as more lies come up and more need to be told to cover things up, doesn’t it get harder and harder for someone to come out into the open because of what he knows he will recieve in terms of public approbation?
That is just the thing with narcissists and facing or telling the truth. How can they face the truth or tell the truth that they know in their heart of hearts? Far better to bury it, than come up with the courage to change their entire life’s work, their entire identity matrix from the ground up.
For one of David Weber’s beginning novels on Space Opera, you should read this freely available book. Apocalypse Troll. That kind of troll you might wonder? Probably not, although you might find some connections thereabouts.
http://www.webscription.net/pc-16-1-the-apocalypse-troll.aspx
I really liked it. A self-contained novel, with a rather dramatic beginning, very pro-military, complex politically and motivation wise, for both enemy and friend. I am not ashamed to say that reading David Weber and John Ringo’s military science fiction novels helped me integrate several instances of warfare that I had not yet at the time been able to comprehend fully.
After all, why would anyone be motivated into studying warfare? Isn’t warfare just the stronger guy bullying the weaker guy, with the stronger always winning? That preconception is rather shattered by the stories told by David Weber, even for someone not versed in traditional warfare background.
Oh ya. I liked the movie too. There were two concepts I picked up from simple observations of that kind of genre.
One, peace through superior firepower, achieved in war due to the bonding between men and women, the releasing of full human potential by pushing humanity to its limits. Prejudices, petty hatreds, all are extinguished by superior firepower in war. Thus true peace is achieved, not the peace of the grave, but the peace of the heart and mind.
Two, balance in all things and strength through unity. Alone, we are weak and unfullfilled. Working together, we combine our strengths, fill in each other’s weaknesses, watch each other’s backs, and basically do together what we never could have done alone. Balance in all things is the path for the individual, while community and unity is for the group.
The reason why I include individuality in what otherwise be a “communal” thing is because the strongest units are made out of strong individuals. You ever heard the phrase that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link? People should not join a group so as to become “average” and rely upon the charity and power of the group. No. If you are a strong individual to begin with, then your power adds to the group, which means personal strength and individual will matters.
The flaw with the Left’s view is that they think the system of government enforced unity (as the Brits thought) would solve human problems without the need for personal advancement or sacrifice. They were wrong. Britain was wrong. The Left was wrong. Period. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. An institution is onyl as good as the individuals in it.
Space Opera such as Independence Day only touches upon this in a rather shallow manner. But it is still enough for you to get a spiritual uplift, a sense of optimism and of pride. What I like about SO is that it combines peace through superior firepower in the process of war with individual advancement contributing to the power of the group.
The best SO is about individual challenges just as it is about challenges to the over-arching race, human or otherwise.
Winning a war of survival requires personal accomplishment and advancement. It requires purity of heart and courage of the soul. Yet it also requires individuals working together, for a greater purpose. The Left, I think, would not be able to cope with such a perspective. That is why you get the sense that it draws in both the individualism of the right and the grander purpose and structure of the Left. But it is anathema to the Left, if only because of this saying from Japan.
Death is lighter than a feather, while duty heavier than mountains.
I’ve repeated that many times on the net, because it was an important concept for me to finally understand.
Your duty is not primarily to yourself, but to the preservation of your entire family and thus an extension, your entire species because they then become your family. This requires individual accomplishment and power, yet it is not used for self-aggrandizement and personal status. It is used to protect civilians and those who cannot protect themselves.
For a person, of the Left or any other philosophy, that believes their own lives are the most important thing in the universe, that kind of perspective I have given here would be very hard for them to integrate or agree with.
Bear with me here for a few more moments, I’m almost done.
There was something said of the samurai or by the samurai that stuck with me. It is said that they had gone beyond fear for their own lives, they no longer took into consideration their own personal survival. It wasn’t about fear or courage, it was simply an acceptance of the fact that they were dead. That only by doing their duty may they live once again. This bred an almost inhuman reaction speed in combat. No hesitation. By prioritizing their duty over their own lives, they were able to act with inhuman speed and forethought. There are processes in the human mind when considering what to do, fight or flight, that concerns itself primarily with “how will this harm me, and how do I survive”. The samurai did not waste his time with such thoughts, all he thought about was “would this action hinder or help in the discharging of duty”.
Dying is easy people. Anyone can die. Not everyone can use his life and his death to secure the protection and prosperity of his loved ones, or those strangers that he protects due to duty.
What is duty though? Is it simply a chore? No, in a sense duty is simply loving something more than your own life.
It is not so easy to die when you are required to use your life to say… blow up an enemy cruiser in orbit around your planet. If you should fail, that cruiser will bombard your planet and nobody will be around to curse or praise anyone after that.
Dying is simple, discharging your duty and then dying, not so simple.
The concepts of these shows is interesting, because I think they fulfill both conservative and liberal worldviews: a United Nations/United earth/Federation of Planets/globalist kind of utopian vision….and pro-military, patriotic pride in the human race and human condition.
In a sense it surpasses the human condition. Touching the face of god, if only for a few instants. When individual human beings become something else, creatures of pure purpose, of good, and of immortality.
A story of how human beings reached above themselves, for something higher, and accomplished it together, as One.
Apocalypse Troll told that kind of story very well compared to say Independence Day’s portrayal of that guy who flew into the Annihilation Beam. I mean “Payback’s a B*tch*? What kind of quote is that…. (the directing was good though if I recall, if not the script)
Obviously Hollywood still doesn’t quite know how to do things in a Babylon 5 sense. Babylon 5 and the various movie spinoffs were excellent in portraying human courage and also human fallibility. But only because its creator was talented and resisted network interference.
I for one, will endeavor to be the best human I can possibly be, Ymarsakar. Strong and independent, yet giving and caring.