# Was the United States government right at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355 "2011-10-21T13:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/21 "2011-10-21T19:11:19Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I realize that most of us have blocked out the fourth Indy movie, but we see the warehouse again, and see that it contains at least one other crazy item, the body of an alien. So apparently in the Indy-verse, the gov’t does just stash every crazy powerful occult item it finds in that warehouse. I can swear I noticed the box with the Ark during that scene, but I might be mistaken, and I’m not watching it again to be sure. It seems that they store all sorts of things the world is not ready yet for there, which shows that in that universe the government is smarter than in ours. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/22 "2011-10-21T19:50:15Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I can swear I noticed the box with the Ark during that scene, but I might be mistaken, and I’m not watching it again to be sure. It seems that they store all sorts of things the world is not ready yet for there, which shows that in that universe the government is smarter than in ours. It’s there all right, it was more of a nod to the fans then anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/23 "2011-10-21T20:01:30Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Everyone knows its @ Warehouse 13 - c’mon people, get with it already. I thought about that, too. I voted yes. You just can’t keep something that dangerous lying around for any idiot to come by and take. That’s like giving a monkey a nuclear bomb. There’d be chaos and melting faces everywhere and nobody wants that. Believe me. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/24 "2011-10-21T21:38:39Z")
MHO is that it was a bureaucratic non-decision, but not a snafu. We don’t know what to do with it, it’s dangerous, let’s file it away until we figure out a plan. Which will probably be never, but at least it’s safe. Come to think of it, if there had been government bureaucracies and giant warehouses in Middle Earth, that’s what the Council of Elrond should have done with the One Ring. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/25 "2011-10-21T21:43:02Z")
Imagine George W. Bush with access to the Ark. Or Nixon. Or LBJ. No. Lock it up, & leave it to be forgotten. A nuclear waste storage dump would be a dandy locale. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/26 "2011-10-21T21:46:00Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > MHO is that it was a bureaucratic non-decision, but not a snafu. We don’t know what to do with it, it’s dangerous, let’s file it away until we figure out a plan. Which will probably be never, but at least it’s safe. > > Come to think of it, if there had been government bureaucracies and giant warehouses in Middle Earth, that’s what the Council of Elrond should have done with the One Ring. :: looks around for Qadgop & the rest of the Tolkien crew :: :: sighs :: Fool of a Took! Sauron didn’t need the One Ring to defeat the Free Peoples; its simple existence increased his puissance though he could not use its specific powers without having its in his physical possession, and at any rate his military forces were more than a match for the armies of Gondor, Rohan, and the dwindling Dwarves & Elves. Hiding the Ring would simply have assured his victory. What DO they teach in these schools? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/27 "2011-10-21T21:52:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > :: looks around for Qadgop & the rest of the Tolkien crew :: > > :: sighs :: > > Fool of a Took! > > Sauron didn’t need the One Ring to defeat the Free Peoples; its simple existence increased his puissance though he could not use its specific powers without having its in his physical possession, and at any rate his military forces were more than a match for the armies of Gondor, Rohan, and the dwindling Dwarves & Elves. Hiding the Ring would simply have assured his victory. > > What DO they teach in these schools? Why was he bending all his thought and will, ever seeking for the Ring? The government warehouse would just be the equivalent of another millennium at the bottom of the Anduin. [end hijack] ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/28 "2011-10-21T21:58:13Z")
I hate to admit that Skald is correct, but that is more or less what Gandalf said in between his drinking bouts. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/29 "2011-10-21T22:02:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I mean, obviously, you’d inform them of as much as you know about the dangers first, and do as much as you can to mitigate them, but let them study it if they choose to. “My eyes! The goggles do _nothing!_” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/30 "2011-10-21T22:26:44Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Why was he bending all his thought and will, ever seeking for the Ring? The government warehouse would just be the equivalent of another millennium at the bottom of the Anduin. > > [end hijack] I’m not saying that Sauron didn’t _want_ the Ring; he’d be even more powerful with it than without it, and victory would come _even more quickly_. I’m saying that in the opinion of Gandalf, Elrond, Denethor, Aragorn, and possibly Galadriel, the military situation had already shifted to the point that no victory for the West through force of arms was possible. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/31 "2011-10-21T22:59:38Z")
I thought of an even better reason (immediately after hitting Enter, of course) why Sauron wanted the ring: just to keep others from destroying it. If it was lost, he’s fine; but if it falls into the wrong hands, he’s screwed. So, better that he finds it himself first. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/32 "2011-10-21T23:24:43Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I thought of an even better reason (immediately after hitting Enter, of course) why Sauron wanted the ring: just to keep others from destroying it. If it was lost, he’s fine; but if it falls into the wrong hands, he’s screwed. So, better that he finds it himself first. We really should start another thread here. Anyway, Sauron didn’t want the ring to keep it from being destroyed, because it didn’t occur to him that anyone could have the combination of purity of spirt and strength of will to even conceive of destroying it. He wanted it desperately because that was part of the nature of its magic, and though it was not intended for hands other than his (and thus that particular aspect of its being was more bug than feature), he did not conceive that anyone less than a Vala could possess and then willingly destroy the Ring. If he had conceived of such a thing, he would have fortified Mount Doom. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/33 "2011-10-22T00:03:14Z")
I always assumed that the Ark of the Covenant was a sort of magic talisman – possession of it guaranteed that the Israelites would dominate all of Cannan … until they lost it. The US only won WWII because we had it under lock and key. One nun who taught me in high school thought it was highlighting the same exact idea. One priest who also taught me also thought it was saying the same thing – but that’s what he hated about the movie. He believed the biblical story of Israelite conquests (and subsequent loss of that ability) was having, then losing God’s favor, not the use of the Ark as a magic device. Still, I was always sure that was Spielberg’s point – the divine right of conquest passes from ancient Israel to the United States via possession of the Ark. Yeah, I know, the Israelites paraded the Ark before their armies. But that’s how they lost it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/34 "2011-10-22T01:01:29Z")
I didn’t really get the “right of conquest” bit out of it. For one thing, it’s inconsistent with the script. The Ark was not lost by the Israelites - **it was taken from them by an enemy that conquered them** , specifically the Egyptians, who were the ones that hid it in Tanis. If the Ark confers divine military might, it makes no sense that it was taken from them by force. I think the most obvious explanation is the one on the screen; a big bureaucracy just stacks it away because they don’t know what else to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/35 "2011-10-22T02:26:46Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Everyone knows its @ Warehouse 13 - c’mon people, get with it already. You’d think so, but wasn’t it shown in the **Library**. I’m sure Bob Newhart mentioned it. Bob ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/36 "2011-10-22T02:30:23Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > So, either all those other tens of thousands of crates are ALSO filled with scary powerful stuff beyond imagination I’ve always thought that this was exactly what was being implied. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/37 "2011-10-22T03:12:39Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I’ve always thought that this was exactly what was being implied. I could almost lean that way. I suspect if you were younger when you saw it you would more likely lean towards “tons of magical stuff!”. If you were older and more cynical its “typical, damn government fraks up everything!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/38 "2011-10-22T03:56:54Z")
> [@urban1a](#): > > You’d think so, but wasn’t it shown in the **Library**. I’m sure Bob Newhart mentioned it. > > Bob The Library is the public face of the Warehouse - on the other side of the mountain. As for the Ring - the easiest way to have kept sauron from getting it - indeed, he would have given up even trying to possess it - would have been to put it into the care and keeping of the Vogons. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/39 "2011-10-22T04:15:27Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I could almost lean that way. I suspect if you were younger when you saw it you would more likely lean towards “tons of magical stuff!”. If you were older and more cynical its “typical, damn government fraks up everything!” 🙂 That the crystal alien skeleton was also being kept there supports my view. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355/40 "2011-10-22T04:30:34Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > That the crystal alien skeleton was also being kept there supports my view. So the government has 10s of thousands of OMG artifacts that are guarded so poorly (one guard shack IIRC) that a couple truck loads of americanized Nazi’s can get to it (and search for it) and escape without much trouble? I’d argue the fact the Alien was there was more of a movie joke for the fans than done to support the implication that everything there was supposed to something of an OMG it does crazy shit nature. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-united-states-government-right-at-the-end-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/600355.md?page=3)