Oliver Stone’s movie on the Kennedy assinaation was trashed by the media 6 months before it was released, while it was playing, and six months after it was released, acoording th Micheal Parenti in DIRTHY TRUTHS.  the cover up of the kennedy, king and other assassinations in the 60’s, partly by the media sleazing truthers like Stone, led to the 9/11-anthrax homicide. 

If these murders could be covered up in plain sight, by sleazing them as ‘conspiracy theories’, which the powerful are never guilty of, than the sky is the limit.  Stone’s movie on 9/11 apparently repeated the offical story.

Wall Street (and more broadly the ruling-elite ‘corporate financial Empire’ that control sour country behind the facade of its ‘Vichy’ sham of democracy) now uses a very guileful and sophisticated form of looting to feed the beast of its Empire, and starve our weakening democracy.

Today the Empire’s preferred manner of robbery and looting is by “negative externality cost” displacement.

This is the WMD of Empire.  This is the means which Warren Buffett recognized when he called CDSs and derivatives “financial WMDs”.

We are faced with Empire, Elitism, Externalities, and Extinction if we do not expunge and excise this cancer of Empire from our land.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/-Empire-Elitism-External-by-Alan-MacDonald-090310-224.html

Re: Alex Fraser

Thanks, for the follow-up, Alex. You’re original post makes more sense to me now.  I’ve never quite thought of myself as emblematic of anything, but I suppose the same is true for everyone living on planet earth.

Per your Stone comment, I believe you’re being a bit judgmental when it comes to these students, unless, of course, it’s a film class that is focusing specifically on American film makers, and Oliver Stone’s name is listed.  If this is the case, Scheer sure has a lot of slackers in his class. If not, we can only assume it’s more of an artistic/entertainment preference thing, and we only have to read the “truthdig” posts below to know how this goes - everyone has favorites.

I agree with you’re thoughts on the “My-Lai” issue. It’s surprising a college level audience has not participated in some kind of discussion on the incident by now. Since we don’t become aware of these things through osmosis, the lack of awareness almost has to reflect some kind of educational bubble. I say this because I know the incident is discussed in numerous educational publications - history, journalism and the behavioral sciences. As to what kind of bubble, I don’t know. Maybe it reflects the individual preference of USC professors.  Indeed, I know some who would say, “Well, it’s USC what do you expect.”

As to the American film industry, I share your views on this as well. I had a professor who told me once that the American film industry is a lot like American politics – a very incestuous affair – and I think he’s right.  And when you combine the “incest” factor with the “money and power” factors, you sort of end up with a stunted country where minimal human progress is made, and a stunted film industry where minimal human creativity exists.

ITW—must have missed the hype re “Platoon”; generally disregard hype anyway. (My husband thinks the fact that a film is directed by Stone is a mark against going to see it artistically, not politically speaking.)

“Apocalypse Now”, for sure, memorable, esp. the helicopter valkyries & Duvall’s cavalry hat as well as the famous napalm-in-the-morning. But nearly everything Duvall touches is gold, e.g. “Laurie darlin’” in Lonesome Dove. And I watched the original “Godfather” last night on DVD and young Duvall as Tom Hagen was already in top form. (The last few days I’ve been sick and not doing much but sleeping, watching DVDs, graduating to posting and a little reading. Got sort of lost somewhere in the Chihuahua desert Sunday, thrown off-course by barrier barbed wire NewMexU has up for some damned experiment or other, and another temporary inconvenient barrier courtesy White Sands Missile Range. We ended up riding around futilely in huge wind and cold rain for nearly 30 miles. But getting sick is never a hardship for true movie lover; just embarrassed that we got confused about direction. Husband, very hardy and not sick, blamed failed battery in GPS as he thinks he can navigate his way out of anything. (So far, true.) Main gripe is that still wasn’t well enough to go with husband last night to hear Salman Rushdie speak at the U. Damn. Now there is someone whose books would be hard to put on film but worth the effort.

Kubrick’s Full Metal as well as Hal the computer both gave me a headache and dim view of future of world. Altman’s “M*A*S*H” clearly shows war for what mostly it is. Insane, but perhaps more pleasant that the actual experience.

Best Israeli war movie is “Beaufort” (originally a stage play). Think it’s out on DVD now. Best Israeli feel-good-about-our-future movie is “Walk on Water”, complete with good German and sympathetic Palestinian. I bought a copy of it on DVD when Hamas won the election.

Chicken soup for the soul is vintage Woody Allen, but I doubt he’ll ever get interviewed on truthdig. (Can’t imagine him making a Socially Meaningful movie, war, anti-war, or otherwise.) During his difficulties with Mia, we drove around the the bumpersticker “I believe you, Woody.”

Mr. Scheer,

You completely misrepresented Obama’s policy on RENDITION.  That has not been eliminated, but retained.  Please issue a correction, and perhaps an investigation/article on the matter.

And I found Platoon to be over-rated with the whole hype about veterans’ groups organizing support teams for other veterans viewing it.  All hype.  It was an OK film, but it didn’t leave me thinking.

I never figured out whether I thought Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket was a good film or not, yet I couldn’t stop reviewing it over and over in my mind to try to figure it out.  Does that make it a good film?  I don’t know.  Meanwhile, when Platoon was over, it was merely over.

Apocalypse Now! had people thinking and talking about it for years. Phrases got into the popular culture—even the cartoon elephant in the cartoon “Tarzan” says “The horror, the horror!”  And who hasn’t laughed at Robert Duval’s “I love the smell of napalm in the morning!”?

Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H became the classic insane war movie.

Hollywood likes Oliver Stone’s politics (as I mostly, do) and it pretends he’s a great filmmaker as a result, but he’s not.

Have to agree with ITW Stone is a schlocky director, and that he sometimes lets big stars like Kostner flood the screen with their egos to the detriment of his message. But “Salvador”, “Platoon”, and “On Any Sunday” were first-rate. (“Wall Street” and “W” were amusing but cartoonish whacks at easy targets.) In his interview, he criticized “Blackhawk Down” for many reasons, but I think it’s one of the best depictions of the new asymmetric conflicts we find ourselves in ever made. It may not have been like that in the Vietnam War Stone remembers, but if you ask anyone who’s been around Somalia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan or even Iraq they would recognize it by the complexities both moral and logistic. And it did rather closely adhere to a well-researched book concerning an event that actually occurred.

Now if an author like Sebastian Junger were writing the screenplay for any of the aspects of modern war he’s personally explored in places no soldier in his right mind would want to deploy, the integrity of realism would come through. (The film adaptation of his “Perfect Storm” was captivating.)

I give up, Alex Fraser.  What is your point?

What possible conclusion can be drawn from the fact that I’ve only seen one Oliver Stone film, and have decided to check out a couple of his other films this weekend - other than the fact that I’ve only seen one Oliver Stone film and have decided to check our a couple of his other films this weekend?

Surely, you’re not proposing that any individual who has only seen one Oliver Stone film must have fallen - as you say - into “the most concentrated barrage against a dedicated popular artist that you’ve witnessed in your lifetime?” Indeed, if you are, I can only conclude you are one mixed up thinker.

I hate to think what kind of whacky conclusion you will draw if I don’t like the two films that I’ve decided to check out this weekend.

Even though I frequently and in agreement with Stone’s politics, sometimes totally, I STILL think he is a lousy, shlocky director whose “message” always gets in the way of his movie. At his best is the somewhat hokie “On Any Sunday” and at his worst he presents fantasy as real history, as in JFK. “Wall Street” is fair-to-middling—better than most of his stuff.

But he never leaves out the shlock.  He simply is an untalented director.

Thanks for sharing this discussion with Oliver Stone, Truthdig. Must admit the only Oliver Stone film that I’ve seen is Salvador, which is an excellent film.  I plan to check out “Wall Street” and the “W” films this weekend. Also, I recall hearing at point during the discussion, that John Dean had been an earlier guest. Sure hope you have plans to share the interview with Dean as well.