Django

Well, I just saw Django Unchained. I’m still digesting it, which is difficult as the movie is practically 3 hours. I suppose I’ll start with that, the length. Lincoln, which was a biopic, was shorter than this unedited Quentin Tarantino wet dream. Still, that’s not my main problem with the film. I will say, Django did maintain my interest for 2 hours and 45 minutes… which is impressive.

I will preface my following critique by applauding the movie. It’s well shot and well acted. It’s even entertaining. What more could you what? Well, Tarantino could have supplied Django with some morals. To explain, I will need to summarize the plot a bit. In Django, the titular character, Django, is a black slave. He’s freed by the bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz, and he proceeds to work for him, killing white criminals. Later, Django, with help from Schultz, tries to rescue his wife. I will say, Django and Schultz’s friendship is wonderful and heartfelt. The problem is that Django, in his quest for his love, becomes the thing he hates.

Django literally lets a pack of dogs eat a black slave alive, just so that he can get his wife back. This scene is so messed up. The act itself is heinous, but the worst part is that Tarantino believes his audience will still think Django is doing the right thing. He’s not. There’s a name for toeing the line just so your family is kept safe: It’s the Nuremberg defense. It’s so sad because earlier in the film, Schultz tells Django an old myth of a hero who came to save his beloved from a dragon. Well, Django becomes that dragon.

While I’m at it, let me lament the fact that Tarantino follows one rule in filmmaking: shock the audience. I’m so damn tired of him showing me gruesome scenes just so the audience might think “Wow, Quentin Tarantino is so edgy.” If I saw one more ridiculous geyser of blood, I would have just stood up and laughed at the film. Django turns the serious topic of slavery into a cartoon or comic book.

This might seem like a non sequitur, but the movie made me really think about God. Honestly, the emptiness of this film’s moral landscape made me again realize that we need a perfect judge. We need a flawless creator. We need a God who is supremely good and who loves us completely. Django’s half baked attempt at making things right is not good enough. That’s because we as humans aren’t good enough. We need Jesus.

I tried to like Django, really I did. I just couldn’t. I can’t recommend it to anyone. It’s a slickly produced, bad movie. See The Hobbit instead.

I'm a Christian

I've decided to share that I have now become a Christian. Before May 22, 2012, I was a very hateful and depressed person. I was so lost, that on September 13, 2010, I nearly attempted suicide with a 9mm handgun. I didn't see God come down from the clouds and tell me not to do it, but my best friend knew what I was planning and called me before I was ready.  In his own way, God saved me through my friend, because he had a plan for me. It was nearly two years later before I figured that out though. In the meantime, I was trying to go through life my own way, and always failing.

It wasn't until I lay awake in bed one night full of fear and anger when I realized that things couldn't continue the way they were, or else I would just try to take my own life again. I felt compelled to read about Jesus, because out of all the religions and worldviews that I knew of, he was the only figure that offered pure love and forgiveness. I resisted for a long time, because I was an atheist, and I blamed God for my problems. Despite my disbelief, I started really reading the Bible, and in particular the Gospels for the first time. It didn't take long for my conversion to happen then. It was right at the Gospel of Matthew that I found that Jesus was a flawless moral teacher in the Sermon on the Mount. I read more and grew to understand that God unconditionally loved me, just the way I am.

It finally hit me that God's only son, Jesus Christ, willingly suffered and died for our sins. He saw how evil we were, but he decided to save us anyway; that is love beyond this world. I remember that day, May 22, and how I went from reading Jesus' words in the library, to walking directly to my car, sitting down, and praying a heartfelt prayer that I accepted Jesus as my savior.

I still struggle. I struggle a lot. I'm cowardly, greedy, and, like everyone else, reflect the image of imperfection. However, God loves me anyway, and through him I know I can better myself. Before I had no hope, now I can see glory beyond the horizon.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine was our greatest founding father. He wasn't a hypocrite who talked about freedom on the one hand, but then owned slaves on the other. He donated all the profits he received from writing Common Sense to the efforts of the American Revolutionary War. He could have been a rich man, but he decided that liberty was a higher calling. John Adams said that "Without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain."  He still could have just rested on his laurels after the war, but Paine took it upon himself to go to France and help out in the revolution there against the corrupt king and catholic church. Paine wrote the Rights of Man during this time, to defend the right for the French people to rebel and demand liberty.

Despite his hatred of monarchies, Paine did not want to execute king Louis, because he did not believe in revenge killings. This put him at odds with Robespierre, who imprisoned him and ordered him executed. He survived by mere chance, the guard who marked the prison doors to signal who was to executed accidentally marked on the wrong side of Paine's cell door, thus sparing his life. Thomas Paine literally almost died defending universal liberty.

In his time in captivity, Paine stayed busy. He wrote his opinion on religion and God, entitled The Age of Reason. Paine was a Deist, and he believed that all religions were "human inventions" and "set up to terrify and enslave mankind." In the Age of Reason, Paine attacked Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, but defended God as revealed by nature, God without religion. Paine's stated goal was to throw off the shackles of religion, just like he had thrown off the shackles of kings. Sadly, his work was not received well in America, as people had become more conservative since the revolution. Once Paine managed to return to America, he was targeted as an evil antichrist type figure, and even his friends abandoned him. Paine was left penniless and without anyone to turn to, as he faded into obscurity. Paine would still work, even becoming one of the first advocates of abolitionism. He also wrote a pamphlet, Agrarian Justice, that proposed creating an estate tax to fund a universal welfare program for the sick and elderly. Still, few wanted anything to do with him, and hatred was usually the only thing he got in return from so-called gentle Christians.

Thomas Paine was not a "sunshine soldier" this was a man who fought the good fight, who defended liberty for everyone, no matter the cost. He was a man who wrote in the common language, so every man, woman, and child could hear his arguments. Thomas Paine cannot be sugarcoated. His words are still available for anyone who wants to read them, and they still have the power to change minds in the service of liberty.

What I believe

As an Atheist, I’m often asked what I believe. I’m usually asked this once I disagree with someone’s religious viewpoint. It’s a tough question. As a religious person, you’re given quite a lot of slack for it. All you have to say if you’re a Christian is “I believe Jesus is Lord” or if you’re a Muslim, “I believe Allah told Muhammad to write the Quran.” At no point are the religious asked to detail their philosophy on life, they’re just asked to repeat lines of dogma. Atheists, however, are expected to have everything figured out, or else they’re seen as morally questionable. This is sadly to due to bigotry against those who think differently and just don’t believe in a god. Ah well, it’s an unfair world.

First and foremost, I’m a liberal. The root of liberal is liberty, so, if you believe in liberty, you’re a liberal. Pretty simple, huh? Unfortunately, many people view the word as a pejorative, but it’s really a badge of honor. I believe that no man can rule another. We are all born human, therefore no human should have the right to enslave another human, as we are all the same. To believe in liberty, one must realize that there is no Divine Right of Kings, because there is no god to inspire such a king. A king is merely a man, he has no special powers.

I believe in liberty because I understand human nature. According to archaeological finds, long before we could write or speak, we shared with one another in small roaming bands. We practiced altruism, we genuinely helped one another in spite of danger. You can see such practices in the animal kingdom. How apes will give food to their friends for no reason, and how elephants will mourn their dead and refuse to leave even if they haven’t eaten in a very long time. Humans, of course, show incredible practices of self-sacrifice, such as pulling their wounded away to safety in the midst of a fierce battle. Such practices show that mankind is not inherently evil. We might be a mixed bag, but we're not inherently evil. If we’re not inherently evil, then we have no original sin. If we have no original sin, then we can govern ourselves in peace, without the need of a dictatorship, be it heavenly or earthly.

I believe in the Golden Rule and giving a hand to those who have fallen on hard times. I believe this not because I hope for a reward in the afterlife, but because it just feels good to help someone. As long as humans can love one another, and take satisfaction in their relationships, they do not need a savior from the clouds.

1. Schindler's List (1993)

Oskar Schindler is one of my personal heroes. Here is a man who was vain, greedy, but still did the right thing when it counted. Schindler’s List shows the best and worst of humanity in a single film. Every human needs to see this movie as it will teach them the meaning of a simple act of kindness towards another. The film is about the Holocaust, but it’s really about the nature of man. Oskar Schindler is no Jew, he has nothing to gain from helping them, but when they come to work at his enamelware factory, he feels obligated to help them survive and escape the concentration camps. The ending of this film made me cry, and I am not ashamed of that fact. When Schindler is thanked by his Jewish workers for saving all 1000 of them, and given a crude ring by his secretary with the Talmudic words “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire” Schindler breaks down and weeps, knowing he could have saved even more if he sold some of his luxuries. He keeps saying “I could’ve got more” and each time he says it, you feel your heart break for such a flawed but noble man. This film could change a hate-filled heart to one of love, and for that, Schindler’s List is not only the most powerful movie ever made, it’s the greatest movie ever made.

2. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)

Luke has become a Jedi. He effortlessly infiltrates Jabba the Hutt’s palace and sail barge and saves Han from his carbonite prison. Still, the galaxy is a long way off from being at peace, and Luke and his friends must launch one last assault on the Empire to end the war once and for all. I will make a concession, despite me believing that this is the best out of the Star Wars trilogy, I don’t like the Ewoks… in fact, I detest them. The strength of this movie is how epic it is in spite of those furry little puppets. The final battle in space against dozens of star destroyers and the second Death Star is just absurdly awesome. The rebels, despite being outmanned and outgunned, give the Empire a hell of a fight. One of my favorite scenes in all movie history is in this film. When Luke refuses to become Palpatine’s dark apprentice and Palpatine mercilessly shoots him with bolts of lightning, Darth Vader silently looks at his suffering son, then at the Emperor, then at his son again, until he makes up his mind. He becomes Anakin Skywalker once more, as he, with just one arm, picks up Palpatine, all the while being shocked with electricity, and throws him into a pit. As Anakin lays dying from his wounds, Luke says “Father, I’ve got to save you” but Anakin, knows his fate and thanks his son by saying “You already have." Return of the Jedi could get to the number two spot just for this one scene of redemption from past mistakes.

3. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

After the Rebellion blows up the Death Star, things seem bright, but it’s very fleeting. The Empire is cracking down, and soon they even find the secret rebel base on the ice planet Hoth. The good guys are on the run, and they can’t find any relief. In a single moment of luck, Luke goes to planet Dagobah and finds the Jedi master Yoda, who trains him in the force. Before Luke can get any respite however, he senses danger to Leia and Han, and he, against the wishes of Yoda, goes to Cloud City to save them. The Empire Strikes back is notable for being the first in the series to have a true lightsaber fight (Obi-Wan and Vader’s fight was pretty weak) and for having such a bleak tone in comparison to the original. Most consider this the best Star Wars film of all time, but I respectfully disagree. The trip to Dagobah was honestly boring, the film ends on a cliffhanger, and quite frankly, I prefer my films to be uplifting, not dark and somber. Still, The Empire Strikes Back is one of the best films ever made, and it’s on the number three spot for a reason.