Rich Hoffman's Blog, page 442
June 21, 2013
The Intent Behind Amnesty: Why enemies of America want open boarders
As I was doing research for my novel Tail of the Dragon I was shocked to learn that a major public relations firm that was heavily utilized in New York City had been owned by a British organization. Since the dangers of public relations are one of the themes in my novel, I wrote about it in the context of the story, but in the process, my editors had removed the direct references during subsequent revisions of the draft. For obvious reasons, my publishing company did not want to anger a public relations firm that is so instrumental in shaping the way Americans view the world around them, which I can’t blame. But during the process, I learned first-hand how media is censored quietly with implied threats instead of direct ones, and how truths are suppressed while fluffy dialogue is used to propagate complete falsehoods. Such is the true story of treachery that is centered on the very real issue of amnesty for current illegal immigrants in The United States. There are many wealthy forces in the world who have spent a lot of money on public relations promotion to advocate why it is important for America to give illegal immigrants a fighting chance at freedom, as those same forces do everything they can to undermine American freedom by replacing the Constitution with a new document created by The United Nations. These powerful forces support a borderless world where no country is any better than another, as all nations on the face of planet earth would be equal in every way that equality is measured. What those forces do not say is that their method of government would be socialism/communism and that rich nations like America would be made to be poor nations like Uganda, and that the immigration policy they advocate is designed strategically to overwhelm America to the point that it is suffering from the same problem as the rest of the world which is described in the following video. Watch closely:
Those globalist oriented European elite, who have seduced the wealthy of The United States with a kind of country club desire to be among their own kind, have mistakenly designated themselves as the equalizers of justice, in bringing to the world such equality as displayed in the video above. Their failure is one of philosophy as they deeply wish to hold down the human race by maintaining their grip on power. This is why these capitalists who made their wealth with free enterprise advocate government that is socialist in nature. They want their country club to remain intact with people they understand, and wish to exclude competition to their accepted order. However, it is their policy of socialism that has given all those indicated nations such abysmal poverty and living conditions not much better than a common insect. So to purify their crime, but still maintain their elite status, they hope to destroy America so that no place on earth can stand against their socialist supported governments.
If you’ve ever witnessed a group of politicians meeting one another in a private setting, the ass-kissing and back slapping that permeates is ridiculous. But at the core of the strange ritualistic behavior is the deepest, darkest desire of the human mind—an infantile desire to be accepted by one’s peers. This is how evil is conducted in politics, and this is how a handful of wealthy donors can control the political process from top to bottom. When a politician takes money from a donor, they are like a common whore who sells their body and mind to the donor, and forgo their private action in exchange. In this way Barack Obama is no better than a common whore on K-Street and neither is John Boehner. In countries where socialism functions fully, it is unmistakable that the poverty level of all those countries is the ones that are the most governmentally restrictive.
In capitalist countries the poor are even rich by the standards of the Ugandas, or the Chinas. The poor in capitalist countries are poor because of their failure to participate in capitalism. They are poor because they allow socialism into their lives. Socialism and political systems rooted in any form of collectivism produces financially poor people. Countries that embrace capitalism are much wealthier; in fact the degree to which they are rich depends on the level of capitalism present in their society. More capitalism, the wealthier the social culture. Less capitalism the, the poorer.
But the advocates of amnesty in America–the wealthy donors who contribute fortunes of their money to political candidates too stupid to know any better believing they will gain votes from illegal immigrants if they provide amnesty, support socialism among governments so to maintain their exclusivity to wealth. They do feel bad that their method of government creates poor people, so they rationalize their sin by making such a condition “equal” across the world. They hope that God in whatever form they worship will see their actions as noble, buying their way into the heaven of their choice with global sacrifice. They spend vast fortunes on public relation firms convincing Americans that illegal immigration, amnesty, and socialism are good for them. For an example of how this is done, investigate the review of the recent Superman movie Man of Steel from the Empire Online.
“There is dramatic tension to be wrung from this: not only is he (Superman) an illegal immigrant, he’s a man-sized weapon of mass destruction. Of course the US government will distrust him.”
Notice how the immigration issue ended up in a movie review for a summer blockbuster? You can read the whole review at the link below:
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=137126
The immigration issue is placed on the mind of virtually everyone with such methods, especially newspaper reviewers and other progressive think-tanks with their hand in the entertainment industry. The thoughts were placed there by public relations professionals who received the thoughts from clients–the wealthy radicals who want global socialism. This is how amnesty appears to politicians as a good thing when in fact it is a Trojan Horse for global socialism advocated by a wealthy elite terrified of competition from their betters.
People have been battered into apathy though constant public relations with a monotonous insistence on insane propositions – that a valuable country like America should have an open border, and that anybody who wishes could enter the country and sign up for its entitlement programs. Those same public relation firms paid for by the same wealthy elitists also wish the world to believe that entitlement programs can be supplied to an infinite amount of people for an infinite amount of time—which of course is false. What the public relation firms never ask, or seek is the real meaning behind the message—global collapse of capitalism so that socialism, misery, and a world of equally poor inhabitants can permeate the modern age removing competitors from the international market using government to preserve financial empires while at the same time appealing to God almighty in bringing equality to an impoverished world they created through a philosophy of sacrifice. Impoverished citizens make wonderful subjects willing to kneel before the gods of religion and politics—or so such evil is always justified.
The solution to the world’s problems would not be to destroy America so that the poor will have brothers and sisters to share their misery on the North American continent, but to spread the message of America to those countries so that they too could have wealth, by giving them the joy of capitalism. If the do-gooders of the world really wanted to rid the world of poverty, they would expand capitalism and abandon socialism. Upon such an action by the governments of the current impoverished nations, whose citizens make less than $2 dollars a day, poverty would be defeated if capitalism was practiced, instead of tyrannical control and micromanaging of their citizens. Instead public relations firms—because they are paid like whores to do so—are advocates for more poverty, more control by the wealthy elite shielding them from unwanted competition, and the attack of the only free country on earth which happens to be the premier destination of all who hope to have a life of some worth. The public relations companies are paid to convince Americans to give up their worth so that it will cease to be a destination of desire. And part of that removal of worth is by taking away the value of border control, so that no such borders exist leaving value to be determined by chaos.
It may now be obvious why the reference to public relation firms in my novel were removed during the editing process. I was able to accomplish the same thing without naming the names once the final draft went to print. But a window to how the process worked at many different levels was available to me. Knowing that much, it is easy to conclude then what is behind the amnesty for current illegal immigrants. The action is not one of justice, fairness, or even hope that such people will become productive voters within the American system. The goal is collapse of America by those who hate the country and pay homage to their European ancestors of the past who tried to destroy the freest nation on earth with guns, tanks, and politics. Instead, the new attackers of America are using bankruptcy backed by political socialism to destroy their greatest competition on the world stage with a secret desire to keep everyone dirt poor, and hopeless so that the destitute masses will chastise themselves to sacrifice themselves to their wealthy masters.
Rich Hoffman
“Justice Comes With The Crack of a Whip!”
June 20, 2013
Hans Zimmer’s ‘Man of Steel’ Soundtrack: A love for America that only musical notes can render
If you offer yourself as a social commentator of not just how things are, but how things will be, it is important to always report information that is ahead of the curve, well before the mainstream has caught on to the changing circumstances. In that regard articles like the one I’m about to write might seem trivial as it does not deal with any of the major scandals coming out of Washington, the tragedies of education, or the generally demoralization of America by forces of collective remedy, but it is important in a way that hidden behind chaos. The other day my kids gave me for Father’s Day the deluxe soundtrack to Man of Steel, the new Superman movie by Hans Zimmer, CLICK HERE TO REVIEW. This gift was more than just a metaphor for how my children view me, but is one of severe substance for my personal musical tastes. Currently on my iPod I do not have a single lyrical music piece—not a single one that is not associated with a motion picture. I have stated many times that mythology is the most important thing in my life and I study mythology incessantly, especially contemporary mythology. Movies are the biggest contributors to modern mythology so my musical tastes center on enjoying the music that helps tell such stories through sound. So I listen to a lot of movie soundtracks.
To fit the Man of Steel soundtrack which is two disks of music on my iPod I had to take off the last of my favorite lyrical music like the work by Muse and a few classic rock songs. My iPod is an 8 gig type which is plenty for me, but it is currently 99% full and consists entirely of movie soundtracks—everything ranging from The Sound of Music, to Dark Knight Rises. I seldom listen to pop music because they are often songs about small ideas, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl wants a new boy—that kind of garbage that is just tripe. In my music I want to feel from it that I can conceptualize the largest ideas and still have room to spare. For me, it takes symphony orchestra music, and more specifically movie soundtracks. With those qualifiers, the new Man of Steel soundtrack done in a deluxe DTS format is the best of the best. For soundtrack lovers, it is simply the best of its kind to date. It is so good that surprisingly, the soundtrack was sold out all over the city of Cincinnati which I didn’t expect. Only two stores had a copy of Man of Steel, one was the Barnes and Noble at the Streets of West Chester, and the Barnes and Noble in Kenwood. The one in West Chester was a copy that was pre-ordered, and was on hold till the claimant stopped by to pick it up.
This sent my son-in-law on quite an adventure to locate the soundtrack so that he and my daughter could give it to me on Father’s Day. On Saturday June 15th just a few hours after we had seen the movie the night before he stopped by the West Chester location to see if the clerk would cut loose of the one copy they had. Because a sufficient amount of time had transpired the clerk allowed my son-in-law to buy the reserved copy, which then allowed him to give it to me the next day prior to our Father’s Day festivities.
The soundtrack itself has a cover made of metal, which surprised me as the cost of production would have been much higher. Also, the soundtrack contained two disks, one of the actual music used in the film, and another that is experimental music created by Hans Zimmer while he worked out the themes of the film’s characters. It was this second one that had some of the most unusual music I have heard in years. But the more I dug into the soundtrack to the film I noticed there was quite a bit more to it than just musical compositions designed to help tell a story. There was an extra “umpf” to this collection of music that was difficult to put my finger on.
I spent all of Father’s Day listening to the two hours of music when I could, over and over again, and still there was a nagging concept that I couldn’t quite articulate. The music by German born Hans Zimmer created for a movie that had a global market in mind, had written a score that seemed extremely patriotic to American ideas. Zimmer for the track had brought together twelve of the best drummers in the world, names like Shelia E., Junkie XL, Josh Freeze, and many others who worked with a full symphonic orchestra on a score that hit a wide range of themes and emotional arcs. Musically, it is simply fantastic. But there was more to it than just goodness……
As I read through the book that came as an insert in the two CD case, I found a quote by Peter Asher who co-produced the soundtrack with Hans Zimmer. He stated in writing:
For this Superman, Man of Steel, Hans has managed to create a supremely American score. Perhaps we Europeans fall in love with “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” with all the extra enthusiasm of a long-distance romance – maybe with a higher level of commitment than those born into the relationship. While avoiding the specific and lubricious emotionality of rock and roll on the one hand and the corn fields of Aaron Copland on the other, this is the score for an America both modern and timeless, both realistic and optimistic. An ideal and a reality. And for a Superman we can greet as a true hero and in whom we can believe with all our hearts.
Reading this statement from Asher coming from a group of Europeans who worked as producers of not just the soundtrack to Man of Steel but also for the film with Christopher Nolan, there was extra effort by them to pay tribute to the uniquely American ideas that built the mythology behind Superman, particularly in this latest rendition. CLICK HERE FOR MY REVIEW. Hans Zimmer as an immigrant to America himself knows that he would have no place else in the world besides Hollywood, U.S.A. which would allow him to use his unique gift of music to produce the kind of work he currently does for some of the most popular films in the world. Germany does not make films like Man of Steel. For that matter France, Spain, Italy, Russia, China, nobody makes films like what America does, because such ideas are produced under the context of freedom, and no other method. It takes a freely focused society to make a film like Man of Steel where even the music soundtrack is desired with intense demand. For a change, here was a group of very creative people who got together to honor that freedom behind the character of Superman.
I have been collecting movie soundtracks my entire life. I have read the insert to every single one of those soundtracks and I can’t think of a single time that a producer like Peter Asher ever admitted to “loving” America and taking pains to articulate that love through music. The closest to an honest admission to such Americana that I can remember was the score to Far and Away by John Williams. But even that was very subdued by him for obvious political reasons. John Williams was very careful not to show Hollywood any overtly patriotic reverence to America in that movie about the American frontier from the perspective of Irish Americans settling the vast expanses of the Wild West. Williams like all creative people and members of intelligentsia know that to declare patriotism to America is to turn away from the progressive “cause” which has taken over Hollywood, politics, and even American business. So they are careful to keep their opinions neutral and let their art speak where their mouths would otherwise be chastised.
So it is quite extraordinary that Hans Zimmer and the team that put together the soundtrack to Man of Steel have openly declared their love of America, and that Zimmer put together a score that professes a love for everything that is built around the American idea—which is epitomized by Superman. The current trend as I’ve spoken about before, in film is to turn away from socialism and progressive causes. The art produced by Americans are beginning to reflect a shift in values that is first seen in entertainment, which will be followed by the culture at large. I have been thinking such a thing for a long time. The work of Glenn Beck, Doc Thompson, and even Judge Napolitano has opened a dialogue in American entertainment that has not been present since the decline of the western in film. I have listened intently to the music of Hans Zimmer for a long time, from the fantastic soundtrack of Gladiator to the Pirates of the Caribbean and have been convinced that Zimmer has a tremendous love of freedom which emerges from the notes he paints on a page for orchestras to bring to life. In the film Dark Knight Rises Hans Zimmer’s score was dark, brooding, but strangely patriotic. I’ve listened to it hundreds of times over the last year, and there is no mistaking it. But my suspicion has been confirmed with the Man of Steel soundtrack. The music is unquestionably patriotic, even holy, and it doesn’t apologize for it– not once. If the meaning of the music wasn’t clear enough then the words of Peter Asher spells it out.
I expect that an American Renaissance is well underway. With the scandals of the current day in full bloom, many cannot see this renaissance for what it truly is as the effects have not yet hit popular music, television shows, or even politics. But the music of Man of Steel makes clear that a new hope is on the horizon as creative geniuses like Hans Zimmer is honestly scoring music that is reshaping American culture from the jealous minds of the typical European and embracing the value which has long been ignored, and abused. I am deeply grateful that my son-in-law went to the extra trouble to find this fabulous soundtrack for me as a Father’s Day gift. It is one of the best works of music I have ever heard and will remain that way for many, many years. The musical geniuses of old like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven had their day to export the values of Europe to the entire world through their classical music which held in it the values of Victorian society. The new geniuses of symphony, like John Williams and Hans Zimmer are American, and their mark has been made, and our world culture is shaping around it. To get a hint of what that world looks like and feels, just listen to the new soundtrack to Man of Steel, and the notes provided there by Hans Zimmer will give you a glimpse. That glimpse fills me with overwhelming hope that a day where justice and value will once again be prized components of a society that is not afraid of its own shadow. Remember where you read my words when ten years from now the evidence begins to emerge.
To understand the magnitude of the progressive left media influence and its hatred of goodness read this article for proof:
The Man of Steel soundtrack is so much about goodness that it is simply angelical in every meaning of the word. Thank you Hans Zimmer!
Rich Hoffman
“If they attack first………..blast em’!”
June 19, 2013
The Pathetic Effort of Lakota Schools: To understand why, read ‘The Naked Communist’
I don’t even take the Lakota School System serious any more. Since January of this year, a group of residents, teachers, students, administrators and school board members have been working together to form a strategic plan that will help guide the future of the Lakota Local School District. The result of this so-called first phase, which covers the strategic areas and goals identified by the mentioned “group,” is now available for the Lakota community’s review and comment, before the board considers adoption of the recommended plan next Monday, June 24. You can see that plan for yourself at the link below, but let me save you some time. The intent of the whole “phase one” strategy is listed on page four, after all the flowery details in the preceding pages. Lakota, after all the discussion we’ve engaged in and the millions upon millions of dollars in salary that has been spent on these people, have come up with a brilliant strategy…………..to simply ask for more money. Here are “their” words. They want to “transition Lakota to an organization with sustainable resources and funding to achieve its goals and mission.” They want to “build a financial plan that merits continued public investment and will sustain the mission.” They want to “develop a resource plan that will help sustain the mission.” Then they want to “communicate the financial status to increase understanding and support.” In short what that means is they want to find a way to pass more school levies then find a way to use the West Chester Community Foundation to get a few business owners to turn the other way and cough while they raise taxes on their properties, putting pressure on other businesses to do the same with peer pressure. Lakota hasn’t learned a thing.
http://westchesterbuzz.com/2013/06/14/lakota-unveils-phase-one-of-strategic-plan-seeks-feedback/
If it were me and I had given Lakota schools a business assignment to provide a financial sustainability analysis of their future needs and they got together in a group of the mentioned patrons from January 2013 after spending thousands upon thousands of dollars in 2012 and 2013 on the “Community Conversations” program, and 5 months later presented me with that PDF file in a presentation, I would have fired every single person who worked on it. The work they presented is an insult to the intelligence of anyone reading it. It is a scam at best, and then to write “draft” in the background of the document attempting to make the gibberish look more important is just rubbing salt into a wound cut open by such a ridiculously camouflaged levy request. They might as well have said, phase one, we want to find a way to ask for more money. Phase two, we intended to propose another tax increase trying to make it look like we did a whole lot of thinking before putting the issue on the ballot. And Phase three, we spend the money we get from the tax increase on new union contracts which are up in the summer of 2014 for renewal.
I am convinced now more than ever that all government services from schools to the police and EMS services are designed by statist supports for aims that were constructed by the 1958 book, The Naked Communist. CLICK HERE TO REVIEW. That is the only reasonable conclusion one can make when the end game to a parade of never ending tax requests are made by government organizations is analyzed. Just in my local area alone, the below tax increase requests are listed for the August and November elections of 2013. Many of these communities just passed similar taxes just a few years ago, so there is no plan on how to sustainably grow a community. There is no care given when one branch of government such as police and fire services ask for property tax money for their needs then a few months later a school asks for another levy on the same property tax. They are all government yet they all want to be treated individually as they do not share their funding. For instance if public education operated with a surplus, they would never think to share the money with police and fire services. They simply give their unions pay increases then ask for more money. The police and fire fighting unions do the same, but they all take money from the same pot…….property ownership.
Issues filed for August 6, 2013 Special Election
Filing deadline is May 8, 2013
1 Deerfield Twp Replacement & Increase 4.0 mills, Police & EMS continuing period of time.
2 Franklin City School District Additional 7.92 mills, Current expenses continuing period of
time.
3 Lebanon City School District Renewal 2.0 mills, Permanent Improvement 5 yrs.
Issues filed for November 5, 2013 General Election
Filing deadline is August 7, 2013 4:00 pm
Lebanon City Additional 7.0 mills, Fire & Ambulance 5 yrs. Franklin Public Library Additional 1.0 mill, current expenses continuing period of time. Washington Twp Additional 3.0 mills, Fire & EMS continuing period of time.
http://www.co.warren.oh.us/bdelec/election_info/WEBissues07.pdf
The only thing that makes sense when viewing the public behavior of these government workers is that they are paid so well that they don’t question the statist strategy that they inherited from the “feds” but are simply doing their jobs. Those jobs were designed by radicals in the far away land of Washington with the intentions against America that were outlined in The Naked Communist. There simply is not another explanation for the lunacy that government services continue to offer as reasonable justifications for their absurd fiscal policies. At some point in time property ownership gets taxed to a saturation point, and then it’s over. Government buys up the defaulted properties through government backed loans, and a free society is nudged into a statist one with the corrosive, incremental votes of a naive public.
I wish I could say that the latest drivel coming from my home district of Lakota was a surprise, but it’s not. They are like virtually every public school in America. They were designed by statists in the Department of Education to destroy property ownership by tricking Americans to vote their rights away through the free babysitting service that is public education. The employees involved if they worked for any competent employer would be fired on the spot for presenting such ridiculous justifications for their ineptness. The people who put together that document for the Phase One development of levy request at Lakota are in denial on two fronts. First is the real intent of public education which they don’t want to consider since they are so well paid as government workers. Two, that a community will be willing to always support an institution of learning that has no control over its finances—no control over the collective bargaining agreement with its union. They expect that taxes can always go up and that there is no limit. That is the essence of what their Phase One presentation defines as their objectives after a lot of money was spent formulating it, and time consumed which can never be redeemed. For those reasons, I would terminate all employees involved and turn the document over to some first graders, who could surely do a better job. If that is all the highly paid administrators can come up with at Lakota for dealing with their financial situation, our community could do no worse, because the proposal of Phase One is simply pathetic.
Rich Hoffman
“If they attack first………..blast em’!”
June 18, 2013
Ben Swann’s Bold New Endeavor: “Liberty is Rising Truth in Media”
I didn’t know that Ben Swann had left Channel 19 officially until I emailed him the other day regarding some info on the IRS scandal in Cincinnati. The email had bounced back and I was reminded that Swann was now on the next stage of his journalistic adventure, an endeavor that he fully expects to change the world with. For those who do not yet know, Swan is starting his own investigative journalism endeavor that is quite ambitious, and incredibly bold. But who would expect less from the co-anchor of Fox News 19 in Cincinnati who became internationally famous with his Reality Check expositions which featured hard reporting of very controversial material. Swann is raising money for his new endeavor which looks to prove a nightmare for government statists all over the world and is something to get excited about. To date, Swann has raised $140,000 of his intended goal of $1,250,000. I would encourage you dear reader to contribute something if you have it to Swann’s endeavor. A preview of what he has in mind can be seen below. Under the flag of this pioneering effort, Ben Swann has an opportunity to bring much-needed offense to the liberty movement that will save a lot of money down the road for everyone, so the investment is well worth the cost. Have a look.
When I first started doing this Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom site, very few people were doing any looking into why statist policies were corroding virtually every aspect of our modern government. But just a few years later, there are several individuals and groups that have formed which are changing the way the news is reported, and giving people who have been forced to live behind the veil of foggy recollection, to expose what is hidden behind that fog. My friend Matt Clark comes to mind from Michigan, a young budding radio personality who I think will be the next Glenn Beck in a few years time. The Blaze has jumped on the scene under Glenn Beck where my friend Doc Thompson is now changing radio broadcasting forever with an all internet radio show that bypasses FCC regulation allowing the truth to be truly seen without government censorship applied through strong arming tactics and audits. And now Ben Swann has given up a career as a very good journalist and news anchor that would no doubt lead him to many millions of dollars as a television personality to start his own thing to be run his own way—no editor to mold his stories to FCC sensibilities, and no advertisers to boycott his entire station if he doesn’t play by collective rules of political behavior. Instead, Ben Swann has elected to pursue truth, justice, and the American way the way every American should, through private enterprise and personal initiative. Swan is going to be his own boss, and do things his way, and his way is the libertarianism of a new generation that is deeply inspired by former congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Ben Swann is not going for money, fame, or power; he is trying to fix the country with a sincerity that is unique, and deeply needed. I sincerely support, and hope that Ben Swann is successful with his enterprising endeavor. If he is, it would help bring about the kind of world that I am fighting for, one that centers on individual responsibility, focuses on freedom, runs a republic government through fiscal responsibility, and stays out of the individual lives of all Americans. His success is my success in that if he gains the ability to do what he wants to do with his Liberty is Rising Truth in Media Project, then the fight my readers here at Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom have been fighting for over three years gets a whole lot easier, and expands in ways that have not yet been possible.
Where Ben Swann has an advantage is that he has been a media insider who has not been corrupted, or compromised at a very youthful stage in his career. Many freedom fighters discover through trial and error that the poor methods of their past do not add up to a good future. When the moment of crises arrives, they repent, change their ways, and grab on to some political leader like Ron Paul and follow his message toward their personal salvation. Swann however never appears to have fallen from any kind of grace in his life, and instead has started with a position of strength that he never lost. This gives him a powerful advantage in the world of the media as an independent reporter who is functioning from the raw ambition of an unconquered spirit. With his Truth in Media endeavor, political movers and shakers won’t be able to call up his boss to complain that Swann’s hard-hitting reporting is upsetting the “applecart” or that his coverage of public school funding is “harming the children” meaning advertisers focusing their marketing to children on a given network cannot be manipulated into reeling in a journalist in pursuit of the truth. Swann will be free to hit hard in his reporting, and with his already successful background in journalism, will position himself to be a major force in revolutionizing the news industry.
In my ideal world, I would like to see all progressive news outlets fail under conservative competition and the Overton Window of American politics move to a new spot where the Alex Jones types on InfoWars represent the far-right in politics, Ben Swann represents the “middle” and Glen Beck represents the left. Everything to the left of Beck would not have a market in America because nobody would be paying any attention to them. Progressive news outlets would be forced to return to European politics where their diatribes originated from. Those progressive networks have only succeeded in the absence of competition in the same way that public education has only called themselves successful by holding a monopoly on the process. But it all starts with a dream, and then the dream must be followed with action. Thus far, Ben Swann has taken that action and he is well on his way to meeting his $1,250,000 target amount that will launch him into the journey that will bring the world a scenario close to the one I’ve outlined above. And that is a reality that is worth dreaming about.
If you’d like to help Ben Swann with his new endeavor, you can see more about it at the link below along with a demo show of his proposed Truth in Media enterprise.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/439668500/liberty-is-rising-truth-in-media-project-0
For those like me who miss Ben Swann from Channel 19 you can visit his website at:
Rich Hoffman
“If they attack first………..blast em’!”
June 17, 2013
Glenn Beck’s ‘Man In The Moon’: Coming July 6th 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah
Glenn Beck’s Man In The Moon
Man In The Moon is the exciting new stage spectacle by America’s premiere storyteller—Glenn Beck! On July 6th, prepare yourself for a truly once in a lifetime experience. Under the stars in Salt Lake City, Utah’s USANA Amphitheatre, Glenn will present his “moon’s eye view” of the building of America. It’s Glenn Beck’s imagination come to life. It’s Man In The Moon, a story like no other from the creative mind of a storyteller like no other—Glenn Beck.
Man In The Moon will excite and engage all your senses. At times, it will seem to defy logic. The visual spectacle will be beside you…in front of you…behind you. You’re not just watching a show—you’re inside the show. You’ll be swept into a world of mesmerizing creations. Everything will be larger than life, and the moon itself will be there, shining bigger and brighter than you have ever seen it. The moon reminds us of how small we are, and how infinite the universe. The moon has been there from the beginning, reminding us that there is something bigger, something greater than us.
If you’re ready for the ultimate Glenn Beck experience, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of a Gold, Silver or Bronze VIP ticket package. Not only will they treat you to “can’t get ‘em anywhere else” collectibles, but you’ll also slip behind the velvet rope and get to enjoy a weekend full of activities, including a special breakfast speech, a Q&A session, a delicious BBQ, an exciting and informative FreedomWorks event, and an up-close-and-personal meet and greet with Glenn himself! Of course, if you just want to see this incredible show, the Preferred or General Admission Lawn seating are fantastic options as well. As long as you’re there, you’re in for a night you’ll never forget.
This show that will help you see our history from a completely different point of view, one that will give you hope. Glenn has created an experience that will lift up your family, bring you closer together, and forever change the way we all look at ourselves and the Man In the Moon. We were always the people who believed a brighter future was just about to dawn. On July 6th, Glenn Beck will make you believe that again.
This whole show is about magic and hope…light and dark…family and God…history and the future. It’s a story of struggle and triumph, good and evil, and simple people finding a better way. It’s about what millions of Americans want: Hope, and to believe in goodness and our country again. Make a new American Memory with your family that none of you will ever forget. Believe In America…believe in us again! Remember, as long as you buy your ticket, you’ll get to say that you were there to see Glenn Beck’sMan In The Moon!
http://www.glennbeck.com/maninthemoon/
Rich Hoffman
The Expansion of Medicaid: Matt Clark exposes why Republican governors are losing their backbone
It is fair to say that most politicians get involved in politics so that they can be important. They want to be deal makers and heart takers, yet they often lack the skill to be those things on their own merit in professional business. Politics offers a way for the mediocre to be exceptional off the confiscated wealth of government for the benefit of the truly weak. It’s not against any moral law to be weak, or not to be the best. But it is to steal value from others so that everyone can have the illusion of equality. Digging into the history of politics, it appears that this trend was even worse in years past. Today there are politicians that I know personally who think the way I do, and get into politics to implement those values and wrestle power away from the mediocre so that society can advance under the leadership of the truly gifted. In politics it’s all about the deal, deals made with other people’s money which makes mediocre malcontents feel like gods among man, and why they get into, and stay in politics. In Ohio many Tea Party types saw what happened when supposed conservative Governor Kasich went from being a fighter against state imposition of Obamacare, only to cave under the pressure of lobbyists and attempt to expand Medicaid as a thinly veiled attempt to win votes by giving away services so he can stay in power during the 2014 election. In New Jersey, the popular conservative Governor in Chris Christie went from a Obama basher and future presidential candidate to a Obama kissing patriarch of liberal loving cheerleading. What Kasich and Christie both have in common besides personal friendship is that both governors had environmental tragedies which required them to take federal money to solve their financial problems. In Ohio it was an extremely large tornado which struck towns in southern Ohio. For Christie it was Hurricane Sandy. After those storms both men found themselves willing to bend and accept big government to alleviate the pain and suffering of environmental tragedy under their leadership which President Obama clearly understands. For him to implement his Obamacare takeover of a fifth of America’s economy he would have to get Republican governors to support him, and the way he’s doing it is through the kind of political deals that have given politics the dirty name it deserves. Obama’s minions have attached Obamacare to federal money, which states need to balance their budget from either environmental disasters, or economic chaos. This is certainly the case in Michigan where the governor there has just implemented right to work passage against the labor unions but has found himself pulled into the political black hole of financial limitations to avert economic disasters, particularly due to the failing city of Detroit which is technically in bankruptcy. The Michigan Governor wants to expand Medicaid for reasons that are mysterious and defy conservative logic but without question extend into a deal made on the front of Obamacare’s money allocation that any financially strapped governor would find tempting. But it is a trap surrendering state sovereignty for the short-term gain of economic viability, a problem that Matt Clark was uncovering dramatically from his radio rebellion in south central Michigan. Listen below to a former staunch opponent to Medicaid expansion attempt to explain why he is now a supporter of Obamacare strategies while still pretending that he stands for Tea Party ideas of fiscal responsibility.
Michigan State Representative Mike Shirkey (R) argued that the Medicaid expansion in Michigan was more about reform than increasing the size of the program, yet he’s not kidding anyone, including himself which came out in the heated debate in the video. Matt believes Medicaid and Obamacare are meant as a driving force to bring America toward a single payer system and Shirkey revealed that he has now helped to facilitate that gigantic government takeover of American medicine.
A key element of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare,” is the expansion of Medicaid in every state, so for it to work, conservative opposition must be removed and this is often done behind closed doors and on golf courses. Before the Supreme Court ruling in 2012, Medicaid expansion was required; however, it’s now an option for the states. It would appear that conservatives were prepared to take the money all along for the financial support that comes with Obamacare while publically denying it until the Supreme Court put the ball in their court with their ruling. After that, they found they could not turn away from the money, or the votes gained by giving things away that was not theirs to give.
The greatest danger of Obamacare is that the government is removing incentive from the medical field. Government bureaucrats believe that doctors on the front of medical innovation will continue to work in the field of medicine under their control, which won’t happen. It’s as ridiculous to believe that if the government nationalized the fast food industry, which they hope to regulate through Obamacare, That McDonald’s would continue to expand its reach of food supply to virtually every corner of the globe. Under such a government takeover of food supply, McDonald’s would simply cut their losses and shield their money from government looters. The medical industry is about to do the same thing. Through Medicaid expansion many more uninsured participants will be thrown into the system who have largely made poor decisions in their life ranging from a terrible diet, smoking, to other debilitating illnesses caused by their poor decisions. Meanwhile, there will be less supply of those services as partnering with government will prove unprofitable, so there will be fewer doctors to tend to the growing demand. In this way, the decent medical innovations that are experienced in 2013 America will decrease into the waiting lists that are seen in Europe where it is not uncommon to wait for years for hip replacement surgery or other ailments that Americans have come to take for granted. In America when a patient needs open heart surgery, or some other form of surgery, they schedule the treatment and within days it gets done. Under Obamacare, there will be lists, and the treatment will take months to years and will be done only by doctors who have accepted government partnership equally creating far less competency than what is experienced today.
In the interview with Matt Clark Michigan State Representative Mike Shirkey knows all this, and like Kasich in Ohio, and Christie in New Jersey, they are accepting the Obamacare march toward a single payer system with the naive notion that they can pray and somehow, someway, everything will work out in the end. Conservatives are finding themselves the victim of a long played strategy, the same one that is unfolding over immigration amnesty, where the communist oriented political left has bought votes with other people’s money and in order to stay relevant in such a scheme, Republicans are discovering they must do the same, or become irrelevant. This is the game of the progressive, to play both sides against the middle where they have influenced the behavior of their enemies in the chess game of politics by forcing the hand of conservatives into doing exactly what they don’t want to do knowing full well that they lack the courage and fortitude to resist.
It is good to see Matt Clark giving Shirkey some honest debate which clearly the state representative was uncomfortable with. Shirkey wishes to believe that he is a bastion of conservatism and free market ideas, but now he is on the record as accepting a strategy of Barack Obama and the party of progressives who want a single payer system. They are using “conservatives” like Shirkey to get it with money dangled to Michigan through Obamacare by accepting Medicaid expansion. This is where the faulty minds of the typical politician find themselves played and the expansion of government occurs even when the participants, like Representative Shirkey think of themselves as fiscal sharks. Politics is all about “the deal” and those deals are never made with skin off their own backs, but the looted money of others. In this way, politicians are simply like children playing house in the business world pretending to be “big shots” when in fact they are just small-minded imbeciles playing a game that is too big, and complex for them to even grasp. But it makes them feel powerful, so they can maintain the illusion so long as they stay in office which is how Obamacare gets them. To stay in office they must give things away to voters and appeal to their short attention spans and lack of personal knowledge. This is why Republicans are playing into Obama’s progressive hands, and why politics over many years of similar manipulations are a detriment to society that is supposed to be a republic, but has simply regulated itself to a thuggish democracy.
Rich Hoffman
“If they attack first………..blast em’!”
June 16, 2013
The Lone Ranger’s Nominate a Hero Award: Nominate a local hero who rides for “Justice” in your community
Ahead of Disney’s new Lone Ranger film they are running a promotion for all fighters for justice to receive an advance screening of their new film prior to its July 3rd release. Given the kind of readers who frequent Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom, there are more than a few such people in Southern Ohio who deserve a ticket.
Nominate a local hero or agency who rides for Justice in your community to receive the Lone Ranger Ride for Justice Award and an advance screening of Disney’s The Lone Ranger. Post your nominations to @LoneRanger on Twitter with the #LRRideforJustice and your city of residence, to honor your local heroes.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-lone-ranger/nominate-a-hero/10151668716963373
Pick a local hero and honor them with a nomination! And be sure to see The Lone Ranger for the 4th of July! Click here to read my thoughts and tradition with The Lone Ranger!
“HIGH HO SILVER–AWAY!” CLICK HERE FOR MORE!
Rich Hoffman
Bill Clinton, Father of the Year: What an insult to all fathers
It is an absolutely appalling joke that Bill Clinton has been named Father of the Year by the National Father’s Day Committee. I would consider the former president who was impeached by congress during his term, to be the anti-father compared to many of the fathers who were celebrated during the 2013 annual Father’s Day recognition ceremonies. Clinton like the typical notion of a progressive “anti-concept” represents the undoing of fatherhood much more than a pillar of strength that most children wish for in the male portion of their parenting role-models. Clinton is virtually everything a good person is not—so naming him “Father of the Year” is equivalent to calling the stupid family on the old Fox television Married with Children the family of the year. Read more here:
The National Father’s Day Committee, an entity of the Father’s Day/Mother’s Day Council, each year confers Father of the Year Honors on contemporary lifestyle leaders of our culture whose lives are dedicated to family, citizenship, charity, civility, responsibility and reverence. The funds raised by our Annual Father of the Year Awards Presentation are directed to the support of worthwhile concerns affecting men, fathers, and families. The objective of our program is to enhance the meaning of Father’s Day and encourage universal observance.
http://www.momanddadday.com/about_fathers.htm
Apparently the National Father’s Day Committee has no idea what a good father is, otherwise they would have never put Clinton on the list, let alone giving him such a perceived honor. I know something about fatherhood, and I am a fantastic father. Saying that Clinton is an exceptional father is simply an insult. Fathers are not habitual liars, womanizing punks, or call out hits on political opponents. They also don’t eliminate whistle blowers, or have women who are the same age as their daughters perform oral sex on them in the Oval Office. Good fathers are the opposite of all those traits, yet the NFDC named Clinton anyway.
Back in the 90s when Married with Children was on the air, and Slick Willie was in the White House, my wife and I refused to watch that show, even though it was very popular. We watched a few scenes of it here and there just to see if we were missing the great wave of popularity that the show garnered, but I never completed a full episode. The show was incredibly demeaning to traditional families and helped pave the way to a lot of the terrible attitudes people have toward their families in this more contemporary age.
Of course the cat is out of the bag now as to why shows like Married with Children were made in the first place getting money while programs like Little House on the Prairie went off the air, and weren’t being invited back on traditional networks. The progressive age was in full swing and presidents like Bill Clinton were committed to finishing the task that Woodrow Wilson started making sons as unlike their fathers as possible. The progressive statists entered politics, founded and ran the Department of Education and immediately created curriculums that degraded traditional parenting which paved the way for audiences to desire programming like Married with Children and electing the Al Bundy of politics, Bill Clinton. Most of America during the 90’s could not relate with the old-fashioned ideas of John Wayne westerns but rather Oliver Stone through his cocaine trips of left leaning films. America had lost its moral compass through its public education system, and shows like Married with Children reinforced the insecurities taught to them by government schools. Politicians like Clinton simply brought to the real world the kind of characters millions of Americans had grown familiar with in Married with Children.
It would seem that the criteria for judging Father of the Year by the NFDC is in comparing all candidates to Al Bundy from that old Fox comedy. With that as the criteria, I am proud to not be a part of the judging process because fathers like Bill Clinton and I are on opposite ends of the earth, as apparently the morally lost souls of the NFDC committee are too. Their award to Bill Clinton is just further evidence of how treacherously lost our society has become in identifying good from bad, and right from wrong. Anyone who can see what is wrong with the world will quickly see what a terrible father Bill Clinton is no matter what poor little Chelsea Clinton thinks. She’s stuck with being born to such a low-life, so she’s not the best judge of character—no fault of hers.
Next year when the NFDC decides that they want to award another Father of the Year I would suggest that they not look in the local strip joints, lobbyist back rooms, and married women’s bedrooms for the sacred honor of a father. The first step would be to look outside the political scene of New York and Washington D.C. There is a big world outside of those very small places, and in it are a lot of fathers who are truly great, and their families love them for it. They are Father’s of the Year not for the fanfare, the political spot light, or the social status gained from some trivial social recognition. They are great fathers because they truly love their children, and their families know it with the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon a man, the recognition from his family that they appreciate all that he does without a single outside soul knowing anything about it.
As for my own father’s day, my wife and kids treated me to a nice day at our local amusement park of Kings Island to visit the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit with my new grandson. They gave me as gifts a picture collage of some of our past adventures together and personal notes of fond recollection. They also gave me the soundtrack to the new Superman movie which meant a lot to me. As I loaded the soundtrack onto my iPod I thought of what the music was saying to me………………….and it doesn’t bring to mind images of Bill Clinton, unless of course the musical theme is that of the villain. I doubt Chelsea thinks of Superman when she thinks of her father, the supposed Father of the Year!
But my kids do.
Rich Hoffman
“If they attack first………..blast em’!”
‘Man of Steel’ Success: Get ready for The ‘Justice League’!
It looks like there will be a Man of Steel part two film after all with a Justice League film coming shortly thereafter. As reported by Forbes at the link below, Man of Steel has made over $125 million during its opening weekend, which was the required amount to get the ball rolling for the DC Comics series of films that have been much talked about.
That is very good news……………….
To read my review of Man of Steel, click here.
Of a particular interest is the speculation that the Forbes article makes about the next Superman villain, Lex Luther:
The big question is of course which side of the critical divide audiences end up on, since the film doesn’t just need to make money but establish excitement for Man Of Steel 2 coming summer 2015 (starring… uh… Chiwetel Ejiofor as Lex Luthor?) and the eventual Justice League film coming summer… 2018? But for the moment, Man Of Steel has reaffirmed DC Comics as a viable brand for big-scale tent poles just as Marvel did with Iron Man five years ago. So far, so good…
Chiwetel Ejiofor would be a good pick. For those who saw Man of Steel, did you notice the LexCorp vans being destroyed during the big climax?
Plus, I was looking at the Superman comic #703 yesterday………the one that takes place in Cincinnati, Ohio………………and took note that the story line between Batman and Superman was a compelling one. I would expect to see a film between those two characters just ahead of Justice League.
Rich Hoffman
“If they attack first………..blast em’!”
June 15, 2013
‘Man of Steel’ Review: A message of American pride and conceptual philosophy
The other morning over breakfast my wife and I had a raging debate of mankind’s need and desire to behold simple “concepts,” as philosophy defines them. It is because of concepts that I occasionally detour away from the normally serious matter at this site and dwell in great detail about the nature of Hollywood movies and published books. In my private life I have two basic loves which drive me, a love of philosophy and the mythologies of thought which attempt to frame them to the human world through “concepts.” Most everything else I care about in life drips off the leaves of knowledge from those basic forms of art esthetically. The reason for the raging debate over breakfast with my wife was over the value of concepts in people’s lives versus a given morality. My wife values morality among mankind as the highest honor, even over the air she breaths. If she had to choose between morality and taking another breath, she would choose morality. However, my side of the debate declared that the ability to behold a “concept” of morality is far more important, because without having the ability to grapple with conceptual ideas, morality falters in both human beings and animals 100% of the time. I explained to her that the ability to understand concepts was like getting popcorn into a bowl that has been popped in a kitchen. If a person’s mind is small, they have a small bowl from which they can place popcorn in from which to consume. If a person’s mind is large they can hold a lot more popcorn. In my metaphor I was of course transposing popcorn with ideas, or in this case “concepts” in order to explain why mankind is so sick these days. We spend the first five years of our lives being given gigantic “concepts” from our parents, grandparents, friends, and extended family through the toys we play with and ideas they give us. We are given from birth extremely large bowls which hold a lot of metaphorical popcorn so that concepts can be formed in our minds allowing us to walk, speak, and develop ranges of physical movement. But from every year after our first kindergarten class in public school, we find that our bowls get smaller and by age 10 to age 15 our ability to hold thinking concepts diminishes greatly so that by the time we are grown adults, instead of holding a bowl of popcorn with most of what could possibly be popped in the kitchen, we are lucky to get a few small kernels into our 35-year-old brains. I view human mythology as a way of expanding our metaphorical bowls so that our minds can hold more philosophy about the way life should be lived, and today in all of human history it is the movies produced from Hollywood which are the strongest creators of modern mythology, which makes them of great interest to me. This basic preamble is needed before I say that I understand why so many critics stated that they did not enjoy the new movie which I have been raving about—Man of Steel. They did not like the movie because they are suffering from conceptual handicaps given to them by their crumbling society, of which the most recent rendition of Superman clearly was conceptually articulating. So I will provide you dear reader with a conceptual handicap free review so that you can understand why a slight tear was running down your face at the end of the movie, and why you thought about standing up and clapping at the end while others actually did with a ruckus ovation.
I have spoken before about how important the concept of Superman is to my family in a previous article. CLICK HERE TO REVIEW. Before seeing the film, we went to Newport on the Levee to view the new Man of Steel film by Zach Snyder and one of my favorite modern film producers, Christopher Nolan and have dinner at Claddah’s Irish Pub. My daughter, son-in-law, and wife wanted to make a big event out of this film with me so we went to that particular theater and dining location to place the experience in proper perspective. The AMC theaters at Newport are built three stories above the mall below, and are unique in their design. Going up the escalator to arrive in the lobby is literally like arriving in some heavenly plateau which is appropriate for a modern viewing of Superman, especially for my family. The reasons I love Ayn Rand’s characters in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are because her characters created during the same era as Superman are about the same elevated sense of mankind’s potential. For Ayn Rand, Superman is in all men who have a thinking mind. Yet for the character of Superman created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, high school students living in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1933 their large concept ultimate man had extraordinary powers given to him from the sun’s energy on earth. But all these creations of the mind were a direct answer to the communism being imported into the United States by progressives during the roaring twenties and early thirties. It was a time when President Calvin Coolidge was going door to door running for office with a miniature chalk board trying to educate voters on the perils of socialism. Superheroes were born in literature as a way to protect the concept of Americanism against the anti-concept of European communism. Young Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman to define what living life in America was all about creating a symbol that allowed the concept of Americanism to be defined in a single character named Kal-El from the planet Krypton.
To understand what this 2013 version of Superman is all about, let me explain how the film ends without giving away any particular spoilers. Superman smashes out of the sky a drone aircraft which is attempting to spy on him and proceeds to lecture the U.S. military of his need for privacy even though he understands the military is afraid of all his vast powers. Superman continues to make clear that nothing the military can do will hurt him anyway, so the effort is useless. The military then asks Kal-El, how they can know Superman won’t use his superior powers against the American people. Superman explains with a smile, “I grew up in Kansas and am as American as there is; you’re just going to have to trust me.” This is almost the last scene of the film. Superman was metaphorically speaking on behalf of all Americans to their modern government which is currently plagued by scandals such as the IRS, Benghazi, and spygates against the American people. Superman represented in mythic form the power of every individual American who may not be able to leap about like Superman, or shoot lasers from their eyes, but hold the potential to be super in their own way which Ayn Rand would get more specific about in her own overmen exploits of literary endeavor. The message at the end of Man of Steel is that Superman wanted to be left alone to live as an American and that if he wanted to he’d crush anybody who stood in his way of achieving that goal. He chose to value the people of earth for the hope he had for them which was something that was lost to his dying planet of Krypton.
Russell Crow who played Kal-El’s father in Man of Steel was very good in his role of explaining how Krypton became doomed in the first place. The highly technological society of the Kryptonians had enjoyed a period of great expansion in their culture where they planted seed societies throughout known space. But as time moved on, their society had become more politically corrupt leaving them to pursue short-sighted goals like stripping out their own planet’s core for power, instead of harnessing the power from neighboring star systems, as they had in the past. The Krypton metaphor was clearly in reference to our own times where space travel has been cut away to virtually nothing in America as left-leaning politicians squabble in endless debate with political apathy serving as the centerpiece of their action. On Krypton, as many are attempting to suggest here on earth, they devolved from a flourishing society that embraced personal freedom and enterprise to one that micro managed the smallest detail of their lives including the birth of children which had been taken over by a technology called the Codex. Jor-El and his wife gave birth to the first free-born child in centuries on Krypton. That child was Kal-El–Superman, a free-born creation of two loving parents. Knowing that Krypton was imploding on itself, even as the political class squabbled in denial of the impending doom Jor-El sent his child to earth to allow the best of what Krypton was to live on elsewhere. All this while General Zod was staging a rebellion to turn Krypton back into a society under his managed care. In Man of Steel, Zod is a collectivist born under the dystopian care of the Codex, not having natural parents, but instead being raised to and for the collective Krypton society. (I knew Christopher Nolan would not let me down.) I was very concerned about how Krypton’s demise would be handled in the film, and it is very appropriate to the direction our current society is devolving. Man of Steel just in this regard is conceptually brilliant……….but that’s not all.
Even Kal-El’s adoptive parents were heroic as Jonathan Kent died in the Man of Steel defying a tornado’s wrath. He ran into the blistering storm as it consumed cars and entire homes to save a few more people only to get caught because he broke his ankle and couldn’t run away fast enough……..but he saved Kal El’s dog! That is a great dad! The good guys in the film were all heroic in their own way. Ultimately the pinnacle decision of the film was Kal-El having to decide whether the society of Krypton deserved to be resurrected on earth through the Codex killing all of humanity, or should the people who live on the planet be given the opportunity to have hope for their own future. Superman ultimately decided that Krypton had its chance, and it screwed it up. The people of earth had a real chance to get it right, and Superman had made a decision to lead them to the light under his guidance. Superman made a value judgment between the two societies, Krypton had taken a noticeably collectivist route and destroyed itself, and earth was headed in the same direction, but could still change course.
On the way home from the movie my family was philosophizing about the very idea of Superman, a man who was invincible and could be harmed by nothing on earth. For many this is a boring idea because the wish is to see conflict in their heroes brought about by fear and weakness. But that is not what Superman is all about. Superman could decide to rule the earth if he wanted as there would be nobody to stop him, but he doesn’t, because he is a good man who chooses to spend his time helping humanity instead of acting as a parasite off of it to feed his own ego. What Kal-El gained from his adoptive parents was a sense of knowing the difference between right and wrong which would be the key to allowing the grown-up Superman to use his powers for good, instead of evil. General Zod, with all his good intentions openly declared at the end of the film that his sole purpose in life was to serve the greater good of Krypton by any means necessary. He was speaking as a product of the collective and might as well have been a Russian revolutionary from 1917 marching around Petrograd destroying any life that stood in the way of communism, as the greater good of mother Russia was more important than the whims of any individual who might think they were serving good as it is defined by anybody. As I was explaining all this to my family a drunk driver nearly ran into the side of our minivan. I reacted as I have hundreds and hundreds of times over the years, with quick aversion out of harm’s way. It happened so quick that I barely paused in my sentence structure and after the danger was averted, I proceeded with the explanation of my metaphor without pause. Such situations are only dangerous if the mind surrenders itself to panic, and I don’t. After years of training myself, there is little that worries me. And it is this kind of attitude that Kal-El maintained throughout the Man of Steel once he had become comfortable in his role as Superman, savior of the planet earth from falling to a similar fate as his home planet Krypton. All men and women come to such a place in their own minds once the concept of goodness is understood by them. But first they must have a bowl big enough to hold the concept of such goodness and behold the definitions of evil in the same container. Once there, the mind can eliminate danger from its life-like avoiding a drunk driver by simply taking evasive action without any fanfare. Panicky social commentary asking politicians for more public safety never works. The truth is politicians are actually quite powerless to provide any safety without stealing from some to give to others in legalized theft. All they can really do is react as a second-hander and write new laws which bring our present society that much closer to the fictional fate of Krypton.
At the conclusion of Man of Steel my family sat till the end of the credits as viewers gradually left the theater. We were the last to leave. Several young men who might look like gang-like thugs in any other circumstance from the streets of Cincinnati were wearing the Superman emblem on their shirts and had obviously given up for the evening any youthful decadence they might otherwise engage in to see a story of “hope” unfold upon the silver screen. A young man covered in tattoos and body piercings saw me smiling at his big “S” imprinted across his shirt as he left the theater to descend the escalator back down into the shopping complex of Newport on the Levee. His first reaction was a bit of anxiety as he thought I was laughing at his immature love of Superman. But I gave him a reassuring wink as he walked by to let the young man know that I understood. He was attempting to behold a higher concept of what “man” should be, and I didn’t want him for a moment to think I didn’t approve. He smiled boyishly as he walked by, realizing that my gaze at him was not condescending, but quite the opposite.
Small-minded reviewers after they saw the movie found that without large concepts in their own imaginations to allow them to behold the messages of the film they were regulated to commenting on the physical appearance of Henry Cavell, the young man who played Kal-El or criticizing the 40 minute climax which took place in an epic battle all over the globe ending in a fist fight between Superman and Zod which migrated into space at times where even satellites fell from the sky in destruction. Critics spoke about the metaphors of 9/11 as half of the city of Metropolis was destroyed in the gigantic battle leaving a crater of cleared buildings in the center where the two earthly gods did battle in the climatic ending with Superman snapping the neck of Zod. When Kal-El broke the neck of the villain there was emotion in the audience. It was 1 AM in the morning, and the audience was filled back to the projection booth. One man yelled out from the crowd………….”damn!” Others clapped. Some whistled. It was not a critical appraisal, but one of approval from the audience, of seeing a battle between right and wrong, good and evil displayed clearly in front of them, resolving itself with the clear decision of a nearly decapitated villain.
Man of Steel is about “big concepts” and it assists the viewer in grasping those ideas which require large conceptual bowls to hold. It is why in spite of the attempts by established Ellsworth Toohey type film critics taught in their institutions of learning to have small concepts in their lives, not large ones; Man of Steel will become the next $1 billion dollar film franchise. Shortly after the drunk driver nearly hit us on the way home, and I dropped my kids off at their house, I thought of the export potential of this film. Man of Steel is about undeniably American ideas and it didn’t waiver from that responsibility for even a moment. Superman didn’t say he stood for “truth, justice, and the American way,” at the end of the movie, he simply said…………..”I’m an American.” What a wonderful thing for kids throughout the world to see whether they are in London, or Delhi. The best vehicle for projecting American ideas to the world is the film industry of Hollywood, which has traditionally been consumed by left leaning communist ideologues, like what’s represented in the upcoming Matt Damon film Elsyium. Most movies that Hollywood produces like Elsyium or the 2012 fall attempt with Tom Hanks called Cloud Atlas are not so subtle attempts to sell socialism to America and the world. But the box office take usually tells the story as fans reject the message. They will go see the movies for entertainment, but quickly drop them, as word of mouth does not spread like wild-fire, the way it does during the very capitalist movie messages like Iron Man, and now Man of Steel, which is going to break records during its opening weekend. The film made $21 million just off Thursday midnight shows, and $50 million on Friday alone.
Man of Steel is a fantastic film. It is worth watching many more times than once. It is a pleasure to live in a culture that can produce films like Man of Steel where the story telling is first class, the visual effects epic, the music astonishing, but most importantly, the concept is huge. The value of Man of Steel is in its ability to generate a concept that is epic in scope and definitive in its message. There is no question where the message of Man of Steel intends to go, and it is in no way complimentary to evil, weakness, or even blind dedication to a race of people just because they represent one’s ancestors. It is more valuable as an American export than all the money that is currently spent on defense because the message is clear, and void of politics from any party. Man of Steel is film making at its best and the message to everyone in the world with a mind to think is one of goodness! It is a big bowl of philosophy that will take multiple viewings for those functioning with small bowls of conceptual thinking and will require expanding enough to behold the real message of Superman, which is certainly one of hope. A hope that earth will find its way and not fail the way Krypton did, leaving that society to live on in the rebellion of an innovative young couple who decided to go against their entire society and have a natural child who would have to flee their planet and live again as the shining beacon of truth, justice, and the American way for not just on a continent in North America, but the entire world which desperately needs the message of Man of Steel.
One particular scene in Man of Steel defines the entire film. It’s a scene when young Kal-El is being picked on by a group of bullies who are around 10 years old. The little Superman is reading a book, called Plato’s Republic. It wasn’t Tom Sawyer, or the Diary of Anne Frank. It was a work of philosophy that the budding superhero was reading, and a message to all viewers was that Man of Steel is not just an action movie, it’s a work of conceptual philosophy designed to give mankind the tools it needs to save itself. All society needs to do is listen to the message and allow their minds to conceptually hold the memorandum of goodness which is represented immaculately by Superman: Man of Steel.
Rich Hoffman
“If they attack first………..blast em’!”
