A Reminder About The Place Of Politics In Our Lives
[guest post by Dana]
I just read this review of the released-today movie, The Outpost, based on the book by Jake Tapper and directed by Rod Lurie, which tells the story of “Operation Enduring Freedom,” and how American troops battled for survival when US Army Combat Outpost Keating came under attack by the Taliban. This jumped out at me:
The movie works great as a testament to the fortitude and sacrifice of our American troops, and is a good reminder that political affiliation means absolutely nothing when it comes to our soldiers putting their lives on the line for the greater good.
Eloquently said, and yet easily lost when our lives aren’t on the line. As a nation, we lob our own missiles of anger and insult to those with whom we disagree, even as it edges out the things of eternal value. Everything is politics is the code too many live by. There is a place for vigorous debate and and rigorous discussion, certainly, but at the end of the day if you need a helping hand, I want to be more than willing to lend it because loving my neighbor really knows no political persuasion.
YMMV.
–Dana
I worry about the invasive power of politics in the American conversation/life these days, because I think more than ever, qualities like charity, grace, kindness, and love for family are becoming lost in the noise.
Dana (25e0dc) — 7/3/2020 @ 2:31 pmIt’s a good day for this reminder.
John B Boddie (f44786) — 7/3/2020 @ 2:49 pmDana (25e0dc) — 7/3/2020 @ 2:31 pm
I feel like someone smarter has said something better, but making the world smaller and more connected actually increases this problem. This is a Dunbar’s number issue but it’s more than that. There’s empirical evidence going back to the late ’60s and early ’70s that high-rise apartments and offices have adverse effects on mental and social health.
We have developed a lot of habits that directly cause the negative effects you’re referencing.
frosty (f27e97) — 7/3/2020 @ 2:50 pma valiant mission, like operation red wings (lone survivor) but what has been the point of this long expedition in the northwest frontier, like khe sanh in microcosm, wars are fought over territory that is then abandoned,
narciso (7404b5) — 7/3/2020 @ 3:09 pm1. Agree. Sane people switch it off in conducting their daily lives. It’s refreshing. Try it for a week and discover just how insanely bizzare the millionaire opinionators on Fox sound peddling poison. They’re laughing all the way to the bank.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/3/2020 @ 3:09 pmYour post reminded of the closing of Lincoln’s first inaugural address:
Lincoln’s appeal to “the better angels of our nature” to reverse the division of our country fell on deaf ears, and the result was unimaginable suffering and loss. We are still paying the price, a century and a half later.
We must do better.
Dave (1bb933) — 7/3/2020 @ 3:18 pmAnother Presidential quote:
Americans believe the United States was a shining city on a hill — but not anymore
In President Ronald Reagan’s farewell address to the nation in 1989, he called America a shining city on a hill. President Reagan ended eight years in office by describing America as “a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.”
A new Yahoo News/YouGov Poll conducted just before Independence Day reveals that while about half of Americans (52%) believe America was a shining city on a hill when Reagan gave his final speech as president, most Americans (62%) say the country is no longer a beacon and a model for the rest of the nations of the world.
Rip Murdock (cbe514) — 7/3/2020 @ 4:18 pm…….
“most Americans (62%) say the country is no longer a beacon and a model for the rest of the nations of the world.”
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That must be why nobody wants in.
If you get around enough it’s obvious that America is still there where it’s basic tenets are still believed.
The really curious thing is so many believing it would be a good thing to bring it all down.
Play stupid games
harkin (5af287) — 7/3/2020 @ 4:24 pmWin stupid prizes
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1. Pessimism is a near-universal side effect of media overconsumption. If you look for charity and kindness, you will find it in the most unexpected of places.
Gryph (08c844) — 7/3/2020 @ 6:03 pm8. If by “beacon and model for the rest of the nations of the world,” you mean “We give them free sh!t,” then I guess I can understand why they want in.
Gryph (08c844) — 7/3/2020 @ 6:04 pmAs a humble immigrant i dont get that attitude
https://rsbnetwork.com/2020/07/live-president-trump-speaks-at-mount-rushmore-all-day-coverage-and-fireworks-7-3-20/
Narciso (7404b5) — 7/3/2020 @ 6:39 pm11. Let me put it to you this way, Narc: Unlimited immigration + welfare state (which we are wayy beyond already) = collapse. We can do one or the other, but not both.
Gryph (08c844) — 7/3/2020 @ 6:52 pm@7. ‘In President Ronald Reagan’s farewell address to the nation in 1989, he called America a shining city on a hill.’
He called his waxen wife, ‘Mommie,’ too. Image over substance; the Reaganoptics of Reaganonics:
Trump Tower; 1983.
‘All that glisters is not gold.’- William Shakespeare, ‘The Merchant of Venice’ [the word “glisters,” is a 17th-century synonym for “glitters.”]
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/3/2020 @ 7:37 pm@6.
Lincoln was nothing more than a used car salesman.
The better angels of our nature, LOL.
Matador (0284e8) — 7/3/2020 @ 9:26 pmHe said it all, in the right tone, the right cadence, to whatever audience he wanted to convince.
And 650k (1 million if you choose to believe revised estimates) died. Millions more suffered the fallout from an unnecessary war, and the central government transferred to itself powers nowhere granted to it by that now worthless piece chickenscratch scrawled out by a bunch of racist goobers.
Matador (0284e8) — 7/3/2020 @ 9:34 pmYes politics is invasive and metastasizing. We’ve forgotten how to talk to each other and find common purpose. The GOP will likely lose big in November….the national mood has soured on Trump TV….and they want to turn the channel. Biden is horrible….but in a familiar way. He will be a placeholder….with average people around him….with an agenda going no where. So, 2024….how will the GOP position itself? Is Nicki Haley a shoe-in? I was thinking so until I just read a piece that was quoting GOP strategists pushing…..wait for it…..Tucker F-ing Carlson.
First I thought I mistakenly pulled up the Onion, but sure enough, some operatives think that the lesson of the last four years is to cut out the middle man…..and go right for a news agitator — finally and definitively killing off the idea of political experience, careful analysis, and leadership….and settling for a purveyor of agitprop. It’s no longer the State House that we look for our leaders…..it’s the FNC 6pm slot!
Who knows what sort of legs this has….hopefully short rubbery ones….but it underscores that until we grow up and get far more serious….we are tempting the fates and making the greatest nation on earth….look absurd…..Happy 4th….I guess
AJ_Liberty (0f85ca) — 7/3/2020 @ 9:44 pmTucker Carlson 2024? The GOP is buzzing
Rip Murdock (cbe514) — 7/3/2020 @ 9:54 pmHes the succesor to rush, for a hardier time, but ill pass along your heartfelt concerns
Loved you in airplane 2 (i know it was buck)
Narciso (7404b5) — 7/3/2020 @ 9:58 pmAnd 650k (1 million if you choose to believe revised estimates) died. Millions more suffered the fallout from an unnecessary war,…….
Rip Murdock (cbe514) — 7/3/2020 @ 9:59 pmSince the South started the Civil War by seceding from the Union and taking the first shot, Lincoln didn’t start the war but was going to end it.
They left, as was their right. Leaving was not a power prohibited to the States by the Constitution.
OJbraham Lincoln could not let go of she who wanted to leave, so he killed.
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln4/1:573?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
He wanted war. It was necessary to secure to the central government power not delegated to it by the States.
Matador (0284e8) — 7/3/2020 @ 10:13 pmHope it was not named after that crook charlie keating.
asset (3ff8a7) — 7/4/2020 @ 12:53 amThat does sound like a good movie, Dana. But since theaters are closed across the nation, and there really aren’t very many drive-ins left, most new releases are going directly to pay-per-view or one of the streaming channels. Perhaps it will be available on Amazon or Netflix soon, if it’s not already. I’ll look for The Outpost over the weekend. Thanks for the heads up.
Anyway, to your larger point that politics is tearing us apart, you’re right. We’ve lost something—our national identity, our moral status, out stature in the world. Practically every other Western country has been able to contain the novel coronavirus, limit infections, lessen hospitalizations, and lower deaths. But the Unites States of America can’t?
It’s a national humiliation we may never recover from.
https://hotair.com/archives/allahpundit/2020/07/03/south-dakota-gov-trumps-mt-rushmore-event-wont-social-distancing/
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 7/4/2020 @ 2:29 amI rewatched peter berg’s lone survivor, he has a deft touch with these things, when he showed us the real face of the enemy in the kingdom, circa 2007, as with khe sanh, we gave up the ground we fought so hard over,
narciso (7404b5) — 7/4/2020 @ 6:27 ami didn’t know he had directed killing reagan, before this,
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-07-02/outpost-rod-lurie-scott-eastwood-orlando-bloom-review
yes it’s still called the dog trainer for a reason,
there has rarely been a film about late state vietnam conflict, tigerland maybe, but it doesn’t reference cambodia nor laos,
narciso (7404b5) — 7/4/2020 @ 6:43 amAnother reminder:
Happy Fourth Of July everyone!
harkin (5af287) — 7/4/2020 @ 7:22 am_
7… helluva post there, Rip Taylor!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/4/2020 @ 7:34 amToday we celebrate our Independence. God bless America.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/4/2020 @ 7:40 amSpeaking of injurious politics, Mary Trump, her publisher (Simon & Schuster) and their lawyers are arguing that her uncle Robert (Donald’s brother) cannot prevent here from publishing her tell-all, because the NDA she signed, after a contentious dispute over inheritance, was fraudulent and is therefore unenforceable.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mary-trump-says-family-cant-gag-her-because-settlement-was-a-fraud?ref=home
Yeah, no doubt. The book hasn’t even been released, but it’s already No. 1 on Amazon. It will be published, and it’s likely to be inflammatory.
But who would have imagined it was inspired by The Sound and the Fury?
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-mary-trump-found-herself-in-the-hot-mess-of-a-faulkner-novel?ref=scroll
Faulkner is one of my favorite American authors. I’d rank him above Emerson (Self-Reliance), Thoreau (Walden), Whitman (Leaves of Grass), Twain (Huckleberry Finn), Crane (The Red Badge of Courage), Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), Mitchell (Gone With the Wind), great writers and works all; I’d certainly rank him above Hemmingway. If you really want to understand the South, read Faulkner.
It’s been a long while since I read The Sound and the Fury, but I’m definitely going to reread it. The parallels between the Compsons and the Trumps are eerie. Perhaps that’s what motivated Mary to write her book. She is a highly educated woman, with multiple degrees and a PhD in psychology, and she has a story to tell.
I doubt I’ll buy her book though. I’ll just re-read Faulkner.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 7/4/2020 @ 7:42 amI like Faulkner’s short stories. The man had amazing insights into human nature.
nk (1d9030) — 7/4/2020 @ 8:00 am“ If by “beacon and model for the rest of the nations of the world,” you mean “We give them free sh!t,” then I guess I can understand why they want in.”
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We do certainly have policies which encourage free-loaders a reason to enter.
That being said, I think there are much more coming here who just want a better life.
The Dems are doing everything to encourage the former and suppress the latter.
harkin (5af287) — 7/4/2020 @ 8:07 am_
Maybe Hemingway did also, but I could never stand the smarm. “Your sh!t does too stink, Ernie.”
nk (1d9030) — 7/4/2020 @ 8:07 am“ I like Faulkner’s short stories.”
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Just watched Intruder In The Dust a few weeks ago. It’s probably my favorite film about mid-20th century Deep South racism. A story about a man who refuses to accept ‘n*****r‘ as his identity instead of ‘human being’ being charged with the murder of a white man is both compelling and entertaining, especially how it indicates that each successive generation will cast off more of their racist past.
Hopefully it won’t be canceled and removed from the TCM playlist, which is where I recorded it.
harkin (5af287) — 7/4/2020 @ 8:24 am_