PhilLeirness.com: Turn Offs

Chat rooms, forums – We’ve got a lot of angry, bitter, small-minded people in this country, and almost ALL of them have time to post their bile for all to read. What happened to the good old days where if you wanted your hate to be public, you had to be a radio host or have your own show on Fox News? If you don’t like something, or you don’t agree with something, okay. We really don’t ever have to be mean, though, people, you dig?

Becky Fischer - And speaking of MEAN, I was watching the outstanding documentary Jesus Camp the other day. In it, the evangelical Ms. Fischer is lecturing her young charges about Harry Potter, decrying him as no hero because after all, warlocks are the enemies of Jesus. She goes so far as to say that no matter how heroic he might be, he’s STILL the enemy of Jesus. I’m trying to maintain my compassion, my unconditional love for the woman as she gets her born-again panties in a bunch over a FICTIONAL CHILD (Harry Potter, not Jesus) when she goes so far as to say that Harry Potter would have been put to DEATH if he lived in Old Testament times (apparently the folks in the Old Testament didn’t like fictional characters either). That’s REAL nice, real CHRISTIAN - advocating the death of an (albeit fictional) child, no matter how heroic his deeds, because of what he IS. Apparently, he should deny what he is, deny his gifts. That would be like a gay person being forced to pretend that he or she can be cured of homosexuality because after all, homosexuality is wickedness. Becky Fischer is a definite turn-off. That Ted Haggard, though (also featured in the film), he’s something special. Then again, I love gay men!

MySpace – Creepy. Positively creepy.

Cars – At the risk of having my very citizenship stripped from me in this car-mad country, allow me state for the record just how much I HATE driving. Part of it, a large part of it, is living in Los Angeles. Here you spend so much time behind the wheel, and for much of it, you’re crawling along, or stopped altogether. Still, this is not purely a rant about TRAFFIC (which, after all, was a fantastic music group), it’s an expression of my dislike of automobiles. I like walking. I like taking public transportation. I like that I’m leaving as small an ecological footprint as I can. I like that the time I spend in transit is now time that can be well-spent. It’s RECLAIMED time, time that always seemed lost to me when I was a hood ornament for Southern California. It’s too easy to lose the sensual pleasures involved in making a journey, the pleasures of experiencing the places and people you pass or meet on the way. In a car, those pleasures are absolutely impossible. Sure, I do, from time to time, need to drive, or need to rely on friends willing to provide a ride and I do still enjoy taking a road trip (on the OPEN road). For the most part, though, I prefer public transportation. And if I’m really in a hurry … I walk.

January 2007

*Violence in Film – Within the past few years I’ve truly awakened to the fact that if we desire to live in a society free from violence, people need to be educated to other available choices. For, you see, I believe fundamentally that violence IS a choice. Which brings me to Guillermo Del Toro’s latest film, Pan’s Labyrinth. The film has been garnering great reviews and is, at times, absolutely spellbinding. For the first thirty minutes or so, I was convinced that I was watching a modern-day fairy tale on the level of the brilliant City of Lost Children (or Del Toro’s own Devil’s Backbone). Then, Del Toro decides it’s necessary (or fun) to shove down the audience’s throats the villain’s single-minded sadism in the name of his cause. In the process, Del Toro BECOMES his villain, and every bit the fascist he is depicting. Beyond unpleasant, it’s a disappointing choice for two major reasons. One, by choosing to show, what he could imply as threat, he prevents the film from ever being scary, allowing it to be, like too many modern remakes of classic horror films, merely shocking. Secondly, by choosing to go graphic, he prevents the film from being seen by children the world over. And why is this important? Because at its heart, Pan’s Labyrinth tells of the importance of sparing the blood of innocents at any cost. Not a bad message. Unfortunately, it’s one that all too often is soaked in blood.

Video Games – Believe me, I’m all for developing hand-eye coordination. And I love games. And I love staring at a screen, elevating my dopamine levels, becoming addicted to an antisocial, irrelevant pastime. Oh, wait, maybe not that last part … For hand-eye coordination, go to the batting cages, or the driving range, or play foosball for crying out loud. Oh, I know, video games are fun, they capture the imagination. HOW ABOUT READING A GODDAMN BOOK?! I know, I’m old. I’m also still able to think for myself. Thinking for yourself, something, video games, of course, do NOT promote. Quite to the contrary. If you want to succeed at them, anyway … Well, gotta run. This diatribe is really cutting into my “surfing for internet porn” time.