No legacy is so rich as honesty - William Shakespeare

232nd Annual Pretentious Independence Day Message

by Hal_10000

By sheer coincidence, I happen to be watching John Adams on DVD as our nation celebrates its birthday.  The series is actually quite good, particularly in the casting—no “Kelsey Grammar is George Washington” to be seen.  Adams is also very good at catching the times as accurately as possible, which is more than can be said for the lightweight The Patriot.  It’s strange. We have great movies about World War II, great movies about World War I, great movies about Vietnam and great movies about the Civil War.  For all I know, we probably have some great movies about the War of 1812 and the Barbary Pirates campaign.  But I can’t think of a great feature film that’s covers our War of Independence.  Adams comes as close as anything has in that it shows how delicate the birth of our nation was and how easily things could have gone ill.  We were and are very fortunate that we have managed to last so long, enjoy such freedom and wallow in such prosperity.

It’s cliche for blogs on Fourth of July to exhort people to think about the sacrifices of our soldiers, to read one of the most brilliant documents ever written or thank their stars for where and when they live.  We should do all that.  But we should also enjoy today.  Be with family and friends.  Watch some fireworks.  Eat like a pig.  Throw someone of the opposite sex into a swimming pool.  One of the best ways to honor our nation is to enjoy the luxuries and happiness that it affords us, to live our lives and enjoy our pleasures for those who couldn’t.

Have a great weekend.

Comments

Posted by on 07/04/08 at 09:30 PM from

I have a personal tradition on ANZAC day of spending the morning honouring the sacrifices of those who died for my country, and the afternoon enjoying the liberties and freedoms that they died for.

Posted by West Virginia Rebel on 07/05/08 at 01:57 AM from

For all I know, we probably have some great movies about the War of 1812 and the Barbary Pirates campaign.

Well, there’s this.

Posted by on 07/05/08 at 09:19 AM from

I just finished the HBO John Adams DVDs and they are awesome. Hal_1000 is right - this is the missing great Revolutionary War movie.  It’s a little embarrassing learning so much from the series that should be remembered from school.

I rented The Patriot once for the same reason - thinking that was a good movie on the topic. The only version of that I got was the extended version and that is nearly the worst movie ever on any topic. 3 hrs of b-o-r-i-n-g and Mel Gibson being cute.

NPR/Public Radio is good for a laugh a few minutes a day, so I tuned in yesterday July 4. What was their Independence Day / Declaration of Independence themed stories? California’s WWII Japanese Internment Camps and Bush’s Guantanamo Bay fiasco. There is no possible connection between these and Independence, except to be a troll.

“The Declaration makes you feel patriotic? No so fast. Check out all this shit the US has done!”

At least the stories weren’t read with the typical NPR British accent - making it seem like operatives of England’s King George III ranting against the US.

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