Movie Critics And Political Pundits Just Don’t Get It!
By Debbie Daniel (03/21/04)
I don’t know when I have laughed so hard. But as the numbers keep coming in for the “doomed” Mel Gibson movie “The Passion of the Christ,” I just can’t help belting out a yippee and a howl . . . oh, what a feeling! Two hundred twelve million dollars and counting. Wow!
It’s not the dollar amount that has me rolling on the floor; it’s the fact that these numbers represent people who are either searching for the “truth” or are being empowered in their Christian faith. The critics would have you believe this is just a one time exception, certainly not a trend.
What they don’t understand is: There’s a “silent majority” out there that’s ready to “shout” from the mountaintops . . . “We love the Lord, we love our country, and we’re ready to take back America in the name of Jesus Christ.”
The scripture says: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Isn’t it great to be right, and isn’t it great to be on God’s side of this battle?
Hey, you critics out there, you might want to look into other avenues of work. You just don’t seem to get it right when it comes to telling Americans what they need to see. I don’t think you have any idea what we like or don’t like. We’ve been trying to tell you, but no one listens.
Not all, but many critics have literally made fools of themselves. With absolute ignorance, they have all but admitted their inability to review credibly; much less know a masterpiece when they see it, and have no conception of the power of God.
To prove my case, here are just a few short snippets from professional critics who certainly missed it:
A.O. Scott, New York Times: ''The Passion of the Christ'' is so relentlessly focused on the savagery of Jesus' final hours that this film seems to arise less from love than from wrath, and to succeed more in assaulting the spirit than in uplifting it. Mr. Gibson has constructed an unnerving and painful spectacle that is also, in the end, a depressing one. It is disheartening to see a film made with evident and abundant religious conviction that is at the same time so utterly lacking in grace.”
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: “A profoundly medieval movie, yes. Brutal almost beyond powers of description, yes. More obsessed with capturing every holy drop of martyr's blood and sacred gobbet of flesh than with any message of Christian love, yes.”
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine: “. . . belongs as much to the realm of sadomasochism as to Christian piety.”
Andy Rooney, CBS 60 Minutes: “I’m not paying nine dollars to go see a movie for a couple of laughs.”
Now we’re going to see who has the last laugh. Obviously, the critics and pundits are totally out-of-touch with the American people. Pardon my old southern vernacular: “They ain’t got a clue . . . not even close.”
Just as the movie critics fail to understand what the American people want, so do the political pundits in trying to tell us why George W. Bush will fail in 2004. They tell us everyday why we should despise him. The critics and pundits have a whole lot in common . . . neither is in touch with mainstream America. It is millions of Americans who have a deep and abiding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, So just wait, you haven’t seen anything yet.
We’ve just begun to hear from our president. He was gracious enough to let the Democrats pick their candidate, have their say with no real opposition, and now he’s ready for the challenge ahead. I feel a groundswell of support for George W. Bush; don’t you feel the earth rumble? Ha!
He, too, has a deep faith in the Lord. What you critics and pundits don’t understand is that when Christ becomes the center of a person’s life . . . God always wins. And that’s all that matters.
Mr. Kerry, it’s easy to “feel” you’re winning when no one’s fighting against you; you’ve become deliriously happy with your victories, and espousing how good you’re doing, when there’s not been a true challenge to be witnessed. You can continue to be mean spirited and throw out all the hate-speech you want, but you won’t be victorious.
I feel a mounting army of Christian people all over this country who are sick and tired of the Hollywood critics telling us what to go see, and the political pundits telling us how to vote.
We’ve watched the prurient filth on the big screen. We’ve seen the violence that serves no purpose. We’ve watched liberal judges, mayors – and whoever else wants to assume authority over the “laws of our land” – come in and declare whatever they want the law to mean.
One federal judge had the Ten Commandments removed from the rotunda of the Alabama Statehouse; one mayor in San Francisco said, “Phooey on the heterosexual law, I can change that.” Liberals are out of touch; they’ve become vigilante authorities. They just don’t get it.
We’ve watched same sex partners being issued marriage licenses. Rosie O’Donnell presented her “in your face” account of why she was marrying her girlfriend of five years. She was angry at the president for calling for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. “I think the actions of the president are, in my opinion, the most vile and hateful words ever spoken by a sitting president . . . I am stunned and I’m horrified,” said Rosie.
Well, she let her feathers get in a ruffle because the president feels marriage should be between a man and a woman. Hark, you would have thought he just came up with that idea. Shame on you, Mr. President, for standing up for your convictions. Rosie doesn’t get it either. It is God who ordained marriage.
We’ve watched two young women “French kiss” on national television and we’ve watched Janet Jackson offer her interpretation of a “strip tease,” and none of them seem to get it.
Would you think God may be trying to get our attention? He had to destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah where men were lusting after men, and women after women. We still have a mighty God in control. So woe be to you movie critics, and woe be to you political pundits.
And if that doesn’t make you shake in your boots, you can go ahead and write your bogus reviews and your hateful perceptions of our president. All we want you to understand is
. . . “the truth.”
Christians have patiently loved others, they’ve been tolerant, and they’ve not wanted to judge. But now you’ve pushed them over the edge; they’ve become emboldened . . . in fact, I would say their passion is starting to show.
And you still don’t get it.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Debbie Daniel
