Posted on 08/05/2005 9:26:19 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Weekend-connected left-wing rant, second of two. Sunday night on HBO's Six Feet Under, a drama revolving around a family which runs a funeral home, a major character launched into a rant about the "stupid, evil war" in Iraq and how "we didn't go to war to protect Iraqi civil liberties. That's just a lame justification." The young woman was soon yelling about the Abu Graib abuse and how "those orders came down from the top, the top! And there's memos to prove it!" The show's writers allowed her boyfriend, a minor character in the program, to disagree with, prompting her to spew: "Oh God, what are you? Like some red-neck blogger pig?"
[Be warned, this item includes an accurate quotation of a vulgarity.]
On the July 31 episode of the weekly HBO drama, "Claire Fisher" (played by Lauren Ambrose), a struggling artist just out of college who is the sister of two brothers who run a Los Angeles funeral home after the passing of their father, goes on a date with a lawyer at a law firm where she is temping.
Sitting at a table at a fancy restaurant, Claire frets that "we've stumbled upon a Republican nest" and she worries Nancy Reagan might walk in.
Claire then asserts: "Here they feel safe in their fancy restaurant while that stupid, evil war goes on and on."
Her boyfriend counters: "Stupid and evil. I don't think so."
Claire: "Right."
Boyfriend: "We eliminated a murdering asshole dictator. And now we're establishing democracy, which of course takes time. But we have to stabilize the Middle East. War was inevitable."
Claire: "You're not serious?"
Boyfriend: "Of course I'm serious." [Claire glares]
After an unrelated scene involving other characters, the show returned to the restaurant, picking up mid-argument:
Boyfriend: "You don't think they wanted a free election? Did you see those pictures? They were dancing in the streets. Literally."
Claire: "That doesn't mean they wanted to be invaded and slaughtered. I mean I saw the pictures from Abu Ghraib too and nobody was fucking dancing there."
Boyfriend: "That was an isolated group of disturbed individuals."
Claire, angry and pointing: "Oh, don't give me that. Those orders came down from the top, the top! And there's memos to prove it!"
Boyfriend: "Wow. The world is corrupt. How can that be? Freedom isn't free."
Claire: "Oh God, what are you? Like some red-neck blogger pig?"
Boyfriend: "Okay, come on, name one right, one civil liberty that doesn't have blood all over it, that people haven't fought and died for?"
Claire: "Ah, we didn't go to war to protect Iraqi civil liberties. That's just a lame justification."
Boyfriend: "I didn't say it was just, but that's the way human beings make progress. We're violent. It's our nature. It's a little naive to expect anything different."
Claire: "So you just rationalize away all moral responsibility? I guess you learned that in law school."
That was it for the argument as Claire soon learned that one of her brothers had collapsed and he died at the end of the episode, knocking off a major character as the show approaches the end of its five-year run on HBO.
HBO's page for Six Feet Under, which first runs at 9pm EDT/PDT on Sunday nights and repeats throughout the week (above-quoted episode will air again Saturday night): www.hbo.com
The show was created by Alan Ball of American Beauty movie fame. For a list of the producers and writers: www.hbo.com
The page on the "Claire Fisher" character: www.hbo.com
HBO's bio for actress Lauren Ambrose: www.hbo.com
Check the posted version of this CyberAlert item full a still shot of "Claire" in full rant.
# One last thing: You can get a sneak peak at the MRC's new blog, NewsBusters, set to launch next week: www.newsbusters.org
For video and comment on the Bob Novak incident Thursday on CNN, check my blog page: www.newsbusters.org
-- Brent Baker
It's...just...a...television...show...
With a really neat theme song and opening credits.
Something I'll avoid watching. Thanks!
I don't know. The boyfriend's rebuttal sounded okay to me, though I admit I skimmed it.
Boyfriend won the argument, hands down.
Sounds like a good tagline
I dunno, sounds like a pretty true-to-life scene as far as the argument goes.
Certainly better than Over There.
ThreeTracks
I never got into the show is "too cutting edge" to hold my attention. But will agree it has a cult following and is successful.
Never watched more than a few minutes of the show. Too many homos for me.
//merely foolish
Never seen the show, sorry.
I'm SOOOOO glad HBO isn't on my cable line up.....in fact, I'm glad I rarely watch TV
I started reading this thread thinking, "Liberal hollywood alert!". But it seems to me that the Boyfriend got the better lines here. The Girlfriend just rants and raves and the Boyfriend uses reason, talking about how all of our rights were won by blood. I think if we judge this as liberals chipping away at the argument, well, we've misjudged.
"It's...just...a...television...show... "
... written by the usual gaggle of leftwing Hollywood script-writers inserting their biases into lame dialogue .... yawn, is their anything more boring than *that*????
Claire is the HBO star.. or one of them. Boyfriends come and go.
One that is thankfully coming to an end this year. I've watched every episode and enjoyed it as I would enjoy watching a freight train wreck.
This HBO show has not let one episode this season slip by without a slap at the Right. The producers or writers have made it their mission. It's transparent and it's getting tiresome.
The only teevee show I follow if the new Battlestar Galactica, and even that's weak this second season.
I've never seen "Over There," but a couple of vets tell me it's not very good.
From the transcript, it looks like a reasonable exchange of ideas. The one character might be left-wing, but her remarks were not left unchallenged. I have no problem with antithetical viewpoints meeting in verbal combat.
Interesting, though, that the leftist sentiments in this argument are hackneyed and mere talking points, with little or no analysis behind them. When challenged, all she has is "You're not serious." Her boyfriend, on the other hand, at least seems to have put some thought into how current behavior stems from both human nature and historical roots.
And on HBO, purveyor of Deadwood, the original Vulgarityfest.
All these liberals bashing Iraq didn't have a problem when Clinton was bombing Yugoslavia, they loved that war.
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