Movie critics everywhere will be stricken with fear…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 11:56 AM Permalink

… as I dare to use the movie "Conan the Barbarian" (and, yes, I dare) as an example of how our civilization is devolving to the Dark Ages and even further back to the Stone Ages.

I begin with the premise that most people are at least vaguely familiar with the story of Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), leader of an evil Snake Cult who destroyed Conan's village as a child, killed his parents, and enslaved Conan, condemning him to a life of slavery and forced servitude until sold 15 years later to another slave driver, trained in the art of combat, and who then became one of the most famous and vicious killers of men ever known.

After having become a champion in the ring, killing and smashing every opponent who faced him, the slave owner who was his master asked Conan: Conan, what is best in life? To which Conan replied:

To crush your enemy! To see him driven before you! And to hear the lamentations of his women!

And it struck me that would seem to have always been the goal of men who would make war.

Even our political conversations have sunk to, or below, that level: it is not enough to impugn your enemies motives during civil discourse, no, you must paint a picture of those who disagree as being socialist and fascist on par with tyrants and dictators of years past, the Caesars of old, the Hitlers of the new.

And the vitriol must not only be vicious, but mean and ugly-spirited, your opponent painted as one with whom it is impossible to engage in civil dialogue as the dialogue grows ever more dangerous, imputing motives to your political enemy that would be disgusting to pedophiles, rapists and child molesters for to do anything less just might leave a small gap in the walls of hatred which have been so carefully constructed over time and allow the election of your most hated enemies: your neighbors, your friends, people with time and valuable experience within government. And that would never do.

Only the bigoted, prejudiced, radical religious right, gun-toting, tea-bagging, jerk offs that fight for the right to allow everyone handguns all the time, those who would forbid a woman control of her own body, those who would rewrite history to change the Constitution to the flavor-of-the-day or ignore it entirely, those who would assert that we haven't lost the war on terror when it is clear that bin Laden can indeed send a single man to a mountaintop to waive the flag of Al-Qaede and our leaders will indeed spend billions and billions of dollars fighting a non-existant threat, only those who hunger for eternal war and consider, as Conan did, that what was best in life to be:

To crush your enemy! To see him driven before you! And to hear the lamentations of his women!

Well I, for one, have decided to forgo (as best I can) all the vitriolic ad hominem attacks against persons with whom I disagree and return to writing more of the things I care about most in life: the peace I so dearly want for our country, the end of senseless and fruitless wars, finding better ways to provide better care for our sick and infirm, working towards the goal of making America number 1 in longevity instead of dead last (No pun intended) among industrial nations.

I really want to work past this now-ingrained vileness I feel so reflexively against so many people and political parties and look for ways to once again make America great.

I want to answer that question, "What is most important in life?" thusly:

All you need is love as the Beatles sang is true, and I have truly been shown favor by fate for being so lucky as to have my Warrior Woman with me for thirty-six years and still being as madly in love with her today as the first day I met her. Within 10 minutes of meeting her I told her she would be mine forever and, well, here we are. So if anyone ever tells you there is no such thing as love at first site, feel sorrow for them, but always remember it is real, it does happen, and it's a beautiful thing when it does.

Then start teaching them about the most important things in life and help bring an end to hatred.

Ciao, bella âmi.

Labels: activism, anarchy, bigotry run amok, fear mongering, random thoughts, the inner spirit we should all enjoy.