Top Gun – Maverick was everything I hoped. I had not attended a movie for over five years until last weekend. I first rebuffed them as Hollywood morphed into a weapon against the Heartland. Film after film and television show after television show began to interject commentary and storylines into everything that somehow took shots at many of us; particularly the conservative breed of Midwestern humans.
Anyway, beyond my fragile feelings, I just didn’t see much that drew my attention to get me back to the movies and then we had the lost years of COVID.
This is no movie classic, but it is a refreshingly entertaining movie with nary a political or modern take on any hot button issue for the left or the right. A little alpha male jet planes, a little love story on the side and some friend relationships and it’s two hours of entertainment like it used to be.
I’m hoping it’s a harbinger of Hollywood coming back to the center ground a bit.
Surprising take from me. I’ve been to a Mid-Continent library branch twice in the last 10 days. No, I did not mistake it for the bar. My wife drug me, but then I found it super refreshing. Here’s the most refreshing thing; I saw the oldest and youngest among us at the library on both days. Even spied a Platte County Landmark reader at a table in the back, gently perusing the library’s copy of Foley’s best work.
It may not surprise you that The Landmark Reader was not a spring chicken, but I saw plenty of young children rushing about, excited about books and reading, surely to one day become seasoned Landmark readers. That’s a good thing.
I do not have an abortion or guns solution to offer. Seems like there are plenty of opinions out there from which you can choose. However, I would recommend additional government remedial education for most of our country. If Facebook and Twitter are going to oversee “disinformation,” I’d also suggest they provide “government understanding warnings” to many of the opinions I read.
It is so interesting that people most of us would consider to be intelligent function as if decisions on Roe vs Wade or the Second Amendment by the Supreme Court are about the personal opinions of the judges involved or that the judges’ decision should somehow reflect public sentiment.
That’s not the way this works. The justices give opinion on the Constitution and the law. They function as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution. That’s it. Doesn’t matter if 95% of the American public think abortion is the greatest thing ever or if they think no one should own a gun. The justices are charged with interpreting the law and precedent, yet polls are constantly utilized as some sort of rationale to support a path that people believe the justices should take. It’s as harmful as any of the perceived disinformation that many claim to be weakening our democracy.
That was heavy. I gotta get some rest, I’m starting to sound like some nut job that thinks democracy might actually work if everyone stayed in their lanes.
But, on to important stuff. Patrick and Brittany are having another baby and I’m very worried about my warehouse friends that get stressed over Pat’s non-football interests. They’re going to be struggling this off-season on how to process this news, cause it is pretty obvious that Pat has more than football on his mind from time to time, or at least twice that we know of. Anyway, the more Mahomes the better to me!
(Guy Speckman can be reached at gspeckman@me.com or teaching government on Facebook)