To my Conservative Friends: Posted on 01/12/2009 4:29:13 AM PST by gopmike.com
To my Conservative Friends:
I have been receiving emails and phone calls over the past week from my Conservative and liberal friends alike saying to me - "Mike - You gotta see Gran Torino!!"
So, in the middle of the snow storm on Saturday night, I trekked out to see the film I had heard so much about...
The film is about a man named Walt Kowalski, a 70-something, cranky Korean War Vet who lives in a mid-west neighborhood that has been steadily changing to a Black/Asian community. Walt, living alone now after his wife's death, is one of the last "white guys" in the community and is an extremely old-school guy with a very, very non-Politically-Correct attitude and he doesn't give a shi- who knows about it.. In fact, I don't think Walt ever heard of the term "politically correct".
Those of you who regularly read my articles know that I ....
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Saw it a few weeks ago......good, but suprising end. Not yer normal Clint solution !
Stay safe !
Great film! I suppose Walt prefered his solution than the altenative he was faced with. Sort of two birds with one stone. I think I might have chosen the same in his shoes.
Have a great day!
You to !
I am - it is spitting a little white stuff this evening. My #2 (out of 4) daughter was married a week ago yesterday. They returned from Jamaica last night. The payback of them lounging on the beach while we had minus 0 temperatures this past week now starts.
So should I go see it in the theater, or just wait for the DVD?
I generally hate going to movie theaters.
I saw it in the theater...first time in a couple of years that I went to one, and worth it, IMHO.
Great movie and think Clint is sending these libs a message - “Nothing in life is fair”.
Stallone sent the same message with Rambo IV.
The world will never be a Utopia .. there will always be those that seek to control others — we have one now who will take Oath Tuesday.
It’s Josie Wales meets William Munny in urban Detroit. Excellent entertainment without a hint of political correctness.
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Wait.
Worth the trip to the theater. I took my own water as I can’t see paying their exorbitant prices.
Aw c'mon. Sondra Locke wasn't that homely.
;-)
Just got back from seeing this with my pal: go see it - an excellent movie!~ So few of what Hollywood offers is worth a damn. Not this movie - it is a real gem.
Yeah — note that, contrary to the generic “midwest” in the review, it is clearly detroit — The police are “Highland Park” (an enclave) and the scene where he saves the girl and her white pussy boyfriend, the pull back has the street sign “Charlevoix” which is dead on Detroit.
I disagree, strongly.
You seem to think that conservatism inherently consists of putting self and family interest above all other issues.
At least for Christian conservatives, the denouement is as conservative as it can get.
Christ himself said, "Greater love hath no man than he who sacrifices his life for his friends."
I reject the notion that doing so is a liberal thing. You don't see liberals sacrificing themselves, they just run around demanding that others do so.
Christ sacrificed himself to save the entire world, rather than promoting the self-interest of himself and his blood relations. Was he a liberal?
Faulty inference.
First, to say that liberalism and conservatism are polar opposites, and that their relationship is one of U vs. Non-U, that all things liberal are not conservative and all things conservative are not liberal, is an Irish bull.
Conservatism, as Emmett Tyrrell, editor of The American Spectator, once said, is a disposition not an ideology. It is characterized by, among other things, a desire to enjoy one's liberty and property in peace, and to recognize others' right to the same.
At least for Christian conservatives, the denouement is as conservative as it can get.
The denouement is altruistic. Whether altruism is conservative is another proposition I'll let you defend.
The film's hortatory (by "example") advocacy of the altruistic sacrifice of life and liberty for others' benefit is very liberal. Person A throws himself on the funeral pyre to benefit others, Person B (the filmmaker) applauds -- Person B is a liberal. Person B makes no sacrifice, but applauds the sacrifice of Person A. That's very Hollywood liberal. Especially since Person A is shown by exposition to have a conservative disposition. Person B is exhorting us conservatives to be more like conservative Person A -- and die. For others, specifically for people not members of our family, our blood, our circle of friends, our community. How very liberal, of Person B.
Altruism is the be-all and end-all of liberalism, at least in theory. So many conservatives, apparently including you, have a kneejerk reaction of being anti-altruistic.
This is quite understandable and human. It's similar to the natural reactions of conservatives to tend to reject initiatives intended to protect the environment or to restrict big business in its operations. If liberals are for it, we must be against it.
I think this is not a good trap to fall into.
What could be more conservative than conserving our environment in effective ways? Big businesses use us, but they are not themselves conservative, and reasonable restrictions on their actions promote rather than detract from the operation of a truly free market.
Altruism is itself neither conservative nor liberal. The big difference is that liberals believe in forced altruism, usually forcing you and me to be altruistic while exempting themselves. Conservatism encoureages altruism, but it is always voluntary. In this movie, Walt behaves altruistically, but it is purely voluntary. He does it because he chooses to, not because he's been guilted into it by nanny-staters.
Person B is exhorting us conservatives to be more like conservative Person A -- and die. For others, specifically for people not members of our family, our blood, our circle of friends, our community.
You're missing the point. Walt does die for his circle of friends and community, even in a sense for his family. That these people had only recently assumed these roles in his life does not change the fact that they had.
After his wife died, Walt had no real family left. That his children and grandchildren didn't fill this role was probably at least largely his own fault, but it was still a fact. The Hmong and especially the two young people next door became his family, and he died to protect them.
In my book that is an intensely conservative thing to do. A liberal would have started a campaign to force the government to deal with the situation. Walt just dealt with it himself, in the only truly effective way he could that didn't risk the lives of innocents.
I saw the movie last night. Had the same reaction you did. I go to the movies about once every 3 years. Live Free or Die Hard was the last one I saw. Strongly recommend this film.
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