Perhaps it is safest to wait until the movie is actually released to pass judgment, but I have to take issue with the now widely distributed trailer for the new Superman Returns movie. At one point a character inquires regarding Superman, “Does he still stand for truth? Justice? All that stuff?” What happened to the American way? The Superman of old was a hero for this country, often posed prominently alongside Old Glory. Now, it seems that it may be taboo to mention his ties to the U.S. Is this an attempt to garner greater box office receipts in foreign lands or is it more evidence of the criminalization of being a proud American here at home? Both? In 2002, when Spiderman was released on the heels of the Sept. 11th tragedy, the web head was famously displayed on an American flagpole with the image of our Stars and Stripes reflected splendidly in the silvery eyes of his costume. It seems then that our patriotism was at an all time high. How easily people forget. How sad that the tide has turned.
As I write this, news has come that Zacarias Moussaoui has escaped the death penalty. The jury, although convinced that he "knowingly created a grave risk of death" that day, and that “substantial planning” was involved, were unable to justify the most final and powerful punishment of death upon him. If these lawyers and jurors had been involved perhaps they could have saved the victims of 9/11 from their fate. Surely they didn’t deserve death either. I hope this decision alleviates some of the guilt the American people obviously feel for the state of the world. I hope those of you who could “understand where the hijackers were coming from” feel vindicated. Frankly, I just feel sick.
2 comments:
Shelby Steele, a black author, has written a book called "White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era." I guess there is a section talking about the very thing you are saying. He says that White Guilt is harmful to the war on Terror. That White People have gotten so used to feeling guilty that they apologize for everything and everyone. One can easily say that is what happened witht the jury. Now of course I don't know if the jury was all white, but the point that we have the death penalty, use the death penalty, but weren't able to deliver the death penalty in this case, well I think it is much deeper.
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player05.html?050306/050306_sr_emanuel&Your_World&%
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