>In a message dated 10/16/2004 12:27:57 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>carlremick at hotmail.com writes:
>>... While the movie leaves the illusion that it ridicules all sides
>>equally,
>>this is not the case. Just to recount the targets of ridicule here: anyone
>>or anything that can be considered gay, and foreigners of any kind. By the
>>conclusion, Hollywood liberals who criticize their government's foreign
>>policy are gleefully decapitated, dismembered and demolished. Right-wing
>>apologists, never mind George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, are unscathed.
>As an aside, one of the two South Park/Team America guys (I believe Trey
>Parker) was interviewed by Terry Gross last week and I think he said that
>it was
>OK to make racist caricatures of Arabs and Kim Jong IL because they are our
>enemies. Also in NPR (Studio 360, I believe) there was a feature on a
>satirical
>group that made a Chomsky/Zinn commentary in Lord of the Rings in which
>they
>see as an allegory of US imperialism. That didn't bother me, some of it
>was
>quite funny ("Zinn" said Gandalf goes from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the
>White, what's up with that?) however, when they wanted to do the same for
>right
>wingers they chose Ann Coulter and Dinesh D'souza. I also have heard many
>people
>comparing Michael Moore with Ann Coulter. I cringe when I hear these
>comparisons. I don't believe Zinn, Chomsky, et al. (OK maybe Michael
>Moore) are
>morally comparable with Ann Coulter, Dinesh D'souza etc. What do you
>think?
>
>Sergio
At this point, the Lord of the Rings itself makes me cringe. But as for morality, I favor simple guidelines: right = evil; left = good. Whatever promotes the left is fine with me, whether it's serious scholarship (Chomsky) or outrageous polemics (Moore).
Carl