Just Under the Surface

While in line at the grocery store I noticed the text on the tee shirt worn by the man standing behind me. He was grumbling about the current shortages of some items on grocery store shelves. I suppose that he thought his tee shirt was witty or funny but it may have spoken more than he meant to express. The text was


                                DON'T MAKE ME VIOLATE MY PAROLE! 


The message is a subtle threat. He is expressing that "I am angry and seething inside and if you irritate me in any way I may respond with physical violence." Any police officer can tell you that there are many people like this. I suspect that the numbers of these sociopathic people would horrify you. We live in a fallen lost world.

(For those who may not know, parole is the early release of persons from criminal incarceration based on their good behavior while incarcerated.)

Children

If mankind is inherently good, why do we have to teach our children to share and not to bite or hit one another?

Film Comment: Megan is Missing

One commenter on Netflix calls Megan is Missing, “Maybe the most disturbing thing I have ever seen.”  Another says, “Everyone with young teen children should watch this and take the warnings to heart.”  Many commenters just said, “Don’t watch this.”  At least one commenter makes the absolutely ludicrous claim that the film amounts to victim blaming. Some criticize the film saying that it is nothing more than "torture porn" and that it capitalizes on pedophilia and child abduction.  The reason I think that it is not intended to be exploitive is the included video statement by Marc Klaas, whose young daughter Polly was abducted, raped, and murdered.  Klaas seems to be a hardened, driven man.  I do not believe that he would put his endorsement on a film which exploits the very thing against which he has battled for years.

http://www.klaaskids.org/about/pollystory.html

http://www.pollyklaas.org/

A few Netflix commenters, who totally missed the point, said that the film is not a very good horror film. This is true and not true.  As a "horror film," Megan is Missing is technically not up to current standards; the acting is substandard, the special effects are minimal, there is little actual plot, and the "horror" does not appear until the last twenty minutes.  For caring, but naive, parents or for the clueless or careless teenager, this film can produce wide-eyed horror!

A warning: I would say that you should not watch this film. Once you have chosen to seen this film, you will be unable to “unsee” it; it will frighten, disgust, and militarize you. This film can be psychologically damaging to some people.  Two sixteen year old viewers reported being "mentally scarred" by the film, but another said, "I wish more girls my age would watch this; maybe they wouldn't go missing." The film contains near constant profanity, teenage sexuality, teenage drug use, rape, physical abuse, pedophilia, abduction, murder, fetishism, gore, and other disturbing elements.

The film is about two girls.  Fifteen year-old Megan is a sexually promiscuous drug-using party girl who maintains a close friendship with an unlikely partner, the sweet, naive, and innocent Amy, who is rejected by the other girls in town precisely because she is sweet, naive, and innocent. Megan's family life is terrible: her father is absent, her stepfather is in prison, and her mother's only parenting skill is to yell.  Amy's parents are loving, sweet, affectionate, conventional parents who know absolutely nothing about her personal life. Both sets of parents are totally unaware of what is happening to their girls.

Megan has met an interesting young man on line (she has never actually seen him because his "webcam is broken"). She agrees to meet him behind the local diner. She goes alone and disappears.

Amy is sure that something bad has happened to Megan and is afraid that the young man whom Megan met online is involved.  She contacts the young man online and during their argument, he insults and threatens her.  She takes her fears to the police and then suddenly disappears.

The last twenty minutes of the film are so intense and horrible that they disturbed even some of the long-time horror gore-hounds who complained about this film.  

There is no mention of Christianity or even of religion in this film.  That does not mean that there is nothing that Christians can take from this movie.

1. Be aware of who your children's friends are.

2. Be aware of your children's cell phone and internet activities.

3. Try not to frighten your children but make sure that they are aware of the tactics used by sexual predators.  As I have told my grandchildren, "Don't be afraid, just be smart."

Jesus said, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves." Matthew 10:16 (KJV)

We are to be confident and wise and not do stupid things. We should teach our children also to be confident and wise and not to do stupid things.

……………………………………

Information about Internet safety.

http://christianity.about.com/od/practicaltools/tp/christianisps.htm

http://www.covenanteyes.com/2013/11/20/internet-safety-christian-solutions/

http://www.internetsafety.com/press-internet-safety-solution-safe-eyes.php

Excellent, detailed child internet safety information.  Adults would do well to also follow these rules.  The information was reviewed by Steven Dowshen, MD

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/net_safety.html

http://kidshealth.org/parent/misc/reviewers.html

A Linguistic Curiosity

There are at least 136 different language groups which are grouped by noticeable and provable similarities in grammar, sound, vocabulary, word order, and the ways in which they express ideas.  The number of known languages exceeds 7000.  All the languages within a particular language group are believed to have been derived from a common ancestor language.

Arabic and Hebrew are sister Semitic languages.  The modern Semitic languages are spoken by at least 470 million worldwide and include Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, Aramaic, Tigrinya, Syriac, Ge’ez, Maltese, South Arabian. Mahri, Soqriti, Tigre, Inor, Soddo, Harari, Sebat bet Gurage.  Ancient Semitic languages include Akkadian, Phoenician, Ugaritic, Himyaritic, Amorite, and Canaanite.

It is unreasonable to read more into what I am about to show you than that it is merely a linguistic curiosity of dissimilar vocabulary within a language group.  It is though, very odd.

This (חֲמַ֤ס) is the Old Testament word “hamas” which means “violence.”  An example of its use is in Habbakuk 2:17.

The name of the Islamic fundamentalist activist organization, Hamas, is an acronym derived from the Arabic name of the organization, حركة المقاومة الاسلامية (Harakat al-Muqāwama al-Islāmiyya).  The name is "Islamic Resistance Movement". Hamas was founded in 1987 with the aim of liberating Palestine from Israeli occupation and establishing an Islamic state which would include what is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.  They now say they would accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 pre-war Israeli borders, provided that Palestinian refugees would have the right to return to Israel if they wished and that East Jerusalem would be the new nation's capital.

The actual Arabic word “hamas” means devotion, enthusiasm, fire, or zeal. 

Film Comment: El Evangelista

You say that you want to see a Christian comedy about a professional drug gang enforcer/assassin?  Well, here it is.

Pablo (J. Salome Martinez) always pauses before killing his victims to allow them the chance to make their peace with God.  Whether or not they do, he then fills them with bullets.  Surprisingly, though the film is extremely violent, there is no cursing.

Pablo and his assistant are bumbling hit men who eventually are able to carry out their assignments.  There is a lot of running around and shooting and killing.

The turning point for Pablo comes when he is assigned by his boss to assassinate a Pentecostal pastor who is interfering with the local drug trade.  Pablo becomes a Christian and turns his life around.  This is where the real problem with El Evangelista (2006) lies.

Pablo moves to another area and begins his happy new life.  What about his probably vengeful former associates?  What about his responsibility for numerous murders?  Did he have a responsibility to self-report to the authorities?  Should he have given his knowledge of the drug trade to the police?  Is repentance without confession really repentance?  Can we escape temporal consequences for our actions?

This is a Spanish language film with English subtitles.

Feticide Laws

On Tuesday, 23 October 2012, police in Walker, Louisiana (USA) responded to a 911 call to find that a man, possibly under the influence of psychoactive drugs, had stabbed his seven month pregnant wife and cut the baby out of her body.  There is an unconfirmed report that the child was stabbed in the head. 

The mother survived but the baby died.  The father has been charged with one charge of feticide and one charge of attempted second degree murder.  Second degree murder is a non-premeditated killing from an attack so dangerous that a result of death is a real possibility.

Thirty-eight of the fifty United States recognize the “unborn child” as a human homicide victim.  The laws vary in their details, with some covering differing periods of a pregnancy.

In 2004, then United States President George W. Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act which views unborn children as humans if they are injured or killed during the commission of a list of specific federal crimes, including terrorism.

The United States courts have declared that these laws do not apply to legal abortions.  My question is, “Why not?”  Is the only difference that the murdered child is wanted and the aborted child is not? 

Why Life Begins at Conception, Part 2

(The posts in this series may not occur on consecutive days but they will make the most sense to you if they are read in consecutive order.)

Todd Akin, a United States Representative from the State of Missouri roiled the waters when he said that women who are victims of what he called "legitimate rape" rarely get pregnant.  He seems to have been referring to forcible rape.  Regardless of what he meant, his comment has absolutely no basis in fact and reignited the contentious debate over rape and abortion.

On the Cable News Network program, Piers Morgan Tonight, two women debated the two extreme sides of the issues.

Gloria Allred, a civil rights and anti-discrimination attorney, was raped at gunpoint and became pregnant.  She chose to terminate her pregnancy and became a pro-choice advocate.  People who are pro-choice support a woman’s right to obtain an abortion. 

Rebecca Kiessling, a pro-life supporter, was born as a result of a forcible rape at knife-point.  People who are pro-life are opposed to most or all abortions.  Kiessling is an outspoken Christian.  Her testimony is here.  A text version:

http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/Rebecca_Kiessling072809.aspx

Allred and Kiessling engaged in a “spirited’ debate on the subject.  Here is the transcript and a video of the debate.  The emotions are quite raw on both sides.

Next post in this series: A scientific explanation of what happens at conception.

Film Comment: A Clockwork Orange

I have to admit that A Clockwork Orange (1971) is one of my favorite films.  I believe it is one of the films, like Citizen Kane and Casablanca, which is nearly perfectly made.  Every element, every sound, every piece of scenery, every piece of clothing, every facial expression; it is all essential to the totality of the film.  This is not a pretty film and the "hero" is a monster of the worst sort.  The film grabs your emotions and evokes revulsion and horror at the creature, Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell).  What happens to Alex pulls the viewer into feeling sympathy, even pity, for him.  At Alex's triumph, the viewer may well feel that justice has been done.  The reason that this film is so important, and is studied in every film school, is that it forces the viewer to think.

Based on the same-named science-fiction novel by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange was long thought to be unfilmable.  The film retains the odd slang and nihilist, crumbling culture of the novel.  The legal authorities are useless and ineffectual, so much so that Alex's gang, his three Droogies, can be deputized.  This is like hiring cannibals to babysit your children for a week.  

In a near-future dystopian England, Alex DeLarge leads his droogies on nightly rages of rape, bloody violence, and murder.  Alex and the boys respect no one and nothing  and fuel their rages with "milk plus" (milk spiked with mind-altering drugs).  The mindless sprees are set to classical music because the only thing Alex loves, besides himself, is the music of "Ludwig van" (good old Beethoven).

On a particularly violent night, Alex is betrayed by his droogies and is captured by the police.  In prison, Alex becomes the subject of a horrifying mind-altering experiment which causes him to become nauseous at the mere passing thought of committing violence.  And to Alex's horror, nausea upon hearing any music by his beloved Ludwig van.

Released as a totally reformed gentle man, Alex soon finds he has a very big problem.  His former victims remember him very well and he vomits at the thought of defending himself against them.  A true lose-lose situation.

The horrified authorities hadn't intended this outcome and feel that they have little choice but to change Alex bag to his old evil self.  Alex, of course, is delighted.

This film raises many questions: personal responsibility, free will, determinism, the nature of evil, and society's legitimate response to violence.  As surgical and pharmaceutical advances make transformations such as this entirely possible, should they be used in violation of the free will of the transgressor?  Would  a transformed criminal really be a reformed man?

Does society have the right to incarcerate or even to kill to maintain the public good?  Does society have the right to force individuals to submit to procedures which may "correct" their behavior?  Who decides what is "correct" behavior?  Does "correct" behavior include "correct" thought?  Does society have the right to screen and "treat" persons because their genetic profile says they may commit crimes in the future?

Realize if you decide to view A Clockwork Orange that it portrays extreme violence, rape, human medical experimentation, sexual situations, nudity, and phallic images.  Two excellent films with similar subject matter are Minority Report and GATTACA.

Film Comment: The Book of Eli

Denzel Washington is a Christian actor who has starred in an explicitly Christian film, The Book of Eli (2010).   The film raises an important question: is it acceptable for a Christian to resort to extreme violence to protect the things of God, in this case the only remaining Bible on Earth.

Eli has wandered in a generally westward direction for the last thirty years to deliver the Bible to a place he feels that God has told him to seek, a place where the Bible will be safe and cherished.  The landscape is worse than anything in the Mad Max films; a massive war has reduced civilization to rags and tatters with only a few people still being literate.

Eli carries firearms and a very sharp machete and never hesitates to use them to protect his treasure.  Robbers and brigands who try to steal his things (and who plan to kill and eat him) regularly end up maimed or dead.  Is Eli justified in pressing on to complete his mission of delivering the book even if he has to kill to do it?  What will it mean for the world if the book falls into evil hands or is destroyed?

Eli's greatest challenge comes when a powerful and totally ruthless warlord (Gary Oldman) realizes what Eli is carrying and decides that he must have it.  His illiterate henchmen tell him that it is just a book and he angrily informs them that no, it is a powerful weapon which gives its holder the ability to control and mold his followers.  How many people have used the Bible in just this way throughout history?

Walk-on-by Culture

"We live in the walk-on-by culture where if you see things, you don't get involved ... if you do, you could get stabbed, get maimed ..."  Mark Tonderai, director of the film, Hush (2009).