A Fearful New World
On the way back to the office from downtown Chicago, I came across Albert Brooks being interviewed on NPR about his new movie--that he wrote, stars in, and if I remember correctly, directs.
The premise of the movie is that a little-known American actor/comedian is asked by the United States Government to go to India/Pakistan for a month and produce a report about what makes people there laugh. The President comes up with this idea as a way to better understand "the Muslim world."
The bits I heard played on the radio didn't strike me as very funny, but that's not the point of this post.
The point is, Albert Brooks was explaining how he came up with the idea for the movie, and he began by explaining how he was sitting at home, not long after 9/11, and he was thinking about what a fearful new world we now live in, and how nobody was laughing anymore, and how the President was telling us this fearful way of life, this "war on terror," was going to last indefinitely.
And Brooks was serious: he accepted that this is a fearful new world. Or, at least, that's how I understood him.
Listening to that reminded me of how, the night before last, I saw L. Paul Bremer on The Daily Show. A comment that he made particularly struck me: namely, that he has been working on the fight against terror for about 25 years.
So, let's review.
Those in the know--and those who have a general grasp of history, politics and the world about them--know this "fight against terror" has been ongoing for quite some time. In fact, depending on how you care to define it, I would suggest, througout history.
But now, since 9/11, it's a brand-spankin' new world, the likes of which has never been seen before!
Hogwash.
I thought so then, and I think so, now.
And frankly, I think it takes a fair amount of hubris to think that we, at this time and place, are somehow so much more special and different than other peoples throughout history.
It is no secret, of course, how Bush, et al., have used this tactic to scare Americans into letting them do whatever they want--at the expense of the interest of most Americans.
But still, it was discouraging to hear someone like Albert Brooks talking seriously about how he believed it.
...nope, certainly nothing like Nazi Germany, there...can't believe anyone would dare suggest it...
The premise of the movie is that a little-known American actor/comedian is asked by the United States Government to go to India/Pakistan for a month and produce a report about what makes people there laugh. The President comes up with this idea as a way to better understand "the Muslim world."
The bits I heard played on the radio didn't strike me as very funny, but that's not the point of this post.
The point is, Albert Brooks was explaining how he came up with the idea for the movie, and he began by explaining how he was sitting at home, not long after 9/11, and he was thinking about what a fearful new world we now live in, and how nobody was laughing anymore, and how the President was telling us this fearful way of life, this "war on terror," was going to last indefinitely.
And Brooks was serious: he accepted that this is a fearful new world. Or, at least, that's how I understood him.
Listening to that reminded me of how, the night before last, I saw L. Paul Bremer on The Daily Show. A comment that he made particularly struck me: namely, that he has been working on the fight against terror for about 25 years.
So, let's review.
Those in the know--and those who have a general grasp of history, politics and the world about them--know this "fight against terror" has been ongoing for quite some time. In fact, depending on how you care to define it, I would suggest, througout history.
But now, since 9/11, it's a brand-spankin' new world, the likes of which has never been seen before!
Hogwash.
I thought so then, and I think so, now.
And frankly, I think it takes a fair amount of hubris to think that we, at this time and place, are somehow so much more special and different than other peoples throughout history.
It is no secret, of course, how Bush, et al., have used this tactic to scare Americans into letting them do whatever they want--at the expense of the interest of most Americans.
But still, it was discouraging to hear someone like Albert Brooks talking seriously about how he believed it.
...nope, certainly nothing like Nazi Germany, there...can't believe anyone would dare suggest it...
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