Naiveté
Yesterday I had thoughts on unity. A storm was approaching as I drove home. The rolling clouds reminded me of how the alien ships arrived in the movie "Independence Day." So, when I got home and theagentx, lamenting the fact that there was "nothing on TV" suggested we watch a movie, I asked for Independence Day. Since my plans for grilled lamb on the BBQ had to be scrapped because of the torrential rain, we ordered pizza and put in the movie. It's the first movie we've watched on VHS in a long time and we discovered the batteries in our VHS remote are dead.
I like Independence Day. It's a Sci-Fi adventure and it has corny moments - although some of the things that made me cock my eyebrow (metaphorically, of course, since I've never mastered the actual physical skill) when I first saw it, I've discovered are actually internally consistent to the "world" of the film upon re-viewing. On the other hand, some of the American glorification "reads" even worse now. The writers displayed a remarkable naiveté at times.
Of course, they are not alone in this particular flaw. I was listening to John Lennon's "Imagine" on the radio a couple weeks ago and reflecting on how naive those lyrics are. They are definitely a product of the times. Which is not to say that Lennon was wrong to be idealistic; just that the "solution" he proposed is unworkable.
There are nice sentiments in this song: "A brotherhood of man/Imagine all the people/Sharing all the world..." But to get there, he proposes only negatives: No countries, no religion, no possessions. True, these are all things people fight over, but it's also a basic truism that "Nature abhors a vacuum." I think any parent can tell you that if kids are fighting over toys and you take the toys away, if you haven't given the kids something constructive to do they will just find something else to fight over. In a way, it's a akin to what Matthew records Jesus saying (12:43ff): "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first."
So when the president (played by Bill Pulmann) gets up and make his speech in Independence Day about the common cause the world faces, I think he's really more on target in terms of a means to achieve unity - with a positive not a string of negatives.
Of course, in the real world - barring extra-terrestrial invasion - a common cause is a far more difficult thing to define and achieve.
I like Independence Day. It's a Sci-Fi adventure and it has corny moments - although some of the things that made me cock my eyebrow (metaphorically, of course, since I've never mastered the actual physical skill) when I first saw it, I've discovered are actually internally consistent to the "world" of the film upon re-viewing. On the other hand, some of the American glorification "reads" even worse now. The writers displayed a remarkable naiveté at times.
Of course, they are not alone in this particular flaw. I was listening to John Lennon's "Imagine" on the radio a couple weeks ago and reflecting on how naive those lyrics are. They are definitely a product of the times. Which is not to say that Lennon was wrong to be idealistic; just that the "solution" he proposed is unworkable.
There are nice sentiments in this song: "A brotherhood of man/Imagine all the people/Sharing all the world..." But to get there, he proposes only negatives: No countries, no religion, no possessions. True, these are all things people fight over, but it's also a basic truism that "Nature abhors a vacuum." I think any parent can tell you that if kids are fighting over toys and you take the toys away, if you haven't given the kids something constructive to do they will just find something else to fight over. In a way, it's a akin to what Matthew records Jesus saying (12:43ff): "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first."
So when the president (played by Bill Pulmann) gets up and make his speech in Independence Day about the common cause the world faces, I think he's really more on target in terms of a means to achieve unity - with a positive not a string of negatives.
Of course, in the real world - barring extra-terrestrial invasion - a common cause is a far more difficult thing to define and achieve.