Movies and the Crusades

 

I always see Arnold Schwarzenegger movies as a matter of general principle. So his latest. True Lies, was on my list. I found it an amusing spoof on one level, somewhat in the mold of the James Bond movies. But it was quite disturbing on another level.

The plot revolves around Arnold's battle with a group of terrorists, all of whom are clearly and pointedly identified as Muslims. I'm sure that will give about a billion Muslims warm and fuzzy feelings about Americans when they see the film. Action movies like this are much bigger in the Third World than they are in the U.S.

Arnold is working for a supersecret government agency. It's made to seem perfectly fine for Arnold and his cop buddies to terrorize citizens and destroy massive amounts of their property in the pursuit of "national security" and a good time.

Several times during the movie different groups of Yahoos in the audience applauded as Arnold blew away some swarthy Middle Easterners. This would seem to indicate the average American pretty much sees them as the new enemy, a group that needs killing on general principles. I presume the producers are catering to a market they believe already exists. There's no war like a religious war. And the movie paints a pretty realistic scenario for the way it could start.

The plot has the terrorists detonating, a 30 kiloton ex-Soviet weapon in the Florida Keys. I found this interesting because life does tend to imitate art. The concept is so simple, and feasible, that someone will certainly do it. After all, the ex-Soviets are sitting on 25.000 warheads. And all the troops, from the privates to the field marshals, are undoubtedly thinking how mellow they'd feel with a million bucks in a Swiss account from anyone who'd like one.

Why would terrorists want to set off some nuclear devices in America? The head terrorist gives an excellent and lucid explanation. He states he resents being called a terrorist when the real terrorists are those who bombed his country from afar; he's striking back in the only way he's able against people who hate him because of his beliefs. Why doesn't he aim to set off the device in Mexico, Canada, or Hong Kong? Because the government of almost every other more-or-less free country on the face of the planet minds its own business, and avoids sending troops to weird places to kill the natives.

Anyway, you can probably plan on some unhappy folks from the scene of some recent American military adventure trying exactly what Trite Lies posits. A World Trade Center escapade times 1,000. And when they do, you can bet the U.S. Government will use it as an excuse, with the fanatic support of most citizens, to round up any possible seditious elements. probably including those who subscribe to the wrong publications, belong to the wrong groups, give money to politically incorrect causes, or have the wrong things in their files. All in the "national interest," of course. Well, maybe it won't be a complete disaster. Maybe they'll detonate the device in Washington, D.C., or at least the IRS headquarters in Martinsburg, WV.

I'm not saying it's going to happen that way. But it's a credible scenario. And I wouldn't want to be in either the stock market or the country itself when it does happen.