Human exceptionalism is under attack from every corner, and I think it is driving us crazy. Popular culture is part of the problem. Apparently, the new movie The Day the Earth Stood Still has aliens destroying the human race in order to save the planet. In the coming attractions, we see cities like Rome being evaporated, so it isn’t good for us, but wouldn’t such mass destruction cause a global winter? Oh well, at least the supposedly threatened polar bears would be saved from global warming.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, so I may be all wet, but this movie review in the San Francisco Chronicle let’s the plot out of the bag. From the review:
The best visual effects sequence, involving the destruction of Giants Stadium in New York, is already in the trailer for the movie. And while there are many conversations between Klaatu and his human companions about the health of the planet, almost no specifics are discussed. As a matter of fact, I don’t recall the words “global warming” ever being spoken. It’s as if Klaatu is simultaneously considering both the obliteration of our species and a run for political office. Agreeing with Gore doesn’t play well in the red states ... After watching this movie for 45 minutes or so, you may start to think that wiping out every human being on Earth isn’t such a bad idea. Anything to get Connelly to stop shrieking, “We can change! We can turn things around!” over and over.In the original film from the 1950s, aliens threatened to destroy us because our warlike ways, coupled with our harnessing of the atom and moves toward space travel, made us unsafe citizens of the peaceful Galaxy. One might say it was to be a preemptive genocide.
But now, we are apparently to be destroyed for Gaia. Again, I might be wrong, but if that is the plot as the review makes it seem, flora and fauna are being elevated to the level of importance of people—and thus is in furtherance of the coup d’ culture I have started discussing here, that will, if it succeeds, create a society based on utilitarianism, hedonism, and the new religion of radical environmentalism in place of the sanctity/equality of human life ethic.
As to the hedonism part, a story today indicated that 20% of teenage girls has sent nude photos of themselves over their cell phones. Swell.
