Read and Reel: Lone Survivor and Perfect Stranger

Gave up on the Disraeli book. Summer is no time for macaroni. Couldn't resist. Deeply into Lone Survivor, but took some time off from finishing it to watch Perfect Stranger with friends. What a contrast. Both also indicate what has become of our society.

Perfect Strangers is not a bad little movie. It's got an interesting twist at the end. I was put off by the obligatory liberal propaganda thrown in: you know, the stereotypical pro-family, anti-gay politician who cavorts with male interns and complaints about the pictures the press can't show. I immediately think, oh, the people falling to their deaths on 9/11, but no they're pictures of the dead coming back from Iraq. Fortunately these distractions come at the beginning. I mean, if I wanted to watch left-leaning political proganda, I don't need to rent a Bruce Willis movie. All I have to do is turn the TV set on to Keith Olberrman.

On the other side of the coin is Marcus Luttrell, Texas boy, Navy SEAL, and patriot. I always find it difficult to read a book where I know the people I am reading about will die. That's why I never read The Lovely Bones in which the narrator is dead. Suffice to say that men like Luttrell and the SEALS to whom we are introduced make us feel good about being Americans. It is a gut wrenching story of an operation in Afghanistan which goes bad and results in the deaths of just about an entire SEAL team, in part because of state of our society. I'm gonna devote a bit of space to just one quote that says it all for me.

Thus we have an extra element of fear and danger when we go into combat against the Taliban and al Queda- the fear of our own, the fear of what out own navy judge advocate general might rule against us, the fear of the American media and their unfortunate effect on American politicians. We all harbor fears about untrained, half-educated journalists who only want a good story to justify their salaries and expense accounts. Don't think it's just me. We all detest them, partly for their lack of judgement, mostly because of their ignorance, and toe-curling opportunism. The first minute an armed conflict turns into a media war, the news becomes someone's opinion, not hard truths. When the media gets involved, in the Unites States, that's a war you've got a damned good chance of losing...