A Powerful Movie (Thomas Sowell on "2016")

Creators Syndicate ^ | August 21, 2012 | Thomas Sowell

[jazusamo]

Years, and sometimes decades, pass between my visits to movie theaters. But I drove 30 miles to see the movie "2016," based on Dinesh D'Souza's best-selling book, "The Roots of Obama's Rage." Where I live is so politically correct that such a movie would not even be mentioned, much less shown.

Every seat in the theater was filled, even though there had been an earlier showing that day, and more showings were scheduled for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I had to sit on a staircase in the balcony, but it was worth it.

The audience was riveted. You could barely hear a sound from them, or detect a movement, and certainly not smell popcorn. Yet the movie had no bombast, no violence, no sex and no spectacular visual effects.

The documentary itself was fascinating, as Dinesh D'Souza presented the story of Barack Obama's life and view of the world, in a very conversational sort of way, illustrating it with visits to people and places around the world that played a role in the way Obama's ideas and beliefs evolved.

It was refreshing to see how addressing adults as adults could be effective, in an age when so many parts of the media address the public as if they were children who need a constant whirlwind of sounds and movements to keep them interested.

Dinesh D'Souza's own perspective, as someone born in India who came to America and became an American, provided a special insight into the way people from the Third World often perceive or misperceive the United States and the Western world.

That Third World perspective is Obama's perspective, D'Souza demonstrates in this documentary, as in his book — and it is a perspective that is very foreign to that of most Americans,..

[Dysart]

How is it that Leftist like Obama can not see the clear evidence of the tide of history is with capitalism. Capitalism brings the most prosperity to the most people.

I think because in the church of their warped, Marxist minds, gospel is that everyone should be equal, not prosperous. Making all people poor is infinitely easier to achieve than granting affluence to the masses, which is not possible under any economic system.

Now, certain elites are exempt from this everyman status and are entitled to skim off the peasants. It's only fair, being superior and more enlightened to them and all.

[Kaslin]

Thanks for the ping. I just checked our Great Escape Movie theater schedule. It will be shown om August 24, I plan to go for the Matinee the following day

[Newfy]

I ordered the DVD from Amazon.

[South40]

You are welcome. I want to see this movie but it is not yet showing in San Diego.

[MrB]

I was talking to a sheeperal about the unsustainability of the spending and debt levels, and the resulting economic collapse that would ensue,

and the only comment she had was that it would be OK because then “we’d all be in the same boat”.

That really puzzled me for a bit, then I said “OH! yeah, I forgot! Liberals believe it’s better for all to be equally impoverished than for some to have more than others!”

Of course, the denial followed.

I’ve gotten denials when I pointed out the “liberal” mindset to this person before, usually followed by a “but” that confirms the exact thing I just said.

[catnipman]

Opens of Friday in the Denver Metro area. I’m going!

[rockinqsranch]

Thanks for the information. I’ll look it up, and order it myself. Hate those crackerbox theaters they have nowadays.

[ArmyTeach]

Not finding it yet in my area ... very frustrating.

[Dysart]

I long ago observed the the envious view from the bottom among SOME left-leaning subjects...if they cannot raise themselves up it’s better to even the score by dragging others down with them. Sad but true. I don’t think it practice it’s all that rewarding after the fact. I think it entails more competition for entitlement resources, right? Seems to me...

[upchuck]

Thanks for the post. I just added this to my Netflix queue. It goes into the “saved” section waiting for release on DVD.

FWIW, this movie has 4.1 or 4.2 stars out of five on Netflix.

[jazusamo]

Thanks...I was going to mention it to the wife, we’ve only had Netflix for a short time and she takes care of it, we’ll do the same.

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

The Third World, or anti-colonial, view is that the rich nations have gotten rich by taking wealth from the poor nations. It is part of a much larger vision, in which the rich in general have gotten rich by taking from the poor, whether in their own country or elsewhere.

Third World view = anti-colonial view = progressive view = leftist world view = economy is a 'zero sum' game. The major fallacy being that there is only so much 'pie'. If I take a bigger slice than your slice, must of needs, be smaller. This is the fundamental mistake that underlies socialist, progressive, leftist economic thinking. Under capitalism the economic 'pie' grows larger as the enterprise operates, increasing his wealth as well as that of the employees who formerly had nothing. Why should the 'capitalist get the larger slice? Because the enterprise did not exist before the capitalist provided the seed money to purchase the land, acquire the capital equipment, and provide a place to work. It is also rare for the 'capitalist' to be an individual, more typical the 'capitalist' is an aggregation of many individuals all of whom buy shares in the enterprise thus sharing the risk of failure and the expectation of reward. Realistically, thousands of investors each earn a sliver of the 'pie' rather than an individual (Robber Barron) grabbing the largest slice.

Regards,
GtG

[AlanGreenSpam]

I’m disappointed by Sowell in this article.

He’s not hard-hitting as he usually is.

And he misspoke here (”Most Americans?” even the polls aren’t saying so):

—”This D’Souza attributes to Barack Obama’s great talents in rhetoric, and his ability to project an image that resonates with most Americans”

[patriot08]

.

.

If American only knew...

The best Obama exposure site on the net:
(by our own FReeper, Beckwith)

The Obama File
http://theobamafile.com/

The United States Library of Congress has selected
TheObamaFile.com for inclusion in its historic collection
of Internet materials
http://theobamafile.com/LibraryOfCongress.html

Just a few of the pages:

http://www.theobamafile.com/index_next_politics.html

http://www.theobamafile.com/index_next_personal.html

http://www.theobamafile.com/BarackObama.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/_family/FamilyPage.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaEducation.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaPsychology.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaReligion.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaWife.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/_associates/ObamaAssociates.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaIconography.htm

.

.

[jazusamo]

Thanks...bookmarked

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

“....it would be OK because then “we’d all be in the same boat”.

It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?

They just don’t see it.

They don’t see that if they got their wish, they themselves would be in the rice fields right along with those rich people they hate. They somehow think that they would be exempted from that imposition of social and probably economic order in which those evil rich would be stuck working the rice fields. And in their vision, it would be BETTER THAN IT IS NOW for them to see those former rich people in the rice fields, EVEN IF IT MEANT that they themselves would be in those same rice fields. But see, they NEVER go that one neuron farther, they never think it through to ponder why it would be that THEY would be exempt from the slavery, the torment they would wish on others.

Why is that? It’s a peculiar form of willful blindness, or, perhaps, this is what the prototypical statists saw when they advocate and work for the dumbing down of the citizenry; that they are just waiting for that day when the median voter can no longer assemble sufficient neurons to look that one thought node farther, to a point where they might see themselves inside their own vision of the social order being sold to them. Intensely evil, insidious.

Very important to understand this.

If we were “all in the same boat”...who could possibly employ you, other than the government? And why would they give the slightest crap about you?

[bicyclerepair]

Whenever I see/hear the “tax the rich” BS I ask.

Ever got a job from a poor person?

[GOPJ]

Obama’s ‘you didn't build that’ speech told me his 3rd world Marxism was MUCH deeper than a passing interest... Listen to Obama when he gives that speech - listen to the whole thing - and how he plays off the audience. He's deep into Marxism....

[GOPJ]

You might find this interesting... and thanks for the ping.

From the link:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2907913/posts?page=28#28

FP: You interview someone who knew Obama at Occidental and says that Obama was an actual communist at Occidental.

Kengor: That’s right. The person is Dr. John Drew, who I’ve interviewed at length and remain in regular contact with today. He’s totally credible, no axe to grind, no story to sell. Drew contacted me because he knew I was researching Davis. Drew sees himself as the “missing link” between Obama’s time with Frank Marshall Davis and with later radicals like Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Drew himself was a Marxist at the time, and Obama was introduced to him as a fellow Marxist—as “one of us.” Drew told me about Obama’s belief in what Drew described as the “Frank Marshall Davis fantasy of revolution.” Drew, who was a more realistic, chastened Marxist, WAS STUNNED AT OBAMA’S UNWAVERING BELIEF IN THE IMMINENCE OF A MARXIST REVOLUTION IN THE UNITED STATES.

[Jane Austen]

This is the first I have heard of this film and hope to see it.

Another must-see: Dennis Michael Lynch's "They Come to America" where he points out that the biggest danger to us come from illegal aliens.