2 Comments

Mike Melendez
January 31st, 2013 | 3:26 pm

Re: Zero Dark Thirty. I don’t understand why there are people who think the movie endorses torture. It starts with a montage of 911 calls from the WTC as the planes hit. It offers no judgement. Why don’t those same people object to the movie’s endorsement of 911?

My own take is that Bigelow presents a “this is what happened” script and leaves the judgement for us. That should be crystal clear when the main character’s friend makes a disastrous decision and pays the price.

Perhaps too many of us are lost in the fiction movies normally present, that there is a linear causal chain that the brilliant protagonist can figure out and no one else can see. They then project it directly on the angst ridden CIA agent that Jessica Chastain portrays so well. I watched the movie and saw the tremendous ambiguities faced over years to reach the again ambiguous end. And the war goes on.

A Reader
February 1st, 2013 | 8:47 am

Re: Is Religion Outdated …:

Dr. Krauss by fiat negates the wisdom of the ages. If he were simply to teach the scientific facts and knowledge that have resulted from his and others research and respectfully allow others to draw their own conclusions about God and faith (while freely stating his own), I do believe that he could and should be called a good, honest, and courageous man.

But that is not enough for Dr. Krauss; no, he must destroy the faith of others by insisting on the kind of evidence that can never be provided.

If Dr. Krauss wants to understand faith, he will have to suspend his disbelief, investigate the teachings, live them in humility, and then decide. There is no other way.