I knew it wasn't really a movie when I read Speilberg's name. You know, Steven Speilberg, of Star Wars and Saving Private Ryan fame, the same guy that called the time spent with Fidel "the most illuminating eights hours of my life."
I recently read a book that told the story of a family that endured Mao's China and I was stunned at the revelation of the sheer immensity of the evil perpetrated there. But it never even occurred to me to wonder why I have never seen this story on the silver screen. You would think the holocaust was the only genocide of the 20th century.
About Star Wars. Not about the issue, which matters a lot. Lest we forget that the real danger of totalitarianism's return is, in part, based on not remembering what happened, and how it could happen again. Because it's not about Nazis, it's about totalitarianism, cult of personality, blind following, and...
The issue does matter a lot. I'm one of the more historically aware kids at my high school - I'm not bragging or trying to make myself sound better. I mean, they make fun of me in the advanced history classes for how much I know. But I'm reading Journey into the Whirlwind, the story of a Communist who went through the gulags for eighteen years. I had to stop, at least every page, and ask my parents about something that was in the book. I had absolutely no knowledge of anything that went on in the USSR, despite having spent five weeks studying it in school two years ago. If educated, interested kids know nothing about this sort of thing, then I don't want to know how uninformed most people are on it. The spin on a movie like this doesn't matter, as long as it's not actively pro-Soviet, I mean. The important thing is that the topic is being brought up.
Don't apologise for being knowledgeable and don't think you're putting on airs if you display that knowledge.
However, please also be advised that in-depth knowledge of history wont get ya anywhere with the opposite sex (while knowing about the Treaty of Westphalia has come in handy, it didn't help this high school loser with dating).
As the article linked by Dean shows, its not what communist propaganda has gotten in, but what truth about communism that has been excluded which has made all the difference. The fact that communists got a pass and the Nazi's didn't means that everyone knows they shouldn't be Nazi's, but hardly anyone knows that they shouldn't be communists. What this leads to is the ability of latter-day communists to come to America's young with a plausible story about communism being a good thing, with the end result being twentysomethings who are the prime beneficiaries of rule-of-law globalism participating in violent, anti-globalist riots.
Keep at your studies, remember that being a true skeptic requires that you be skeptical of everything, including skepticism and for the sheer pleasure of reading it, I highly recommend the Fall of the House of Hapsburg.
One thing not mentioned in this Reason on-line story is the role of the American Communist Party in recruiting members, not for screenwriting, but in working for the United States government. “The Venona Secrets” by Herb Romerstein documents this is great detail throughout.
The main role of the ACU was the recruitment of agents to work inside the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. The total number of Soviet agents working for Roosevelt and Truman was documented a remarkable 329! This list included the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry Dexter White and Roosevelt’s closest personal advisor Harry Hooper.
If it were not for some thoughtful Senate Democrats, Harry Truman may never have been President in April 1945. Vice President Henry Wallace would have succeeded Roosevelt instead. What importance is this you might say? Henry Wallace ran for President in 1948…on the Communist Party ticket! It gets worse. George McGovern has still never apologized for working on Wallace’s 1948 Presidential campaign. Yes, the man who ran for President against arch anti-communist Richard Nixon was himself a man with strong communist sympathies.
Herbert Romerstein has a few choice tidbits about the 1930’s-1940’s California scene, too. Robert Oppenheimer, the nuclear physicist was a California communist party member. Romerstein documents FBI tape recordings proving this.
Melvyn Douglas and Helen Gahagan Douglas were both card carrying communist party members as well. In fact, Helen Gahagan Douglas “The Pink Lady” had to burn her commie card and join the Democrat Party instead so that she could run for congress, which she won. “The Pink Lady” also lost to arch anti-communist Richard Nixon in her 1950 bid for the United States Senate. Thank God for Richard Milhaus Nixon. BTW, does anybody know whether either Melvyn or Helen Douglas were related to Kirk Douglas and Mike Douglas? Might HUAC, the Hollywood blacklist, and Nixon’s 1950 Senate victory explain Kirk Douglas's hate for Republicans?
I knew it wasn't really a movie when I read Speilberg's name. You know, Steven Speilberg, of Star Wars and Saving Private Ryan fame, the same guy that called the time spent with Fidel "the most illuminating eights hours of my life."
Another Hollywood hypocrite.
Wow. Thanks for the link.
I recently read a book that told the story of a family that endured Mao's China and I was stunned at the revelation of the sheer immensity of the evil perpetrated there. But it never even occurred to me to wonder why I have never seen this story on the silver screen. You would think the holocaust was the only genocide of the 20th century.
That completely snowed me. Completely.
Oh come on you guys. You need to get out more.
And Val...Speilberg didn't do Star Wars. It was George Lucas.
Wasnt Star Wars a collaboration between Lucas and Speilberg? I could have sworn it was.
No, Ara's right.
About Star Wars. Not about the issue, which matters a lot. Lest we forget that the real danger of totalitarianism's return is, in part, based on not remembering what happened, and how it could happen again. Because it's not about Nazis, it's about totalitarianism, cult of personality, blind following, and...
Well, you finish the list.
The issue does matter a lot. I'm one of the more historically aware kids at my high school - I'm not bragging or trying to make myself sound better. I mean, they make fun of me in the advanced history classes for how much I know. But I'm reading Journey into the Whirlwind, the story of a Communist who went through the gulags for eighteen years. I had to stop, at least every page, and ask my parents about something that was in the book. I had absolutely no knowledge of anything that went on in the USSR, despite having spent five weeks studying it in school two years ago. If educated, interested kids know nothing about this sort of thing, then I don't want to know how uninformed most people are on it. The spin on a movie like this doesn't matter, as long as it's not actively pro-Soviet, I mean. The important thing is that the topic is being brought up.
Caddie,
A bit of advice from a former geek:
Don't apologise for being knowledgeable and don't think you're putting on airs if you display that knowledge.
However, please also be advised that in-depth knowledge of history wont get ya anywhere with the opposite sex (while knowing about the Treaty of Westphalia has come in handy, it didn't help this high school loser with dating).
As the article linked by Dean shows, its not what communist propaganda has gotten in, but what truth about communism that has been excluded which has made all the difference. The fact that communists got a pass and the Nazi's didn't means that everyone knows they shouldn't be Nazi's, but hardly anyone knows that they shouldn't be communists. What this leads to is the ability of latter-day communists to come to America's young with a plausible story about communism being a good thing, with the end result being twentysomethings who are the prime beneficiaries of rule-of-law globalism participating in violent, anti-globalist riots.
Keep at your studies, remember that being a true skeptic requires that you be skeptical of everything, including skepticism and for the sheer pleasure of reading it, I highly recommend the Fall of the House of Hapsburg.
One thing not mentioned in this Reason on-line story is the role of the American Communist Party in recruiting members, not for screenwriting, but in working for the United States government. “The Venona Secrets” by Herb Romerstein documents this is great detail throughout.
The main role of the ACU was the recruitment of agents to work inside the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. The total number of Soviet agents working for Roosevelt and Truman was documented a remarkable 329! This list included the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry Dexter White and Roosevelt’s closest personal advisor Harry Hooper.
If it were not for some thoughtful Senate Democrats, Harry Truman may never have been President in April 1945. Vice President Henry Wallace would have succeeded Roosevelt instead. What importance is this you might say? Henry Wallace ran for President in 1948…on the Communist Party ticket! It gets worse. George McGovern has still never apologized for working on Wallace’s 1948 Presidential campaign. Yes, the man who ran for President against arch anti-communist Richard Nixon was himself a man with strong communist sympathies.
Herbert Romerstein has a few choice tidbits about the 1930’s-1940’s California scene, too. Robert Oppenheimer, the nuclear physicist was a California communist party member. Romerstein documents FBI tape recordings proving this.
Melvyn Douglas and Helen Gahagan Douglas were both card carrying communist party members as well. In fact, Helen Gahagan Douglas “The Pink Lady” had to burn her commie card and join the Democrat Party instead so that she could run for congress, which she won. “The Pink Lady” also lost to arch anti-communist Richard Nixon in her 1950 bid for the United States Senate. Thank God for Richard Milhaus Nixon. BTW, does anybody know whether either Melvyn or Helen Douglas were related to Kirk Douglas and Mike Douglas? Might HUAC, the Hollywood blacklist, and Nixon’s 1950 Senate victory explain Kirk Douglas's hate for Republicans?