Bill Maher’s Mirror Universe, Where Religious Freedom Means Restraining Religion
October 25, 2010 at 8:56 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | 1 CommentTags: Bill Maher, Chris Coons, Christine O’Donnell, First Amendment, Hollywood, religious freedom, Separation of Church and State, The Concession Stand, Thomas Jefferson
by Walter Scott Hudson, contributed to NewsReal Blog
We’re at a point in our country’s history where Americans are so polarized, they have their own realities. These alternate universes collided last week during a debate between Delaware candidates for US Senate, Christine O’Donnell and Chris Coons. The point of contention was the First Amendment and its oft misrepresented “separation of church and state.”
On HBO’s Real Time, host Bill Maher led off his latest monologue with the subject, displaying equal parts exasperation and delight. By his account, O’Donnell is vapidly ignorant of the Constitution.
Continue Reading Bill Maher’s Mirror Universe, Where Religious Freedom Means Restraining Religion…
Unwitting Conservatism in a Galaxy Far, Far Away : 7 Ways “Star Wars” Bends to the Right
August 8, 2010 at 8:18 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: Confederacy of Independent Systems, Conservatism, Darth Vader, Deleted Scene, Emperor Palpatine, Feminist Hawk, Feminists, Free Markets, Galactic Empire, God, Gun Rights, Guns, Humility, Jedi, Libertarianism, Milton Friedman, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Old Republic, religion, Separation of Church and State, Sith, Star Wars, The Feminist Hawk’s Nest, Yoda
by Walter Scott Hudson, contributing to NewsReal Blog
Science fiction and fantasy have always been ideal genres for exploring controversial political, religious, and philosophical ideas. The absurdity of circumstance in which such stories are set serve to detach an audience from reality, creating a kind of hypothetical laboratory for exploring thoughts which might be rejected elsewhere.
As a libertarian conservative and a life-long Star Wars fan, I was somewhat taken aback by 2005’s culminative installment Revenge of the Sith. Politics had dominated much of the prequel trilogy, but had been kept within the context of the story. Sith was different, as New York Times film critic A. O. Scott noted.
Mr. Lucas is clearly jabbing his light saber in the direction of some real-world political leaders. At one point, Darth Vader, already deep in the thrall of the dark side and echoing the words of George W. Bush, hisses at Obi-Wan, ‘If you’re not with me, you’re my enemy.’ Obi-Wan’s response is likely to surface as a bumper sticker during the next election campaign: ‘Only a Sith thinks in absolutes.’
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