"Freedom is a muscle. If you don't use it, it atrophies." --Tim Robbins

"I refuse to let abstract hatred determine how I act in a free society.
Freedom is a muscle. If you don't use it, it atrophies."

Sympathy for a devil
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/PKGQCLQCUB1.DTL&hw=tim+robbins&sn=001&sc=1000
Jessica Werner Zack

When Tim Robbins signed on to play an Afrikaner police officer in the new film "Catch a Fire," he knew his challenge would be finding compassion for a character he says was "clearly on the wrong side of history." Robbins plays Nic Vos, a colonel in South Africa's brutal Special Branch struggling to maintain the status quo during apartheid's final decade. "It was my job somehow to find the humanity in this guy, who did some terrible things."

<snip>

"An obvious message was sent that it's going to cost you to speak out ... but now I know that message is illusory," Robbins says. "No matter where I've been, in airports all over the country, people have been supportive. As far as I can tell, that yahoo, gung-ho, uber-patriot, pro-war guy does not exist. That voice is out there with a huge megaphone every day in the media, but it's certainly not the majority of people in this country.

"I refuse to let abstract hatred determine how I act in a free society. Freedom is a muscle. If you don't use it, it atrophies."

Robbins, who won a 2004 Oscar for his portrayal of a man forever damaged by childhood abuse in "Mystic River," is alert to what he sees as a cautionary message in "Catch a Fire." "When a society crosses over the line and forgoes the rule of law, starts to interrogate people illegally and hold them without lawyers and torture them, that creates even more problems than it solves. I think it's a good strong warning for us."

<snip>

Even after several weeks spent getting to know Chamusso and visiting his home north of Johannesburg, Luke says, "I still didn't understand how revenge wasn't on his mind when he got out of prison. Not until I visited Robben Island and my guide, an ex-political prisoner, told me, 'I was sentenced to life, and I had to learn to forgive or else hatred would kill me before my sentence.' He took me into Mandela's cell. I was asked to lie down, and when the cell was shut behind me and I was cut off, even for just a minute, I felt like I finally understood. We started shooting the next day."

Chamusso says prisoners did discuss forgiveness in those dark days of incarceration. "We all agreed that we better forgive our oppressors, and that will show them we are not the vicious men they think we are. The only way to carry on with your life is to forgive and also to forget."

"That's a very rare message for an action film, isn't it?" says Robbins.

After the coming Republican Crack-Up, there will be many one-time wingnuts who will be spending a lot of time wondering how the hell they went so wrong.

Our role ought not be to judge and punish and/or forgive them, but to help them understand where they've been and where they are going. It is certain that lots of them will join us. But others will be committed to rebuilding their movement. We can make sure that it's the decent folks who dominate the Loyal Opposition, not a small clique of power-hungry, fanatical tyrants.

There will be plenty of people to judge and punish -- Bush and his cronies, for instance. But the rank-and-file sheep are going to be lost in the wilderness for a while. And by our actions toward them, WE can make all the difference.

This is how the Reconciliation Commissions worked in South Africa, and the philosophy that guided post-Communist Eastern Europe. The American experience has been different, but the guiding idea should be the same. A LOT of ex-Freepers are going to be coming into our ranks. It will be up to us to make sure their "re-education" is Democratic -- secondarily in terms of the party, and primarily in terms of philosophy.

The future is Progressive, Democratic, and Free. Our first big opportunity to build that future begins first thing Wednesday morning, this coming November 8th.

--p!

:toast: :grouphug:

A motto for that effort could be:

"I refuse to let abstract hatred determine how I act in a free society."



Sounds like you know about the South African and German experiences with reconciliation. Would you like to share some info here?

"As far as I can tell, that yahoo, gung-ho, uber-patriot, pro-war guy does not exist. That voice is out there with a huge megaphone every day in the media, but it's certainly not the majority of people in this country."

It is (or at least was) part of the programming. But it's a part of them, not their defining quality. The vets I know are pretty in touch with how this administration "supports the troops."

Tim Robbins is a good guy. And he's really tall.

running for office as Democrats. And vets starting activist groups and web sites.... I'd be interested in knowing more about that movement and also looking at what solidarity there is b/w those folks and liberals (cliche view that libs or Dems don't "support the troops")

"The vets I know are pretty in touch with how this administration "supports the troops." "

Do those vets who may have bought that cliche about lib/Dem/protesters now understand that speaking out to keep their lives from being squandered illegally IS supporting the troops?

There are a lot of Americans whose eyes have been opened by the despicable treatment the troops and vets have received from Bushco.


edit: and nice to see you porphyrian :hi:

:shrug: