I did not know Angelina was upset with Obama.
I became disenchanted with Angelina after viewing a movie called "Beyond Borders," but now that I think about it the movie is an excellent metaphor for today's political situation.
"Beyond Borders" depicted the activities of a real organization called "Doctors Without Borders" (I forget whether the organization was given a pseudonym in the movie). The plot had Angelina's character become infatuated with a sanctimonious 'doctor' played by Clive Owen, deserting her long-suffering husband at home with their two children.
Owen's character ranted about the poor people of Somalia languishing and starving to death under pressure from the warlords, while we sit at home with our insured medical care and personal doctors. He gave enraged talks to rich people in England in order to shame them into funding his activities.
Owen's organization provided essentially useless medical care because the population he sought to benefit could not be sustained under the extant economic and political poverty of Somalia.
His character then went on to SE Asia, where he made deals with the devil--trading weapons for medical supplies--which had the net effect of killing several children who found the weapons and tried to play with them.
After that his character and Angelina's went to yet another war-torn area in Eastern Europe and ultimately got killed themselves.
Meanwhile, Angelina's character's husband stayed home in England and took care of their two young children--who survived and prospered. The net effect of his efforts was the survival and welfare of their children, while the net effect of her's and her boyfriend's, Clive Owen's character, was both useless and resulted in many deaths despite their well-meant intentions.
No matter how well-intentioned, if an ethic or movement like the one depicted in the movie doesn't deal with reality, it has dire consequences.
All this sounds very familiar in the last year or so, so I'm glad Jon Voight is speaking out.
Jon Voight is a good actor and did an excellent job of playing Woodrow Call in "Return to Lonesome Dove," a non-sanctioned knock-off of the McMurtry movie "Lonesome Dove." (Call was played by Tommy Lee Jones in the original, and by James Garner in McMurtry's actual sequel "Streets of Laredo." To me, Call will always be Tommy Lee Jones, but the other two renditions were very credible.)
Glenn Beck says the IRS started knocking on his door when he started getting tough with his criticism of the government. |
