Commies!
July 29th, 2008 by Stephen DownesAre you nostalgic for old Hawaii? Are you also a rabid commie-hater?
Here's the perfect movie for you: "Big Jim McLain," starring John Wayne and James Arness, which aired last week on Turner Classic Movies. It's simple, heavy-handed propaganda, a true black-and-white picture, filmed over six weeks in 1950s Hawaii. In its day, it was a big hit.
The movie is as uncomplicated as can be: Wayne and Arness play crack investigators for the House Un-American Activities Committee, hunting down communist bad guys. The communist cell, led by the heartless Sturak (Alan Napier), plot to take over the island by infiltrating, naturally, the labor unions. You'd think they would spend at least some time talking politics — Marxism, dictatorship of the proletariat, stuff like that — but that would just slow down the plot. Jim McLain's got a lot of sightseeing to do before he breaks up the Party and punches the bad guy in the nose.
He visits the U.S.S. Arizona, before it included a big white memorial. He takes his love interest, Nancy Olson, to the Pali Lookout, when it was still part of the old Pali Highway. Kaneohe appears to be missing. He visits Hanauma Bay, a deserted beach that's a perfect hideout for commie spies. He even visits Kalaupapa — well, not really — back when they still called it a leper colony and it had a maternity ward where babies were taken from their diseased parents and the nurse was a former communist who has repented her misguided ways.
It's really quite a picture.
It's also a reminder of how a serious matter — and in the 1950s, communism was a serious matter — can be embarrassingly reduced to a simple ideology that any right-wing talk-show host, or small child, can understand. Bad guys vs. good guys. Truth vs. lies. Victory in Iraq vs. Cut and Run.
Back then, it was noted that Jim McLain shared the same initials as the infamous Red-baiter Sen. Joe McCarthy. Wayne even attributed his film to helping elect McCarthy to his second term in 1952.
Right now you're thinking: John McCain, Jim McLain...aha!
But no. The public debate seems more complicated now. The cinematic superstar of the moment, The Dark Knight, can't decide whether to be the hero or the villain. We are negotiating politely with all three members of the so-called Axis of Evil. We have two presidential candidates who have been criticized by the extreme ends of their own constituencies: Barack Obama, for compromising on far-left liberal values, and John McCain, for doing the same to the far right. The campaign has been more nuanced, thoughtful and understanding of the complexities of the problems our country faces today.
In other words, so far so good. Let's hope it continues. May the best man win.
September 26th, 2008 at 10:34 am
When viewed through the prism of history, hindsight tells us many things. As much as most people look back and consider Joe McCarthy and the commie with-hunt activities of our government as deplorable, the release of government documents from Russia many years later has revealed that most of the individuals "hunted" by our government back then were in fact communist.
Most people hate to 'think' about the future today and consider what we will think of this period of time we are currently living in...what will we look back on and see from a historical perspective? I'm certain you, as most liberals, will not appreciate the fact that the Bush administration has seen the wisdom of fighting in the Middle East, not just to rid the world of terrorists, but in the greater effort to bring peace, some form of democracy, and ultimately stability to a region of the world that is torn historically by fighting.
Politics aside and forgetting what the day to day headlines may have read back then, was fostering peace between Israel and Egypt a worthy cause? Was standing with South Korea (an economic powerhouse today) worth the effort? Vietnam was a disaster admittedly, but after all was said and done, they have forsaken communism too, and are turning 'western' in their effort to bring stability, peace, and frankly "food" to their citizens.
Finally the cold war clearly demonstrates, without argument, good does win or evil. The moral convictions of peace through strength will always win...in the end. Iraq is indeed the battleground where the line has been drawn, as stated and defined by Bin Laden himself. The problem Americans and other western countries have is that they are their own worst enemy. The bad guys know we have little patience these days. Our desire to "win" gives in to the desire to "win immediately", we demand instant gratification.
If Americans and Europeans could consider what the future holds for all of us, from the perspective of future itself, we might be rethinking much that we are dealing with today. You're right in that the public debate is complicated today. Too much journalism is focused on "gotcha" sound bites, taken out of context, and served up with heaping loads of bias from reporters and TV talking heads. Too often the lines of 'reporting' information about events that took place today, are blurred with the writers or speakers own bias and opinion.
If you can't see the difference between 'commentary' and honest journalisitic work of reporting, than you shouldn't be a journalist.