Reflections of the Observer

So the guy I mentioned in the War of the Worlds review below (lets call him Radioman), saw the movie with another student worker (lets call him Lefty). Well I didn’t mention that Radioman thought the movie was really just one big advertisement for joining the military. I said, “Why? The military was basically useless. At best is showed them making an attempt to help people run and try to provide a speed bump to the aliens.” Radioman is a little arrogant and he doesn’t listen as well as he should. I expect him to have many wonderful jobs for a year or two and then be forced to leave them.

Lefty said he was disgusted by the father and son scene with the son saying he needed to see this, right before they were separated. If anything it pointed out that it was a stupid thing for the son to want to do, but his own arrogance and realization that his dad had little more plan than run and survive, told him to go against his father. Lefty also thought the movie was fear-mongering at its worst. It was designed to play up people’s fear of war and terrorism for money and political purposes. You see why I call him Lefty. I asked him if he had read the original book. He hadn’t. I also asked him if he realized that the book was written during the power buildup of Germany and other countries in the late 19^th century, and reflected the common understanding that a Great War was eminent in Europe. He said he did, but he didn’t look like he had thought much about it. Sure there were pictures of the towers and stuff in the background. Lots of places up north still have those up. Yes the billboards were reminiscent of the ones after 9/11. People have been putting those things up at disasters for decades. They do it after train wrecks, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. It’s fairly common in circumstances that cause mass movements and separations. And if Spielberg had deviated from the book even more people would be crying foul of that. Swear you can’t please anyone.

Lefty and I have interesting conversations though. At first he thought I was Libertarian, because I believe in States’ rights, small government, and decisions made on the most appropriate level of government. However, I also believe in peace through overwhelming force, and maintaining capitalism by limiting monopolies. Anyway, I might be able to share some other Lefty stories later. Stay tuned.