tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post1757083871074071733..comments2024-03-28T07:08:58.221-04:00Comments on Todd Seavey: Children, Puritans, Crazy ChicksTodd Seaveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08589187886030112999noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post-30970120673371176592010-07-18T21:59:00.000-04:002010-07-18T21:59:00.000-04:00My real fear is that I am the only rational person...My real fear is that I am the only rational person on the planet. <br><br>The others — more “normal” in some purely-demographic sense — are defined in large part by their fear (recognized by the existentialists) of their own freedom and thus the potential for chaos. Their solace is almost invariably found, then, in submersion in some group identity (whether as sinister as cult membership or as near-benign as sports team fanhood) or in the adulation of an order-creating ruler, whether earthly (government) or otherworldly (God). Rid humans of that fundamental fear of uncertainty and individuality and, finally, the whole idiotic game changes. But I’m not holding my breath.Todd Seaveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08589187886030112999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post-53991357494407005312010-07-18T21:08:00.000-04:002010-07-18T21:08:00.000-04:00Perhaps, but it’s still a great movie. Not as grea...Perhaps, but it’s still a great movie. Not as great as the low-tech classic <i>The 300 Spartans</i>, but probably the only film I’ve seen starring Gerard Butler that is not complete dreck. Also, one of the few comic book adaptations that I enjoyed watching. <br><br>I tend to agree with you, re: the intensive campaign of sexualization aimed at American youth by leftist organizations such as GLSN and the like. It does strike me as being part of the whole leftist drive to impose egalitarianism across-the-board, including in our sexual proclivities. Not only are the intended aims of these folks misguided, but one of the unintended consequences of their efforts is a reduction of sex itself to a series of prosaic anatomical functions. <br><br>It reminds me of this documentary about the early kibbutz movement in Israel, which I saw on the Sundance Channel last month. I was watching it in astonishment, because each person who was a kibbutzim would recount how unbearable their experience and life was at the time. How they were forced to shed any trace of individuality, how everyone was forced to work even if he or she didn’t want to, and how they wanted to emulate socialist utopian experiments taking place in Marxist countries. Be part of the vanguard, as it were. <br><br>The most remarkable aspect of this is that the filmmakers seemed to be framing these horrible confessions in a positive light, almost as if surrendering your individuality and freedom of movement, choice, etc., is something that enobles the human spirit. <br><br>Do you ever get the feeling that you’re crazy? That’s what I felt after watching that-not because of my mild social anxiety, or hypochondria. I mean, I felt I had been birthed on some completely different planet than the director of this film, who seems to think that giving up your identity as an individual is a fair tradeoff for building this undefined sense of community.Gerardhttp://unreceivedwisdom.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com