I had a short conversation with a guy at work regarding the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth. I'd seen Al on Oprah for about 30 seconds but other than that I don't know much about the film. So this friend comes into work talking about how he saw the movie and how scary it all is. All I said in response is, "I'm not buyin' it." "YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING?!?!?!!!" The look on his face was like I just said I didn't believe in traffic lights.
His overreaction makes me even less interested in seeing it. I'm not an activist about anything really. I think there are so, so many things wrong with this world that I have a hard time picking just one. And I'm just a little suspicious of those who can pick just one. There has to be some ulterior motive involved. I mean bringing global warming to a screeching halt by using better light bulbs? (that's the part I saw on Oprah) I'm just not buying it.
So I finally saw a preview for An Inconvenient Truth. It actually sounds kind of fascinating. I like geography and geology and natural disaster movies. I might just rent it for entertainment value...in the Discovery Channel sort of way. But one thing Al said in that preview revealed his ulterior motive.
I think his line went something like this. "Should we be spending so much money/time fighting terrorists or should we focus on global warming."
Hmm Al, that's a good question. Let's see...who gets to decide if this country should fight terrorist? Um...uh...hmmm...oh I got it! The president!!! Oh yeah...give me a gold star! Now...who's our current president?? This one's a little tougher...let me think.....................................................OH!!! It's George W. Bush!! Do I get another star? Oh and one more thing. Who kicked your ass in the campaign for that esteemed position in our government? Could that be George Bush as well? Me thinks so. Geriatric Floridians aside, he won the election. Al, you must be pissed off about that huh?
Here's the thing. I'm not a big fan of Dubya anymore either. And I'm not against altering our current goings on on this planet to prevent it's early destruction. But I'm not going to watch An Inconvenient Truth and see it as anything more than reactionary liberal propaganda.
I am more afraid when I watch movies like Hotel Rwanda, Lord of War, Babel (not that I've seen it yet), Blood Diamond (ditto). What good is saving the planet if it will filled with greed and hatred. I'd rather see our leaders work on human relations. Our families need help. Our country, our world and it's citizens.
If the planet is going to implode in 100 years because we use too much AquaNet then I'd rather see it go out on a good note, with the crown of God's creation, human life, being the thing we value above all things.
2 comments:
I'm with you on the Al Gore annoyance. He is straining so hard to stay in the spotlight, you can actually see the capilaries (sp?) popping in his eyes as he speaks. In his defense though, he didn't get his ass kicked by Bush. He actually won the popular vote.
I'm also with you on annoyance with people picking a single horse to ride and then riding the horse 'til it dies. Then they get out the paddles, revive the horse, and keep on going. I don't see why it has to be either/or: either we should fight terrorism OR we should fight global warming. Whatever, Al Gore. And then the $64,000 question is how we fight those things.
I think it largely comes down to kingdom theology and whether or not you believe we're destined to get off this rock..."fly away" as the old song goes. If you think no, then I think you have more responsibility to the earth. But if you think no, it also means you believe in God's promise to renew this earth and that sort of takes away from the whole alarmism "The earth is going to BURN UP in a few years! BURN UP I tell you!" thing that this movement currently thrives on.
I think that'd be a healthier place to be, but most people are horribly gnostic these days. So I ain't holding my breath.
So ends my theological pontification for today.
I know you're right about Gore winning the popular vote but "kicking ass" made for better reading. :)
Post a Comment