Continued from the Cars 2 Thread
So, again, you are suggesting because the majority lives somewhere under certain circumstances that is what becomes the definition of a country? In short, majority rules?
There are such things as right and wrong but not when it comes to something as nebulous as a national identity. For anyone to suggest that they are correct about what an American is or should be is truly the height of arrogance.
Again, you're saying that majority rules and it's that simple.
Have you ever thought that the reason movies like Doc Hollywood exist is because, as your argument, the majority live in cities? People go to movies to get away from what they see everyday thus movies about people who escape from the rat race (which many people fantasize about) do reasonably well.
Willfully naive? Can you point to any point in either of those movies where one character, any character, says that these people are real Americans? No. Because it doesn't happen. They're fish out of water stories not commenting on America stories.
BTW, I didn't realize that Hollywood needed to have matching quotas on movies. For every fish out of water story that ends with the guy staying with the bumpkins you need one where a bumpkin stays in the city?
And it's people like you who help them get a foothold because of your Ivory Tower intellectualism.
Seriously. Philosophical papers presented as psychological facts. That's what you give me?
As I said in the other thread, congrats. You enjoy raging against your pre-conceived windmills.
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Originally Posted by Cuchulain
 The term is "Gerrymandering," and--no--the coasts of the country and cities are actually where most of us live these days. What is normative is what is common. Rural America is not a normative standard for American culture and values and hasn't been since the Industrial Revolution. Urban centers have been the standard and remain the standard. I hate to break it to you, but there are such things as "right" and "wrong." Wanting all perspectives to be equally valid does not make them so.
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There are such things as right and wrong but not when it comes to something as nebulous as a national identity. For anyone to suggest that they are correct about what an American is or should be is truly the height of arrogance.
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| It's not the same argument. I'm pointing out that their argument is a bad one and that the terms of their argument actually point to the urban centers of the country as the "real America." They're structurally different arguments with different points. Nice try, though. |
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| If you don't think these storylines are pandering to the "Sarah Fan" crowd and their beliefs, you're sort of being willfully naive. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one film--Whatever Works--in recent memory that makes the opposite argument that Cars and Doc Hollywood do. |
Willfully naive? Can you point to any point in either of those movies where one character, any character, says that these people are real Americans? No. Because it doesn't happen. They're fish out of water stories not commenting on America stories.
BTW, I didn't realize that Hollywood needed to have matching quotas on movies. For every fish out of water story that ends with the guy staying with the bumpkins you need one where a bumpkin stays in the city?
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| Again, in America, there really isn't. The American conservative movement has been run by the fringe of that movement since Reagan. Are there sane, caring, and intelligent Republicans in the rank-and-file? Yes. Do they enjoy representation in their party leadership, activist base, and elected officials? No. |
Seriously. Philosophical papers presented as psychological facts. That's what you give me?
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| i'd rather be an asshole than a naive person desperately clinging to subjectivism for dear life in the hope of never having to actually confront anything in the real world, which is a sadly common type of person in today's world. |
