George Lucas has been drinking from the same fetid waters as the paranoid Left. His political ideas — which sound like they come from a dull 10-year-old — contributed mightily to the shambles he made of "Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones." As I recall, the former movie was about some kind of trade dispute, an interstellar NAFTA without any space-alien equivalent of Ross Perot (assuming, of course, that Ross Perot is not a space alien.)
Here's what he said to the Cannes festival:
"The issue was, how does a democracy turn itself into a dictatorship?" he said.We've discussed this issue at some length here in CL, and as I recall, the only proof anybody could provide for a nascent dictatorship is that the president claims the power to detain Americans fighting against their own government."When I wrote it, Iraq (the U.S.-led war) didn't exist... but the parallels of what we did in Vietnam and Iraq are unbelievable."
He acknowledged an uncomfortable feeling that the United States was in danger of losing its democratic ideals, like in the movie.
"I didn't think it was going to get this close. I hope this doesn't come true in our country."
If you think President Bush is the first president to assert that right, you're wrong. Completely, demonstrably, comprehensively wrong. That idea goes back at least to Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War, who detained several hundred thousand Confederates on his own authority. In World War II, American saboteurs cooperating with German spies were executed after facing a military tribunal, not a Federal judge. The Supreme Court has agreed with this prececent (not that you'd know it from the media coverage). They merely invited the president to send the prisoners before tribunals.
George Lucas is an intellectual flyweight, so his particular words aren't terribly important. But the Left's general paranoia has a very real consequence. Someday, there very well might be a threat to our democracy. The Greeks assumed that all democracies would eventually give way to chaos and then a dictatorship of some form. But if the Left keeps screaming about "DICTATORSHIP" this and "NAZI" that, nobody will listen if indeed it does happen in the United States.
Nah, it's hopeless. Let them stew and shout until the next time a Democrat wins (which won't be long), there occurs a peaceful transition of administrations, and then we ask "so - what was so fascistic?"
I think, originally, Lucas was taking his 'democracy to empire' model from Rome. Hopefully his storytelling takes more from that situation than something silly like liberal visions of the horrible conservitive future.
How's this for paranoia?
Downing Street Memo
P.S. I'm politicaly independent and moderate. I have no ulterior motives or agenda to "dethrone" Bush.
JohnH, that's how I always understood the original trilogy (the "Imperial Senate" references and "the Republic" were dead giveaways.)
Funky, I'm not too sure why you're linking to that memo. I read it several days ago and didn't think it remarkable then, and still don't. It's not a policy position, it's an informational memo by a diplomatic aide. These kinds of thing get written all the time: they represent the views of the person composing the memo, not the official position of the government.
This thing, the "smoking gun" presidental daily briefing memo of August 2001, the fraudulent Texas Air National Guard memos...is this really what the Left has come to? Rifling through old papers and hoping there's something they can use to damage their opponents? Dumpster-diving isn't a political platform.
And it also has nothing to do with whether George Bush is taking us on the road to a dictatorship.
Now that it is almost over, there is now a new website thanking George Lucas for 28 years of Star Wars to present 1,000,000 signatures and stories to him later this summer. Look at http://www.thankyougoerge.com
Star Wars Shmar Wars! The orginal came out when i was 17. I still haven't seen it, but I remember all the hype and talk from family and friends back in the late seventies, (I guess you didn't have to see it, because of the never-ending media hype and shown clips) Never did I hear people mention the "inner meaning" of the characters and the real-life significance and pagan background behind "the force".
Let's face it folks. All anyone talked about was the pre-"Star Trek: Next Gen." special effects! The battle scenes and chase scenes didn't hurt their box office receipts. And the fact that it (and it's 2 or 3 sequels) were not available on DVD or Video, I knew people who went back to the theater again and again.
Because of this fact, you'd think that Lucas would figure out that with the exception of those poor souls who camp out to get their tickets, the latest films of the past few years have been comparative box office flops.
It's over, Lucas. Give yourself - and us - a break, already!
Star Wars Shmar Wars! The orginal came out when i was 17. I still haven't seen it, but I remember all the hype and talk from family and friends back in the late seventies, (I guess you didn't have to see it, because of the never-ending media hype and shown clips) Never did I hear people mention the "inner meaning" of the characters and the real-life significance and pagan background behind "the force".
Let's face it folks. All anyone talked about was the pre-"Star Trek: Next Gen." special effects! The battle scenes and chase scenes didn't hurt their box office receipts. And the fact that it (and it's 2 or 3 sequels) were not available on DVD or Video, I knew people who went back to the theater again and again.
Because of this fact, you'd think that Lucas would figure out that with the exception of those poor souls who camp out to get their tickets, the latest films of the past few years have been comparative box office flops.
It's over, Lucas. Give yourself - and us - a break, already!
If we don't get control of the fascist left in the US...the fascist right will do it for us...meantime Nero is fiddling down in DC.