Tonight, Janet and I drove to The Colony Theater in Raleigh to see The Corporation, a documentary about how corporations are the new ideology, and how they pervade every aspect of our lives. There was discussion about oil companies, textile manufacturers, and food producers. They talked about the non-sustaining Basmati rice that contains a gene which effectively kills the seed after one season, preventing the rice farmer from being able to reuse that seed, and making him completely dependent on the American-based manufacturers of that seed. (This was also brought up in the panel on "Social Issues in Food" that Barth moderated at WisCon.) They showed the privatization of the land on which you live, the water you drink, the air you breathe. They illustrated the power that these corporations have in politics with the chemical and pharmaceutical lobbies.

Janet (who is much smarter and more knowledgable about social issues than I am) knew a lot of this stuff already, and she confessed that it is the newsgroups and blogs out there on these topics that keep her up until 3 a.m. most nights on the computer. It was an eye-opener for me, however. And, just like when I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 and About Baghdad, I came out of the theater filled with frustration and anger that I, being a member of the general public, did not know about these issues before now. I knew about branding, of course, and that these corporations were powerful, but I didn't realize just how powerful they were until now. It made me briefly contemplate moving to an uninhabited island in the Mediterranean somewhere and living off the land. But then I realized how dependent I am on all this modern-day hoo-hah, including high-speed wireless internet access.

As with the aforementioned two films, The Corporation is an important one to see. If you have the smallest shred of social conscience, you should seek this film out. It doesn't provide a lot of answers, but it raises some vital questions that aren't being asked right now, and that's a big step in the right direction.

The only negative experience I had was with one of the audience members. (Warning: the following paragraph contains language inappropriate to children under thirteen.) Every time someone with a more conservative view appeared on the movie screen, this guy in the row in front of me and several seats to the right would violently flip off the screen. I can understand being passionate about social issues, I really can, but when you do this, you look like a fucking idiot. Same goes for when somebody says something you don't agree with, and you loudly state, so the entire theater can hear, "Fuck you, asshole!" All you accomplish when you do this is divert attention to yourself in an attempt to puff up whatever monstrously righteous ego you happen to have.

Like I said, I can understand the urge to respond with moral outrage when someone with radically different views from my own utters a statement that makes me want to chew off my own arm in exasperation. There was plenty of yelling at the TV screen last night, by both Janet and myself, in response to several statements made by Bush during the presidential debate. The difference is, we were in the privacy of our own home, and we weren't disturbing anyone with our comments (well, maybe our upstairs neighbor, though she didn't complain to us). I didn't pay $7.50 tonight to listen to you rant and shoot your middle finger at the movie screen every time someone said something you didn't like. All you accomplished was pissing me off, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

Janet is much more outspoken about politics than I am. I tend to sit a little left of center, and am actually registered as an independent. My views certainly lean toward the liberal side, more and more since being exposed to an increasing number of social issues. However, everyone in this country, and I mean everyone, is afforded the freedom of speech by the Constitution. No matter what your views, you are guaranteed the right to voice them. Voltaire said, "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." I agree wholeheartedly with this. Freedom of speech was one of the founding principles this country was based on, and it frankly bothers me when people from the far sides of the political spectrum, both left and right, try to quash the other's right to speak their views. You appear fanatical when you do this, and that does nothing to help the causes of anyone.

Now Reading:
Leviathan 2 edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Rose Secrest
Othello by Wm. Shakespeare

Stories Out to Publishers:
8

Books Read This Year:
53

Zines/Graphic Novels/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
29