Secondhand Smokette and I decided to go on a date and, against our better judgment, went to see The Day the Earth Stood Still. We expected some enviro-propaganda, but I must say it was even more extreme than I expected. I wrote about it over at the First Things blog:
Earth pushes the mantra of deepest ecology: Humans are the literal enemy of Earth, which, the script strongly implies, is a living entity. At the very least, the message of the movie is that our moral value is no greater than that of shrimp and squid, and that while we have some virtues—classical music being one—the earth is better off with us either obliterated out of existence or rendered completely untechnological.
Today’s Hollywood reflects the cultural views of the left and the left has gone insanely anti-human. This misanthropic nihilism is usually implied between the lines, but it is the unequivocal and explicit massage of The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Oh, and there is a scientist character in the picture, whom we are told, won a Nobel Prize for “Biological Altruism.” There isn’t a Nobel in that category—yet—but it seems to be a field that would be about sacrificing the well being and prosperity of people in order to save the planet. Of course, like most scientists, the character is so devoid of ego, we are told that his friends had to frame and hang the award on his wall. Well, the film is science fiction.
Lift My Chin, Lord
Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…
Letters
Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…
Spring Twilight After Penance
Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…