Civil Plights

On the Daily Show, George Clooney talks about why he decided to make "Good Night and Good Luck". His father was a journalist, he explained, but also he decided that the story about the erosion of civil liberties seemed to be a theme that kept coming back to him as an actor/filmmaker.

"I don't know why...it just did," he said with a sarcastic smile.

I haven't seen the movie yet but it's gotta be better than "The Corpse Bride" which is uninspired and a long way from Nightmare Before X-mas. But i digress.

I wanted to share this story with you: http://www.alternet.org/walmart/26503/#thumbtack. It's one example of how the erosion of civil liberties is affecting us...and it's not something we can throw on Bush (though his administration is certainly a part of it). Many Americans (like the Wal-Mart employee, like the local police department in the story) are ASKING for more stringent controls on what is said and done.

The issue of Homeland Security has been a long-standing one, and it's involved more than military and terrorist threats. It's been a fight against prostitution and pornography, against violent video games and movies, against the integration of schools and communities, against raising the minimum wage, and so on. Americans do not feel secure for many, many reasons. And one of those reasons is that too many people are doing and saying things that make others uncomfortable. The fix? Turn them in...and hopefully they will be silenced.

Maybe George Clooney's son will make a movie in fifty years about our generation...but the bad guy won't be Bush...it will be us.