Ten Movies That Will Never Be

[Samurai Goomba]

All sarcasm aside, I've felt there should actually be a "thank you white people" week as part of things like "Black History Month" as a reminder of tolerance and to limit all the "Black Powah" stuff (hopefully), by making it very clear that a lot of what blacks have happened because whites decided it was right to give it to them. Slavery would never had ended if whites never changed their mind about it. The Civil Liberties movement would never had succeeded if whites didn't decide it was right. We aren't the bad guys, and were ultimatly crucial to all of this.

This same logic can apply in a similar way to those other points. Like it or not America is not only the dominant world power, but pretty much what defined modern civilization. While various nations try and take credit for inventions of people that were born there, the truth is a lot of these people had to come to the US for the enviroment to create their inventions. We're also the ones who were largely responsible for the proliferation and further development of things that were not invented here. Like everything, there are exceptions, but we didn't just gradually become central to the world in some tragic cosmic fluke.

In the words of Chris Rock when asked if racism has decreased, "Well, I think white people have gotten less crazy." White people helping end slavery isn't something they deserve credit for, when the decision to start, continue and legitimize the slavery in America was made by white people. It's like a thief who decided to stop stealing. Good for him not stealing anymore, but screw that guy if he thinks he deserves anything for it.

As for the second point, LOL. Sure, the US made a lot of great inventions, but our civilization and "modernity" largely came from the earlier European Industrial age (which happened a bit before our own), combined with artistic/intellectual developments which arose from the Renaissance era. We can trace the beginnings of "western" modes of thought and societal constructs (like sewers and rational examination to arrive at the logical *logos* conclusion) back to the Greeks and Romans. It could be argued America wasn't a world power until WW1 at the earliest, but maybe as recently as WW2. America definitely had reasons why it became so powerful, but it wasn't all because "we are awesome." Not that I think you're saying that. New inventions and industry combined with terrible working conditions and the poverty in Europe as a result of WW1 are all probably factors which contributed.

I just realized something. "Modern" is one of those buzzwords we have to define. If you mean "modernity" as a mode of thought or philosophy, we could argue there's little difference between this and westernization. If you just mean "modern" as a method of time-keeping, then every society is modern if it still exists.

 

[Therumancer]

All sarcasm aside, I've felt there should actually be a "thank you white people" week as part of things like "Black History Month" as a reminder of tolerance and to limit all the "Black Powah" stuff (hopefully), by making it very clear that a lot of what blacks have happened because whites decided it was right to give it to them.

Oh, my. I'd like to think the absurdity of that suggestion speaks for itself.

On topic:

Most of those 'pitches' sound boring. Mainly because most of them have no story in them, just a character.

Not really, the very fact that some would consider it absurd gets to a lot of the central issues causing modern problems and racial tensions. The white vs. black divide as far as it goes today continues largely because of black culture being reared with a sense of enimity to white people combined with a sense of entitlement for the perception that unique wrongs were committed against them. This is done for political reasons as the ghost of racism is a powerful tool that can be used to manipulate voting blocks and political opinion.

As I pointed out, if you bothered to read all of what I've said on the subject, "blacks" actually formed most of the oldest civlizations and both created and practiced slavery throughout most of human history. While "white" civilizations *DID* continue this trend for a brief period of time in our comparitively brief reign as the dominant ethnicity (for those who want to break it down that way) we also *ended* that cycle. Blacks spent very little time in slavery compared to whites or other ethnicities.

What's more it's important to note that white guys really haven't enslaved many people, it's happened, but for the most part most of the slaving has been done by blacks and arabs, even during the period through the 1700-1800s. In reality all "whites" did was show up and pay money for people that had already been enslaved and relocate them. There are moral questions about this, but saying that whites took away the freedom of black people isn't entirely accurate during that period, the freedom of these people had already been taken away and all the white guys did was show up with trade goods and money.

Blacks have the advantage of having been enslaved at a very fortunate time when "white" morality was developing, and slavery happened to be abolished.

The point here is that there is nothing at all unique about white people having owned slaves, every people throughout history have done that. Whites ending slavery as an institution... well, that is pretty unique. The point here is that rather than being taught about the plight of black slaves and fingers being pointed at "whitey" exclusively, as much or more effort should be spent making it clear that we're the people who set them free.

Setting the black slaves free is a paticularly powerful point when you consider that throughout the sweep of history they really didn't deserve it. Only our "all men should be free" mentality really justified it. See, if you start getting into the logic of "your great, great grandfather owned my great great grandfather and I'm not going to get over it" which drives a lot of black politics, you can point out that this might have been true for a couple of generations, but when you look at the thousands of years Anglo Saxons spent in bondage at the hands of people from The Fertile crescent and the coastal kingdoms/empires of Africa prior to (and during) the reign of Rome, one can sort of make an arguement for poetic justice and turnabout being fair play.... we did not however do this, and instead followed a moral principle and decided to free a people that actually spent a very long time victimizing us.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Most of them might be good stories and would do well as books but would make lousy movies. A movie usually needs some kind of conflict to be entertaining and most of these scenarios don't have any.

And anyway several of these pitches have already been made into movies.

The misguided young man going to prison and the experience changing him is basically the plot of American History X. The science one is almost exactly the plot of "The Fountainhead" except replace science with architecture. Originally a book Fountainhead got made into a decent movie starring Gary Cooper.

Also I don't exactly what Bob has against the US but there are tons of movies without Americans in them. They tend to be (gasp) made in countries other than the US. Here is a good example: New Kids Turbo http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648112/ A comedy where a bunch of unemployed rednecks decide they aren't going to pay for anything anymore and the small town cops are too incompetent to deal with them. It has both cerebral and grossout humor and a ton of "local colour" cameos and references that foreigners won't get but the movie still works without them.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

All sarcasm aside, I've felt there should actually be a "thank you white people" week as part of things like "Black History Month" as a reminder of tolerance and to limit all the "Black Powah" stuff (hopefully), by making it very clear that a lot of what blacks have happened because whites decided it was right to give it to them. Slavery would never had ended if whites never changed their mind about it. The Civil Liberties movement would never had succeeded if whites didn't decide it was right. We aren't the bad guys, and were ultimatly crucial to all of this.

This same logic can apply in a similar way to those other points. Like it or not America is not only the dominant world power, but pretty much what defined modern civilization. While various nations try and take credit for inventions of people that were born there, the truth is a lot of these people had to come to the US for the enviroment to create their inventions. We're also the ones who were largely responsible for the proliferation and further development of things that were not invented here. Like everything, there are exceptions, but we didn't just gradually become central to the world in some tragic cosmic fluke.

As a black male American, I would personally like to stand up and applaud the frak out of you. And I'd support this 100%.

Look, I get the whole "history is written by the victors" thing, I really do, but the narrow, tunnel-vision of humanity is what keeps us all fighting over pointless b.s. and leads to people like Bob sticking his foot deep in the poo poo with posts like this.

To say that White people are RESPONSIBLE for blacks, women, and minorities getting civil rights is not exactly the full story, but neither is it to act like Blacks and minorities did it all alone completely against the "white man's oppressive regime." It was a JOINT effort between GOOD, decent people (many of whom were CHRISTIANS, for all the people that think religion is soooo evil) to correct a miscarriage of justice in our society. Free thinking, forward thinking individuals of all races worked TOGETHER and thusly I personally believe Black History Month should just be changed to Civil Rights history or American History month. Let EVERYONE be praised and celebrated for their contribution to the growth of our nation and the casting off of our former evils. I would be tickled pink to see someone who worked diligently for civil rights that was white being given honor and having their name recognized for their efforts to bring equality to ALL people during the civil rights movement, rather than just endless black people whose sole contribution was something like "wrote a poem."

 

[Therumancer]

All sarcasm aside, I've felt there should actually be a "thank you white people" week as part of things like "Black History Month" as a reminder of tolerance and to limit all the "Black Powah" stuff (hopefully), by making it very clear that a lot of what blacks have happened because whites decided it was right to give it to them. Slavery would never had ended if whites never changed their mind about it. The Civil Liberties movement would never had succeeded if whites didn't decide it was right. We aren't the bad guys, and were ultimatly crucial to all of this.

This same logic can apply in a similar way to those other points. Like it or not America is not only the dominant world power, but pretty much what defined modern civilization. While various nations try and take credit for inventions of people that were born there, the truth is a lot of these people had to come to the US for the enviroment to create their inventions. We're also the ones who were largely responsible for the proliferation and further development of things that were not invented here. Like everything, there are exceptions, but we didn't just gradually become central to the world in some tragic cosmic fluke.

In the words of Chris Rock when asked if racism has decreased, "Well, I think white people have gotten less crazy." White people helping end slavery isn't something they deserve credit for, when the decision to start, continue and legitimize the slavery in America was made by white people. It's like a thief who decided to stop stealing. Good for him not stealing anymore, but screw that guy if he thinks he deserves anything for it.

As for the second point, LOL. Sure, the US made a lot of great inventions, but our civilization and "modernity" largely came from the earlier European Industrial age (which happened a bit before our own), combined with artistic/intellectual developments which arose from the Renaissance era. We can trace the beginnings of "western" modes of thought and societal constructs (like sewers and rational examination to arrive at the logical *logos* conclusion) back to the Greeks and Romans. It could be argued America wasn't a world power until WW1 at the earliest, but maybe as recently as WW2. America definitely had reasons why it became so powerful, but it wasn't all because "we are awesome." Not that I think you're saying that. New inventions and industry combined with terrible working conditions and the poverty in Europe as a result of WW1 are all probably factors which contributed.

I just realized something. "Modern" is one of those buzzwords we have to define. If you mean "modernity" as a mode of thought or philosophy, we could argue there's little difference between this and westernization. If you just mean "modern" as a method of time-keeping, then every society is modern if it still exists.

Well of course Chris Rock sort of makes his living off of those perceptions. If he can't sell the idea of being crazy to bigoted white people who deserve it and need to be "educated" he sort of needs to find a new schtick since he'd go from being a comedic hero with a message, to just a jerk.

When it comes to slavery, it's important to understand that it started with the fertile crescent region where human civilization began, the first societies were those of dark skinned peoples throughout the middle east and down through Africa. For the longest time the victims of the slave trade were white people as "we" were the barbarians until the fall of Rome.

Through human history all people were slavers, and white people were not exempted from that to be fair, but it WAS white people who abolished the institution and has been striving to do away with it throughout the world. The white abolition of slavery is a far bigger deal than our practice of it, given that everyone did until we wound up pretty much running the world.

Most of the arguements made in favor of "blame whitey" boil down to "well, your great grandfather owned my great grandfather", yet we didn't practice slavery very long overall. If you want to get technical using that logic whites could point fingers right back and talk about the oppression of our ancestors under far less humane conditions for a much longer period of time. In the overall scope of history I could say turnabout is fair play, but I'm still glad slavery was abolished. The situation is such where I don't feel any paticular guilt over what my forefathers might have done to someone else's especially when his ancestors were even worse to mine.

As far as the overall sweep of history and technology goes, the US was insturmental in the creation and distribution of most modern technology, especially the latter point about distribution. We wound up becoming the world's biggest market for a reason.

The US didn't become the dominant world power until after "World War II" due to our largely isolationist sentiment. We probably could have been a big deal a lot sooner, but we chose not to. During "World War I" we demonstrated our abillity to be a massive power by ending the deadlock between the European powers of the time, and ending the war almost single handedly. We had very little in the way of a war machine or materials due to our isolationist and anti-war policies, but we had tons of people, and we dropped close to a million men on Europe where they almost literally picked up the guns of the cowering/demoralized french forces and carried them to war against the Germans. This is one of the big reasons the US talked about France being "surrender monkeys" there is more to it than just their behavior during World War II.

The US however build up a war machine AFTER World War I though continued it's isolationist policies, figuring it had better have more of a standing military in case it was ever needed again. The staggering display of power during World War I, combined with Japanese dislike of the US due to guys like Commodore Perry forcing their trade open to the rest of the world at one point was what motivated the pre-emptive strike (Pearl Habour) that arguably brought the US into the war.

AFTER World War II the attitudes of Russia combined with the failure of isolationism which we kind of realized at this point caused the US to enter the world more readily, and in the process it became the dominant world power. Not just due to our massive markets, and military strength, but due to our morality, and things like our massive abillity to produce wheat and beef.

None of this really matters so much as the point that we're talking about movies, and Bob is in his own way commenting on how America tends to be involved in pretty much every movie out there... and the point is that's because we're the dominant power in this era, we are a factor in pretty much everything for good or ill. It's sort of like a movie during the reign of The British Empire where it doesn't come up, even if covered only in the backround.

It's a case where Bob's politics are sort of overriding his common sense, I think he has a bad case of white American guilt, where I've long such come to grips with such things. In a world where everyone is a bastard I make no apologies for "my people" having been there ourselves, the differance is we at least try and do better by ending things like slavery, and I guess the very existance of guys like Bob makes my point about the US and our morality, as he's one of those guys who simply takes it too far... deeply into the realm of self depreciation.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Snip

Well, I agree with most of what you said. And sure, black people enslaved black people, and white people, and everyone enslaved everyone throughout history. Even so, America was built largely on slave labor and genocide (where is that not the case, lol-BUT this was relatively recent in terms of historical timeline), so we can't ignore that piece. And America clung to its slavery and repression of women longer than Europe did, unless I'm not remembering my history right. But then, our industrial revolution was later than Europe's too. Not that I'm implying America was "worse," but it was probably that same isolationist spirit that kept them from moving ahead with the social reforms in England. That or plain ol' hatred of the king. The western, coastal "Oregon" country was really racist, entitled, selfish and sexist for a long time. The only reason they didn't vote to enslave blacks there was they hated them so much, they actually banned black people from the entire AREA, free or slave. Dunno what my point with that example is, except maybe that bigotry might be considered worse than slavery because of long-term social implications.

I guess none of it really matters (I like rambling about history), and I think Bob is guilty and angry about a LOT of things. So much so that it has steeped into his work in a way that has become obvious to his audience. I'll probably be thought of as a token "Bob hater," but I think there are healthier ways to deal with a fixation on, say, childhood trauma/bullying or political disagreements than bringing it up every week in order to crush an obvious strawman so he can seem "right" and self-justified in his opinions. :/ We've all had those unhealthy fixations/grudges/guilt trips about something, but they're best handled and worked through privately, with the assistance of confidants/counselors, imo.

 

[Closet Superhero]

All sarcasm aside, I've felt there should actually be a "thank you white people" week as part of things like "Black History Month" as a reminder of tolerance and to limit all the "Black Powah" stuff (hopefully), by making it very clear that a lot of what blacks have happened because whites decided it was right to give it to them.

Oh, my. I'd like to think the absurdity of that suggestion speaks for itself.

Not really, the very fact that some would consider it absurd gets to a lot of the central issues causing modern problems and racial tensions.

No, here is the absurdity. I take away your freedom. Then I say, 'You are a human like me, you deserve to live freely, so I free you. But remember to be thankful to me.' If it's true that we're all equally deserving of freedom, there is no need for thanks. Expecting eternal thanks for grranting something that is a basic right (as we now see it) is just another of reasserting some kind of superiority.

In reality all "whites" did was show up and pay money for people that had already been enslaved and relocate them.

Right. And 'all that does' is create a slave economy that was, at that point, the biggest and most lucrative in world history. There's no less culpability in that.

Blacks have the advantage of having been enslaved at a very fortunate time when "white" morality was developing, and slavery happened to be abolished.

Really? So the Abolishment somehow was good for all the generations of black slaves who lived in slavery before it?

one can sort of make an arguement for poetic justice and turnabout being fair play.... we did not however do this, and instead followed a moral principle and decided to free a people that actually spent a very long time victimizing us.

'We' didn't do anything. 'We' weren't victimised by 'them' before 'we' enslaved 'them'. The issue is that, RIGHT HERE AND NOW we live in an unequal society, with the determinants of that inequality being strongly associated with race. And the question is, why is that the case? Is it because some races are better than others? Or is it because of historical circumstances? If you're not racist, it is obviously that latter, and the issue becomes: how do we redress the problem. That is 'OUR' problem and our responsibility, and the abolishment of slavery does not diminish that responsibility. The Abolishment was just words anyway; it didn't magically make black and white people socially or economically equal.

Words are the easy part. So let's not congratulate ourselves too much. Besides, don't the glorious principles of freedom and equality get plenty of celebration as is? So what exactly are you complaining about, again?

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Lol these are really funny and so true.

OOOO I have one!

A movie in which a powerful sexy female witch with a magic siamese cat falls in love with some lame businessman guy who wants her to stay at home and be the perfect wife. Hilarity ensues. Near the end she realises that she will die slowly of toxic boredom and runs away with a cowboy dracula.

This causes the businessman to really examine his life and he tells his lazy fat overbearing boss to stick his job and his attitude up his bottom and sets up his own successful business. He later marries his pretty new business partner who loves kids and homemaking and at the end of the movie they all have a bbq together and laugh about the horrible choices they made previously and how happy they are now.

Hooray.

 

[duchaked]

um well I thought there'd be more to this to make it worth reading but...
hey the slavery story was pretty cool. couldn't help but think of that slavery the game fake(?) trailer Escapist news posted recently

 

[Silent_Protagonist]

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!! >:|


* Immediately switches major from Chemistry to film. Then begins to furiously write scripts and screen-plays based on the concepts that Bob outlined in his post*

 

[Browncoat86]

"When crooked thieves steal an ancient religious artifact from a primitive rural village, their greatest warrior must travel for the first time to the strange and unfamiliar world of The Big City to retrieve it. He fights many, many elaborate battles and succeeds in locating and defeating the sinister thieves, but ultimately does not bring back The Artifact. Instead, he discovers that in 'The Big City' people do not die constantly from common germs and minor injuries as they do in his primitive rural village on account of having access to modern medicine, health-standards and communication. He then sells the damn artifact at a huge profit so as to bring life saving medicine, superior farming equipment, food and a phone/internet connection to his people."

Really?... ... No, really?... ... REALLY?
Yes, because without modern technologies, life isn't worth living. Who in the hell are you to say that just because they live in a rural area and work without modern conveniences that their lives are somehow lessened? The arrogance is astounding.

"A man of spiritually devout persuasion is critically injured in a terrible car accident. Though he is brought to the hospital in time for doctors to save his life, his injuries are such that he is actually 'dead' for several minutes on the operating table, during which time he experiences ... nothing. No tunnel, no light, no angles, no dead pals, nothing. In a shocking twist, his newfound sense that the life he has is quite definitely all there is does not turn him into a bitter nihilist, but rather spurs him to become an infinitely better, freer and happier person who's determined to make the most of whatever time he has."

It is for this, above the other, that I believe I will no longer be viewing any of Bob's material. I will treat a man of my own faith like a brother, I will treat a man of another faith with respect and tolerance so long as he does the same for me. But I cannot abide a man of no faith.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

I was gonna mention Primary Colours for the "presidential staffer" one, but I think someone's already pointed it out.

 

[Strazdas]

"An idealistic campaign staffer for a popular Presidential candidate has their idealism shaken to the core when it is discovered that the candidate, while still a sincere proponent of all the causes and policies that led the staffer to join the campaign in the first place, has committed various moral indiscretions that violate the staffer's personal code of right and wrong. After a dark period of deep, introspective soul searching ... the staffer decides to continue supporting the candidate anyway - because this is the real world where a leader's 'niceness' or 'good intentions' don't mean jack squat if they're going to support wrongheaded policies."

This has been done. multiple times. not done well, but its been done.

"When crooked thieves steal an ancient religious artifact from a primitive rural village, their greatest warrior must travel for the first time to the strange and unfamiliar world of The Big City to retrieve it. He fights many, many elaborate battles and succeeds in locating and defeating the sinister thieves, but ultimately does not bring back The Artifact. Instead, he discovers that in 'The Big City' people do not die constantly from common germs and minor injuries as they do in his primitive rural village on account of having access to modern medicine, health-standards and communication. He then sells the damn artifact at a huge profit so as to bring life saving medicine, superior farming equipment, food and a phone/internet connection to his people."

Ong bak 1 is this. well he doesnt really sell the artifact but the rest is correct.

P.S. how did this went off the tracks and into slavery discussion?

 

[oathblade]

The "A brilliant scientist is conducting a radical experiment.." and "When crooked thieves steal an ancient religious artifact " I think could work. really well. In fact with decent acting there wouldn't need to be much more for twists.

 

[Nomanslander]

Here's an idea, a movie about no conflict or dilemma, the main character is happy with his or her life, and there is no antagonist to speak of.

Here's another idea, a movie about a guy cleaning his garage while contemplating the evolutionary process of manatees....=D

Oh oh oh, a 8 year old girl at a school play rehearsal playing a minor character in the background, bored and picking her nose for two hours...=D

 

[Therumancer]

[
'We' didn't do anything. 'We' weren't victimised by 'them' before 'we' enslaved 'them'. The issue is that, RIGHT HERE AND NOW we live in an unequal society, with the determinants of that inequality being strongly associated with race. And the question is, why is that the case? Is it because some races are better than others? Or is it because of historical circumstances? If you're not racist, it is obviously that latter, and the issue becomes: how do we redress the problem. That is 'OUR' problem and our responsibility, and the abolishment of slavery does not diminish that responsibility. The Abolishment was just words anyway; it didn't magically make black and white people socially or economically equal.

Words are the easy part. So let's not congratulate ourselves too much. Besides, don't the glorious principles of freedom and equality get plenty of celebration as is? So what exactly are you complaining about, again?

Actually, yes we were victimized by "them" beforehand, everyone victimized everyone else. It was western, white, civilization that wound up putting an end to this kind of thing. Your basic arguement is that the thousands of years of slavery before the US shouldn't count because it's inconveinent to your arguement, and the simple fact that it was white civilization that ended slavery runs counter to what you want to believe... and there are a lot of people just like you, there is a whole political power block based around exactly that kind of ignorance which makes it difficult to unravel.

As far as the rest goes, equal oppertunities were made availible. There was never any pretension that black america was going to be suddenly uplifted into the upper 1% of society and be given all of the same things white folks had, merely that they would no longer be held back specifically because they are black. Being a minority group, they are not likely to ever have the same level of prescence or prominance in a country within the US due to simple numbers. Representation in general accordance with the population does not mean a 50-50 split with the majority, not to mention that it's a capitalist society where things are earned, not simply given by the goverment through a form of communism or socialism. Nobody walks in, takes your stuff, and gives it to someone else to be fair (well, not usually, but we won't get into exceptions like Enimant Domain and the like).

What problems we see right now are not so much racial, as cultural. Like it or not racism is dead as a mainstream phenomena. People can have their lives and careers ruined by the mere hint of associated racism, that kind of prssure doesn't happen without majority support.

The problem is when your looking at a situation where Black America feels it's entitled to things it is not. It's formed a series of counter cultures based around the idea of entitlement and forcing society to adapt to it, rather than adapting to fit in with society. People literally line up to give Blacks oppertunities, with books, computers, money, etc... all being funneled into inner city schools and such. The problem is that those things are intentionally targeted and destroyed. Becoming educated and joining others in the 9-5 job grind as a normal person is considered to be selling out and "beneath" blacks. You see an attitude where it's either being a thug, or being super rich, and nothing in between. The
so called "git rich or die trying" attitude, that has kids all reaching for basketballs in the vain hope of getting into the NBA despite all odds, as opposed to reaching for a
textbook and say aiming for more reasonable goals like say one day making middle management at a hotel or whatever after years of effort... you know, like where most people wind up.

Guys like Bill Cosby (who has a PHD In Children's Education, which is why I take him seriously) have talked about this at length, even if it hasn't gone over well with everyone. The usual excuse is that he's over simplifying very complicated issus, when in reality they aren't complicated issues, they are VERY simple issues with clear problems behind them. In the end it all comes down to Black America deciding that becoming educated is not "selling out" and to work towards assimilating into society. Nobody can force this, ultimatly it's
up to them to either take the oppertunities that have been presented, or continue to deal with the problems they bring upon themselves.

At any rate, I *DO* think there are things that can be done. Truthfully I think one of those things is to stop encouraging a black/white cultural divide. I feel the idea of things like "Black History Month" are counter produtive because by it's very nature it draws a dividing line, and businesses that harp on this and use it for advertisement when it's going on and such don't seem to help.

My suggestion about there being a "be thankful for white people" week, albiet not under that name, is actually well considered, as it blurs that division, and also tends to mitigate some of the messages of more extreme black leaders and icons that come up during this celebration, where "Black History Month" could be seen more as "Black Empowerment" or "Bash Whitey" month in some of the associated media that makes problems worse.

Overall where everyone is learning about iconic black contributors in school and through speeches, ads, and the media, blacks can also themselves be reminded that whites, rather than being the enemy, were insturmental in the end of slavery, this was not, and could not have been accomplished by the black people alone.

In school for example do a week where kids are expected to create and read a report on a white person, or heck even just a person who wasn't black, that was insturmental to civil liberties or had a positive influance on black culture. This *IS* a part of black history, and a part that doesn't involve direct enimity... you know like "here is my umpteeth report on Malcolm X".










As Martin Luthor King Jr. himself kind of pointed out, winning the battles was not the hard part, adapting into society is.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

"A man of spiritually devout persuasion is critically injured in a terrible car accident. Though he is brought to the hospital in time for doctors to save his life, his injuries are such that he is actually 'dead' for several minutes on the operating table, during which time he experiences ... nothing. No tunnel, no light, no angles, no dead pals, nothing. In a shocking twist, his newfound sense that the life he has is quite definitely all there is does not turn him into a bitter nihilist, but rather spurs him to become an infinitely better, freer and happier person who's determined to make the most of whatever time he has."

Alternatively, He goes on a hedonistic spree of sex, drugs, and Rock n' Roll because he takes the notion that there is no afterlife and no post-death repercussions to far. During his binge, he starts to really notice the suffering around him and dedicates his life to solving people's problems like a good Samaritan.

And here's a few pitches of my own:

"A 'There Will Be Blood' style character study, but told from the point of view of a super villain. The story details his rise from small time crook to deathray building madman, and how he alienates his friends and is ostracized by his family."

"A buddy comedy between two henchmen of a Bond villain and their day to day routine."

"A member of a primitive alien race that is at war with human miners decides living in a tree and hunting dangerous animals kinda sucks if you can fly into space and visit other planets, and so begin's his/her story of life among the humans."

 

[robert022614]

"No tunnel, no light, no angles, no dead pals, nothing"

So what kind of angles do people usually see? I would probably vote acute maybe a good 45 degree or so.

 

[tamerman]

I'd see all but the last too, the whole religious thing is a touchy issue, and IMHO tribal life is more interesting then city life. Though this IS coming from the fingers of a man who was lived in a city his entire life, so i'm likely not even qualified to say.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

this is an annoying article. it reeks of pretentiousness, lacks an understanding of many groups outside of the authors own, simplifies human emotions and the myriad of possible responses certain people could have, and overall, most criminally, just sounds like seriously boring movies. we watch movies to be entertained. and i'm sorry if spending your years dissecting and critiquing movies has left you a joyless, boring hole in your soul, but quit trying to ruin it for the rest of us. or at least be good at it, like yahtzee.

not entertained. i had more fun trying to read my crazy Captcha images than reading this article.