Okay so I know I told you all about being insignificant when it comes to voting. Then, we had a free evening from TV; nothing on Wednesday's now that Project Runway is over... So I pulled a DVD from the shelf and we decided to pop some corn and watch a movie together. We decided to watch Frank Capra's John Doe (1941). I love Frank Capra, and think he did a good job of showing the common man on film. In the movie, times are hard and people are struggling. People are losing their jobs, politicians are self serving and newspapermen are manipulating the vote. Sounds familiar, eh? In the movie there is a speech. It gets me every time I watch the film.
John Doe, played by Gary Cooper, gets talked into doing a radio speech. The speech is written by a desperate journalist trying to keep her job so she can pay her bills and take care of her widowed mother. Her mother gives her father's journal to her to inspire the speech she's been asked to write. This is the crux of it.
"I am the man you all know as John Doe. I took that name because it seems to describe...the average man - and that's me. (He clears his throat.) And that's me. Well, it was me before I said I was going to jump off the City Hall roof at midnight on Christmas Eve. Now I guess I'm not average anymore. Now I'm getting all sorts of attention, from big shots too, the mayor and the governor, for instance. They don't like those articles I've been writing...
(he's then heckled from the audience and the heckler is rushed from the room) he continues:
Well, people like the governor and that fellow there can stop worrying. I'm not going to talk about them. I'm gonna talk about us - the average guys, the John Does. If anybody should ask you what the average John Doe is like, you couldn't tell him because he's a million and one things. He's Mr. Big and Mr. Small, he's simple and he's wise, he's inherently honest but he's got a streak of larceny in his heart. He seldom walks up to a public telephone without shovin' his finger into the slot to see if somebody left a nickel there...
He's the man the ads are written for. He's the fella everybody sells things to. He's Joe Doakes, the world's greatest stooge and the world's greatest strength. Yes sir, yes sir, we're a great family, the John Does. We are the meek who are supposed to inherit the earth. You'll find us everywhere. We raise the crops, we dig the mines, work the factories, keep the books, fly the planes and drive the buses, and when the cop yells, 'Stand back there you,' he means us - the John Does. We've existed since time began. We built the pyramids. We saw Christ crucified, pulled the oars for Roman emperors, sailed the boats for Columbus, retreated from Moscow with Napoleon, and froze with Washington at Valley Forge. Yes sir, we've been in there dodging left hooks since before History began to walk. In our struggle for freedom, we've hit the canvas many a time, but we always bounced back because we're the people - and we're tough.
They've started a lot of talk about free people goin' soft, that we can't take it. That's a lot of hooey! A free people can beat the world at anything, from war to tiddlywinks, if we all pull in the same direction. I know a lot of you are saying, 'What can I do? I'm just a little punk. I don't count. Well, you're dead wrong. The little punks have always counted because in the long run, the character of a country is the sum total of the character of its little punks.
But we've all got to get in there and pitch. We can't win the old ball game unless we have teamwork. And that's where every John Doe comes in. It's up to him to get together with his teammate, and your teammate, my friends, is the guy next door to ya. Your neighbor - he's a terribly important guy, that guy next door. You're gonna need him and he's gonna need you, so look him up. If he's sick, call on him. If he's hungry, feed him. If he's out of a job, find him one. To most of you, your neighbor is a stranger, a guy with a barkin' dog and a high fence around him. Now you can't be a stranger to any guy that's on your own team. So tear down the fence that separates you. Tear down the fence and you'll tear down a lot of hates and prejudices. Tear down all the fences in the country and you'll really have teamwork.
I know a lot of you are saying to yourselves: 'He's askin' for a miracle to happen. He's expecting people to change all of a sudden.' Well, you're wrong. It's no miracle. It's no miracle because I see it happen once every year and so do you at Christmastime. There's something swell about the spirit of Christmas, to see what it does to people, all kinds of people. Now why can't that spirit, that same warm Christmas spirit last the whole year round? Gosh, if it ever did, if each and every John Doe would make that spirit last 365 days out of the year - we'd develop such a strength, we'd create such a tidal wave of good will that no human force could stand against it. Yes sir, my friends, the meek can only inherit the earth when the John Does start loving their neighbors. You'd better start right now. Don't wait till the game is called on account of darkness. Wake up, John Doe, you're the hope of the world."
Maybe we should all rent a copy of this movie and send it to their favorite politician, and two to their least favorite. We're the people. They work for us. We're not insignificant! We need our voices heard. It starts with our neighbors. Truly.
29 October 2008
Frank Capra's John Doe
10 December 2007
Stepping on a land mine
Yes, that's what this post will be. But I really don't understand this and maybe someone can help me out.
Why is it okay for Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton to go to a church and stump for their favorite politicians and it is not okay that someone like Mitt Romney (not an endorsement) can't talk about the fact that he is running for president at church?
I understand (like some do not) the separation of church and state. That part of the constitution was written to protect churches from the state, not the other way around, by the way.
What I don't understand is why is it allowed for some and not others? I don't get it. Maybe someone else does. Answers? I am not looking for a political discussion. I'm really just looking for a good answer.
27 February 2007
Set the politics aside
I heard that on Oscar night that an award, the gold statue itself, was awarded to Al Gore for the movie An Inconvenient Truth. AaaaaacccK!
I sit here an old style hippie, raised in the sixties and seventies. Milk fed the pablum of kumbaya and peace. Willing to take upon my share of waste and dedicating myself on a daily basis of greening up the spot I live in and taking care of mother earth.
This dufus, and yes I mean dufus, is not willing to give an inch. At one point he even said that it is okay to lie about global warming to get people's attention to the problem. That's when I turned a deaf ear to him. And then this news. He gets the statue because people thought it was the best documentary. Please. Iraq in Fragments, or My Country, My Country were worthy of the statue. It's a shame Hollywood couldn't see it.
Today I read this story:
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization, issued a press release late Monday:
Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.
Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).
In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.
The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.
Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.
Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.
Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.
“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.
In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.
For Further Information, Contact:
Nicole Williams, (615) 383-6431
editor@tennesseepolicy.org
I will continue to be dedicated to caring for mother earth. I will no longer entertain the thought that Mr. Gore knows anything about the planet, or cares to. By their labors you shall know them.
