Having pointed out the true story behind the web of lies portrayed in Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan to somebody – I was taken aback by the response. The person I pointed things out to asked me why I would do such a thing to start with.
“Why,” he asked, “would I do such a thing?” And, he continued, “it’s like you want to crush everything I like. And find something wrong in everything… It seems like you have a bit of a pessimistic outlook on the world. The glass is half empty. And you seem to miss the good.”
My god…
It’s got nothing to do with ‘crushing’ what you like. I was looking through your profile to get a better idea of who I’m talking to. When I saw that Saving Private Ryan was one of your favorite movies – I felt I needed to make you realize the truth about it.
If hoping to open your eyes to something you may not know is seen by you as me attempting to ‘crush’ things you like, then you are just completely misinterpreting my motivations.
My motivations, and I realize that you seem to find this incredibly hard to believe for some strange reason – is to shed some light where little seems to be found. I am trying to show you something important that you may not know, in the hope that your choices and opinions might be better informed.
When I asked you to look up the Sullivan Five, it was because I wanted you to understand the difference between reality and the incredibly irresponsible cheerleader rewriting of it that Spielberg went ahead and shot – a rewrite that serves to make a cruel, abusive, manipulative war-machine appear to be kind, gentle, and humane. If trying to take the wool off your eyes regarding something (whether it’s the situation in Iraq or the mess that is Saving Private Ryan) amounts to ‘crushing’ anything…
If there’s anything I’m trying to crush, it’s the lies they surround us with, the lies they throw at you, and the lies which have led to you misunderstanding my every word and every attempt to communicate. The lies that twist whatever good intentions you might have into tools to be used and abused by unscrupulous politicians with nothing on their minds but power and genocide. I try to ‘crush’ the lies in the hope that you would do better if you knew better. I don’t do this out of hate, I do this out of hope, and it saddens me that you can’t see that. Whereas I have some faith in your good intentions, you have very little in mine.
The glass isn’t half-empty; it’s half full with poison. I’m hoping you’ll throw away the poison and fill the glass with some clear water.
And no, I don’t have a pessimistic outlook. If I had a pessimistic outlook, I would not be having this conversation – would not have made this deviation, would not have tried.
It’s been a long day.
