Saturday, September 30, 2006

Oliver Stone Should Be Ashamed of Himself

Here is an article with quotes from film maker Oliver Stone.

I suppose that nowadays it is considered a sign of greatness (or at least a sign of intelligence) to speak against current political leaders, however, it is not easy to point out their real mistakes and correctly identify the grounds why those are mistakes.

I will go through some of Oliver's statements.

"From September 12 on, the incident (the attacks) was politicized and it has polarized the entire world," said Stone.
This beginning statement is the first sign of trouble. The attack was an attack for fanatics who hate America (among other things), and yet Mr. Stone easily skips over the fact that American soil was attacked, and thousands of American people had died. Apparently, it is more important to consider what feelings the event generated in the rest of the world. This view is astonishing.

"It is a shame because it is a waste of energy to see that the entire world five years later is still convulsed in the grip of 9/11."
Is this a call to forget and forgive the events of 9/11? Apparently, it is. Furthermore, there are more important things to do, according to Mr. Stone. One of questions here is "Shouldn't we (our government) do something to prevent this kind of event in future? Isn't this really important?" This is answered in his later statements.

"It's a waste of energy away from things that do matter which is poverty, death, disease, the planet itself and fixing things in our own homes rather than fighting wars with others."
This clearly ignores the fact that 9/11 did brought death, disease, and poverty to Americans. Thousands died, economy sanked, Manhattan had plenty of dust for several days, no doubt causing people medial complications. And this is all was caused by fanatics from Middle East. How can this be a waste of energy to defend against such attacks?

Maybe, it is because Mr. Stone does not see attacks as such a horrible action?

"Terrorism is a manageable action. It can be lived with," said Stone.
Hold on a second. What does this say? It says one can live with terrorism. Did people in twin towers live with it? No. Life cannot exist and prosper while there is a killer on a run. This situation can not be managed, until terrorism is removed.

"That's the evil that turns its mind and ears on humanity and is able to say 'I can kill a person in the name of God or religion.' This is not a human being, this a fanatic.
This gives Mr. Stone some credit, as he correctly identifies terrorism with evil, and connects it to religion. This is a good start, but he fails to state which religion is causing this trouble - Islam.

"And I fear that fanaticism is the result of our overreaction to 9/11," said Stone.
So much for a good start, Mr. Stone falls down after one step. Apparently, it is America's fault for producing fanatics in Middle East, according to Mr. Stone. America is attacked, and rightly fights back. What is the result, according to Mr. Stone? The product is that fanatics grow in numbers. Is this America's fault? Mr. Stone thinks so. How about the fanatical countries who brain wash their kids from the first grade in schools to teach them to hate America? Maybe fanatics who blew up people are products of those governments?

Apparently, Mr. Stone does not think so. It seems that what Mr. Stone's solution is keep the situation as it is, i.e. keep the current count of murderers, since if we fight the numbers will grow. Thus, the conclusion is to stop fighting, and just keep this situation "manageable."

This is surreal.

What Is This Blog About?

I will use this blog to post short ideas, views, and points about various things that I come across. I shall exercise Objectivist philosophy in all my posts. Keep in mind that I do not represent Objectivism or any of its organizations.