Remember the 5th of November

“Remember, remember the fifth of November, the gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder, treason Should ever be forgot. . .”
Recently I had the opportunity to see the film “V for Vendetta”. I was intrigued about this film before I really knew what it was about, though I cannot explain why. The movie is based on a series of comic books which were compiled into a graphic novel. The story was first published in 1981 and based the futuristic stories in 1998.
The premise for the story is that the United States has suffered a great civil unrest and additional outside violence and has collapse. The reason given for the collapse of the Empire of the United States was moral degradation. The British Government is in the control of a moral zealot who imposes laws on all types of morality. Additionally, there are laws against speaking against the government and curfews imposed on the people. The government does audio sweeps of areas to ensure that there are no terrorist activities or any speaking out against the government.
We are introduced to the hero of the story V once he saves the beautiful Eve, portrayed by Natalie Portman. V is disguised in a mask resembling Guy Fawkes, who in 1606 attempted to destroy the parliament building. V then destroys the Old Bailey, the central courthouse in England. Eve then becomes a willing captive of V. There he teaches her that the government has exceeded its bounds and must eventually come to an end. A favorite line is, “People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments; Governments should be afraid of their people.”
The remainder of the film shows the plan to destroy the parliament building, much like Guy Fawkes attempted to do hundreds of years earlier.
There are a number of different people that will try to draw a message from the movie, such as “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” or “the current government is encroaching on the rights of the people, much like the fictional government in the movie.” One thing that I think is important to remember in watching this movie, is that it is fiction. The story was created in the early 80's and has no relevance to the current day. It is purely for entertainment value. And as far as entertainment goes, it was. I was thoroughly entertained by the movie.
Should someone insist on taking a message away from the film, it should be that people should rule their countries and not some few elites. The way people rule their countries is to vote and to be active in their community. Join a party, attend a rally, organize a rally, vote, volunteer for a candidate, support the armed forces, join the armed forces, lobby a representative. There are number of things one can do to be active in the community. So go see the movie and simply enjoy it and then be involved in your life and country.

Social Faux-pas or Unshackled Freedom

The other day I was at a movie. I saw V for Vendetta. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but that is the topic of another post to come. At the movie I sat behind a lady who had a coat placed on the seat next to her. I assumed that the seat was saved for a companion who was either in the bathroom or getting popcorn. As the previews went on the seat continued to be empty. Soon the movie began and still there was no one occupying the seat. I put it out of my mind for a majority of the movie. Then sometime later, near the end of the movie, my attention was again drawn to the empty seat in front of me with a coat on it. I came to the realization that this lady had come to the movie by herself.
It has occasioned me to go to a movie by myself, though not often. The first time I ventured to a movie by myself was sometime shortly after high school. It was a Wednesday night and I was living with some roommates. No one was home at the time and they were not going to be home for many hours. I was left with a couple of options. I could either stay home and do nothing, or go out and do something by myself. A new movie had come out that I wanted to see and no one was willing to go see it. So on this Wednesday night, I went to the movie theater. I was scared of what people would think of me, especially at the ticket booth. So, as I approached the booth, I pretended to be talking on my phone with another asking where they were and what time they would get there. I then stated within earshot of the ticket booth that I would just go inside and get some seats. Then I purchased my tickets and went in. The movie was ok, and there ended up being only 3 people in the theater, including myself.
Since that night, I have gotten over the fear of going to movies by myself, though I still rarely do it. It seems to be a social faux-pas to go to a movie by oneself. I can’t understand this. People will look at a person who goes to a movie by themself and think that they must have no friends or that they must be really weird. The problem with this is that people are often found watching movies by themselves. People are often found watching television by themselves. People will sit at home by themselves and put in a DVD. I have yet to see someone come home to their house only to find a member of their family is watching TV and react with, "what are you doing you weirdo? Why are you watching TV by yourself?" Yet, this is the same attitude we take when people go out to watch a movie.
I no longer fear the judging eyes of others if I choose to go to a movie by myself. But the rest of society will continue to judge. I applaud those who will go into the public realm and subject themselves to public scrutiny, so that they may be entertained. Let us all cast off the shackles of shame and be not afraid to do as we like simply because others my think us bizarre.

I recently read a case that held a shop owner criminally liable for the acts of his customers, and was charged with Involuntary Manslaughter. This shopkeeper sold Sterno, a substance used for cooking and heating, to his customers. The customers then proceeded to drink the Sterno, outside of his store, in the privacy of their own home and then died from it. The court ruled that since he knew of their intentions to drink the Sterno, he should be liable for their actions.
In a typical socialist society, I could understand holding a store owner criminally liable for acts of others. However, here in the United States of America, we pride ourselves on not being socialists. In fact, America is the beacon of Capitalism. We should not be held responsible for the actions of others, but only for our own actions. In civil court, there are of course exceptions, but when it comes to depriving someone of their own freedom, how can this country state that a man can be detained and jailed because someone else decided to drink Sterno and end their life. The idea is so ridiculous to me that I was dumbfounded after reading the case.
Here's a hypothetical, a man walks into a hardware store. He is missing some fingers, and in fact where his thumb should be, he has bloody gause there. The man goes to purchase a saw. The store owner probably can assume that the man has sawn off his fingers and quite recently his thumb. But the store owner sells him the saw anyway. Later, it is found that the man has cut off his entire hand, and has bleed to death. Should we as a society, hold the owner of the hardware store responsible for the death of this stupid man?

I've also discovered that there are a number of people in this country that favor Good Samaritan laws. These are the laws that one must act if he sees a crime being committed by another or help someone that appears to need help. There are laws like this found in European Countries that are seemingly becoming more and more socialist. I'd like to say to those who would favor legislation of Good Samaritan laws.
I have a Constitutional Right not to give a damn! If I should want to help someone in need then I will, however, I will not live in a place that requires me to help someone else. This is the equivilent of slavery. The requiring of others to do something that they are not inclined to do themselves is slavery. This is a step in the wrong direction.
Finally, I have decided to post another picture. This one is of Petra Nemcova. Both her and Alessandra Ambrosio (pictured below) are fighting for a spot in the Road to the Final babe on 1280 The Zone's Website. To vote click here. Please support these two lovely ladies.