“You’re either with us or against us in the fight against terror.” — George W. Bush, November 6, 2001 press conference.
“Do yourself a favor, and don’t go see [Zero Dark Thirty]. Don’t encourage film-making that at best offers ambiguity about torture, and at worst endorses it. Spend the two and a half hours and the $10 on something more valuable, and moral.” — Dan Froomkin, “Zero Dark Thirty Is a Despicable Movie, Even if Bigelow and Boal Didn’t Intend It That Way.”
“A show permeated with continuous acts of savage assault with deadly weapons, explicit sexual scenes and themes, or punctuated with obscene or profane language, whether the characters are scripted or not, may be suitable for pay-per-view, but it does not have a place on prime time broadcast television, particularly during the family hour. Because broadcast television and expanded basic cable are so widely available, they are supposed to maintain standards that make them suitable for all ages.” — Parents Television Council, FAQs.
“The left’s kneejerk and ignorant response to Zero Dark Thirty revealed an oddly naive aesthetic provincialism. …
Zero Dark Thirty is treated differently, because opponents of the Bush administration take it as a violation of one of their sacred decrees.
That decree is as follows: not only are harsh interrogations or “enhanced interrogation techniques” evil and immoral and wrong, they also lead to no intelligence or bad intelligence. According to such logic there are no tradeoffs to be made between treatment of detainees and security, and those who support waterboarding do so because they derive sick pleasure from the practice.
This is foolishness.” —Sonny Bunch, “Zero Dark Thirty arrives.”
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Ahh yes, the old “only a Sith deals in absolutes” paradox.
(insert standing ovation at Cannes).