Christians for a Moral America ~gag~ is attacking Peter Jackson's Hobbit

[BullyforBronto]

Also I'm American and if I didn't have family here I would get out ASAP. I have a feeling of bad things for our country very soon, especially with NDAA passing and the possibility that PIPA and SOPA will pass. Though the last two affects everyone.

Which calls me to widen my question a little:

Any inside observers here who think the USA* is good, possibly even have a foam number one finger stashed away somewhere?

*Refers not only to the US government, but the standards of living, safety etc. etc. The whole package, in other words.

No foam finger, I'm no patriot. However, I think the standard of living in the U.S. looks pretty good when compared with many other places in the world. It does seem, though, like our comfort is largely the result of oppressing or depressing the populations of other countries. Take East Asian sweat shops as an example. 

I think the U.S. has fallen miles behind Europe and Canada when it comes to health care and education, which in due time will surely continue to decrease our standard of living.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Which calls me to widen my question a little:

Any inside observers here who think the USA* is good, possibly even have a foam number one finger stashed away somewhere?

*Refers not only to the US government, but the standards of living, safety etc. etc. The whole package, in other words.

I personally love the USA (though I am getting disgusted with its dysfunctional government).  Beautiful landscapes and seascapes, fun and unique cities, generally nice people, large area where generally everyone speaks English (or some form of it), good roads, high standard of living - what's not to like?  I like other countries, too, but this is my home, and I'm happy to live here.

I'm leaving for Costa Rica on Jan. 1 for a 9 day business/pleasure trip.  I'll give you a comparison of Costa Rica and the USA when I return.   

[Crow]

  Another Christian getting irate over a bit of media which was originally published 74 years ago and the new film isn't intended to be out for another year, and obviously hasn't seen the film making 'ASAkeith' look like a bigger idiot. They should stop putting so much emphasis on fiction.

What could be anti-christian about the film? There is nothing in the book that can associated with the religion, its about a hobbit who goes on a quest with some dwarfs and a wizard to get some gold, they get into some hijinks, acquires a ring, then a sword, gets involved in a war, gets the gold and goes home with some gold in his pocket. What is even relevant to Christianity?

[Guardian85]

We often take this movie BS into real world scenarios, Osama, Saddam etc were evil and the good American's were justified in war to fight Evil.

Any outside observers here who subscribe to the USA being "good"?

Not anymore, no...


And as for these idiots trying to ban the Hobbit; what are they smoking, and where can I get some?

[AnimatedDirt]

what are they smoking, and where can I get some?

Spice

[MadBomr101]

"This movie is clearly the work of, oh, I don't know...SATAN!!"

[Sandra Craft]

I wont read the website cayuse I have a bad habit of teeth grinding
anyway what I find extremely ironic is that tolkien was a christian himself, his stories are the classical good vs evil and he even used some christian references in his books

I did read the link, not that it told me much.  The author hasn't seen the movie (if you were thinking he might have gotten a special pre-screening) and was damning it just on general principles.  His main gripe was the assumption that an atheist director would remove the story's black/white, good/evil Xtian themes.  Perhaps he didn't see the Ring Trilogy either, because I remember those movies being fairly simplistic in the good and evil area.

Any inside observers here who think the USA* is good, possibly even have a foam number one finger stashed away somewhere?

*Refers not only to the US government, but the standards of living, safety etc. etc. The whole package, in other words.

I think I qualify as a "partly cloudy patriot", a term coined by Sarah Vowell and described by Douglas Cruickshank in his review of Vowell's book of the same name:  . . .  a patriot without having to fly the flag from your porch and the antenna of your car every day, if you could skip applauding crappy, gung-ho songs about how great America is, cheering saccharine, saber-rattling speeches about how great America is, and otherwise wallowing in all the lamebrained, jingoistic posturing that now seems required behavior for U.S citizens who wish to demonstrate a commitment to their country?

I could get more specific, but I'd just be repeating most of what B4B wrote.

[xSilverPhinx]

Big WTF moment there after reading that snippet

Almost as ridiculous as when the Pope told people not to read the Da Vinci Code books, looks like some people really aren't grown enough to know fiction when they read (or see) it.

[envilid]

If anything I believe movies that show good vs evil also teach morals to be the good guy and how evil always loses (not that its true), but it shows that evil is kind of a dick.

[Stevil]

If anything I believe movies that show good vs evil also teach morals to be the good guy and how evil always loses (not that its true), but it shows that evil is kind of a dick.

The problem with that is you assume your enemy is evil. You do not seek to understand their concerns, you do not look for common goals and for compromise. Good and Evil leads only to war, which is great for action movies.

[Sweetdeath]

If anything I believe movies that show good vs evil also teach morals to be the good guy and how evil always loses (not that its true), but it shows that evil is kind of a dick.

The problem with that is you assume your enemy is evil. You do not seek to understand their concerns, you do not look for common goals and for compromise. Good and Evil leads only to war, which is great for action movies.

[envilid]

If anything I believe movies that show good vs evil also teach morals to be the good guy and how evil always loses (not that its true), but it shows that evil is kind of a dick.

The problem with that is you assume your enemy is evil. You do not seek to understand their concerns, you do not look for common goals and for compromise. Good and Evil leads only to war, which is great for action movies.

Yes it may not convey the message of compromising with your enemy in these movies because they are in fact evil and that would probably make for a boring movie. I still think that it shows that you should be the good guy that doesn't harm the innocent. I myself wouldn't just assume my enemies are evil though I guess many people do.

[Stevil]

Yes it may not convey the message of compromising with your enemy in these movies because they are in fact evil and that would probably make for a boring movie. I still think that it shows that you should be the good guy that doesn't harm the innocent. I myself wouldn't just assume my enemies are evil though I guess many people do.

When George Bush declared war on Iraq he called them evil, Saddam also called America evil.

X-men have made for very entertaining movies. Which side was evil?

In my opinion there is no such thing as evil, no such thing as objective good or objective bad, no such thing as morality. The world is far too complex to polarise it with such nonsense.

[IcyBabe]

Big WTF moment there after reading that snippet

Almost as ridiculous as when the Pope told people not to read the Da Vinci Code books, looks like some people really aren't grown enough to know fiction when they read (or see) it.

Lol the one that cracked me up most with the Vatican was their claim recently that women taking birth control are making men sterile through toxic urine going into the environment.....all fear the toxic female pee!!

[Sweetdeath]

Argh, I didn't realize my message was evil! ... I mean eaten. XD.
Anyway, both sides do what they think is best. I don't believe in evil either, just horrible people doing shitty things.
How many blew up the church in Nigeria in the name of their gods? They thought they were doing good, but they were killing innocents in the name of "god". I don't see good in that.


Btw, I was always a Magneto fan.