News Roundup for 1/5/10

All about hatin' on America

-Headline of the day-
"Avatar arouses conservatives' ire."

James Cameron's scifi blockbuster Avatar has been catching some flack from a few on the left as being the typical paternalistic "white guys goes native, saves natives from white guys" movie. Personally, I don't have much of a problem with this since it's just a narrative tool -- as the outsider learns about the culture, so do we and, as we want to save the culture, so does the outsider. Not to belabor the title, but the word "avatar" is apt, since the character is a projection of ourselves as a way to pull us into the movie. None of that is very funny though, which is where the wingnuts come in.

Seems Avatar's big problem isn't that it's an update on the Dancing With Wolves theme. The problem is that it's Commie propaganda. The Weekly Standard's John Podhoretz, who it must be said is blitheringly stupid, says the film is "blitheringly stupid; indeed, it's among the dumbest movies I've ever seen." It's pro-environment, anti-corporate/military, and promotes "the notion that to be human is just way uncool" -- which, let's face it, is a really big problem out here in the real world. All those kids pretending they aren't human.

At the New York Times, Ross Douthat accuses Cameron of promoting pantheism, thereby making the movie -- I guess -- an insult to God or Jesus or whatever magical sky-daddy it is that Ross believes in. Anyway, see it and you're gonna go to hell, heathen.

In related news, syndicated columnist Jonah Goldberg writes that Avatar is just your normal liberal Hollywood elite garbage and isn't worth getting worked up over."What would have been controversial is if -- somehow -- Cameron had made a movie in which the good guys accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts," Jonah says.

Because that movie hasn't been made a bazillion times. That's what you like about conservatives; all those fresh, new ideas. (LA Times)


-Something new to freak out about-
Seems President Obama has picked Amanda Simpson to be a senior technical advisor to the Commerce Department. Remember the last time you gave a crap who was a senior technical advisor to the Commerce Department? That's right, it was never.

But this time, things are different. See, Simpson used to be a man, which officially makes this the worst thing ever.

"Is there going to be a transgender quota now in the Obama administration?" asks wingnut Pete LaBarbera. "How far does this politics of gay and transgender activism go? Clearly this is an administration that is pandering to the gay lobby."

Because, you see, it's totally impossible for someone who's transgendered to be qualified for anything, let alone as a senior technical advisor to the Commerce Department. What does a senior technical advisor to the Commerce Department actually do?

Don't ask Pete, he has no idea either. (Political Animal)


-Bonus HotD-
"Hume Decries Persecution By Critics, Reiterates It Would Be 'Magnificent' To 'Witness' Tigers Woods' Conversion [to Christianity]."

I'd like to see Brit Hume's conversion to something other than a bigoted asshole.

I guess we'll both just have to dream. (Think Progress)