Socialism has been tried. Over and over again. It always either failed miserably and with bloodshed or slowly and eventual mutation into capitalism. Karl Marx and Engels are directly responsible for Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il, and Ho Chi Minh.
Here’s something I bet a lot of Dopers think, but won’t admit: If cradle-to-grave medical care were instituted, with no exceptions, I would stop working and live off the government.
Titanic is starting to grow on me.
Yes, Jennifer Lopez, in my opinion, is a better actress than a singer!
Jennifer Anniston is a very good actress and she gets better each time a new flick is released.
World War II as it is usually discussed here (both on the SDMB and in America) isn’t that interesting of a conflict. From the perspective of America and Western Europe (including Germany), it was a straightforward war on either one or two fronts against well-defined state actors with at least large-scale front lines. There is especially no real reason to go into how Germany might have prolonged its own agony: There is no way, even if Jesus and David and the Great Khan all perverted themselves to help Hitler, Germany could have won once it had started the war.
(Yes, I’m ignoring Italy. If anyone can make an argument Italy mattered, I’m all ears. Ditto Finland.)
Following from that, none of the Nazis are especially interesting. In fact, the best lesson we can learn is that they were all boring, dull little bureaucrats given power well beyond any hint of morality they possessed. That they were able to pervert Weimar Germany, a failed state by any reasonable reckoning, into an exporter of pure terror says more about the innate human drive to obey than it does about anyone who was nominally in charge.
In fact, enough about World War II in general. America has been steadily making moves about WWII ever since before we got into the war officially and we just. Never. Stopped. What about WWI? How many Great War movies can you name off the top of your head not counting Flyboys? I count three: Paths of Glory, Gallipoli, and All Quiet on the Western Front. How about Korea? No, MASH doesn’t count. It’s a Vietnam movie with a few strategic name changes. The Spanish-American War? I can’t think of any. The Occupation of the Philippines? Most Americans don’t know we ever owned the Philippines, let alone fought the natives to keep control over it. The various covert and semi-covert CIA actions during the Cold War? I think there is more than enough declassified at this point to make a few decent films, all of which would be more relevant to our lives today than how we Saved Freedom in the Big Deuce.
That Andrew Lloyd Webber is a talentless hack with only has one song that he constantly recycles… (usually this statement ends with “but I do like…”)
How much would you bet? It would be astounding if as many as 3 had even considered what you’d do. In any case, that’s not what universal medical care means. It’s for when you are sick.
Lo, back on the track: My contrarian views: ‘Socialism’, ‘Communism’ and ‘Totalitarianism’ are quite distinct terms with clear meanings, not interchangeable pejoratives.
Similarly, ‘universal health’ care does not equate to ‘socialised medecine’ and France is actually rather good.
Why raise “socialism” as a discussion point> Do you see socialism as the default alternative to libertarianism?
Your definition of socialism is broad and inaccurate.
I see several other have brought this up already and even though it’s continuing your hijack, I have to speak up:
Universal health care (Which we have in my country and many other *capitalistic * EU countries) does not equal living off the government, health care is just that - medical assistance. If you’re confusing health care with welfare, let me assure you, that even here in pinko Europe, living off welfare is not an attractive option. You’ll survive, but only barely.
As for Marx and Engels… You might as well blame Nitzsche for Hitler. I doubt you’ll take my suggestion seriously, but I think you’d find it interesting to read Marx and find out what he really said, instead of just going on what people claim about him.
[/hijack]
Since we’re in Café Society, it was my understanding that were discussing books, tv, movies, drama, art, music. Not politics. That’s for other fora.
24 is the biggest waste of time on tv.How many times can 1 guy save the world. Lost is a loss of life time. Rap is not music it is noise . LLoyd Webber gets 1 good song and good stage settings to make over rated musicals.Basketball is a crappy pro game. They alter the rules to make the teams they want ,win. This year we call a lot of defensive fouls. Next year we might not. Golfers hit the bar farther because they use steroids. Tennis is boring on tv .I would rather watch bowling.
Actually, I do too. It’s “Le Ballet”, it’s sung in French, and it’s great for dancing a slow West Coast Swing to.
“The Passion of the Christ” was a beautidful, moving movie.
“The Daily Show” is long past being repetative and boring.
The first five years of “Saturday Night Live” were far from the shows best.
Sergeant York?
The Light Horsemen
Wings
Dawn Patrol
Lawrence of Arabia
My guess is that he clicked the wrong post by you when replying. In context, I think he was replying to the first post you made.
To respond to your second post with respect to “One from the Heart”: I agree about the soundtrack completely. I am a Tom Waits fan from way back. Using Crystal Gayle as a vocalist is one of those superficially paradoxical WTF choices that ends up being brilliant and inspired.
I do, however, stand by my opinion that Frederic Forrest was not the right choice for the lead. My interpretation is that he was casting an Everyman and Everywoman meeting their romantic fantasies in a town where everything comes down to a roll of the dice. Teri Garr is tailor made for that role, but I think that Forrest fell short. You don’t have to be ordinary to play ordinary.
I think what he meant was that a lot of folks here in the States work at mindless, meaningless, soul-crushing jobs just for the insurance benefits, and that they’d happily quit in a heartbeat if the government would cover those benefits instead. I don’t think he was equating UHC with welfare.
I’ll cop to that one myself- if I didn’t have to provide insurance for myself and (an extremely medically fragile) Mr. Kitty, I’d be out of here and into a low-paying, creative job so fast your head would spin.
I think chili should contain beans.
That’s not the same thing as living off the government. It’s possible that someone would quit their job because they no longer need it for health insurance, then start up a computer company in their garage and become the next Bill Gates.
People in countries where there is government-provided health insurance still need to pay rent/mortgage, buy food, and so on and so forth, at least last I checked. I suspect those are at least as much of an issue as health insurance for many people.
As long as we are going political. I absolutely do not believe that what Israel does is always ok. Running Rachael over with a bulldozer,dropping cluster bombs is wrong,blowing the shit out of Lebanon was way over the top .
I think we should remember that this is a CafeSociety thread, and that the OP was asking for consensuses about movies, books, music, etc.
IANAM, but I think that if people want to discuss political consensuses, they should start a new thread in a different forum, and leave this thread on topic.
Just my $.02.
One from the Heart was the result of an experiment that Coppola was conducting: he wanted to revive the old studio system, and so he chose a “company” of actors with which he planned to make several movies. (Note that there were several “understudies” listed in the credits.) *One from the Heart * was the first of those. It bombed so badly, however, that the experiment died with it. Forrest signed on as a member of the company.
