Shallow Insensitive Hypocritical Nutcases?

In case you didn't know, I am an avid Alan Rickman fan (I made a post after watching a brilliant short film and another after listening to him narrate an audiobook.) and recently heard about a movie of his called Snow Cake. Our library actually had it, so I snatched it up and played it on my laptop while riding in the car.

It's one of those films that you might call "artsy". If your taste leans toward shot-em-up-and-head-for-the-secret-military-base sort of stuff then you probably won't care for this deep, sensitive, character-driven plot. You get to know three or four people who are all tied up with an autistic woman, Linda, and her teenage daughter, Vivienne--who is killed in a car crash. Rickman's character gets involved in their lives after a tragic past of his own, and what follows is an introspective, challenging, and thoroughly entertaining movie.

There was something that really bugged me about it, though--besides the language and some bad aesthetics--the way it portrayed Christians. Practically everyone in the small town of Wawa, Ontario is described as "religious", everyone except for a few main characters. The Christian women who try to help Linda after her daughter's death are shown as well-meaning (maybe), but their good points stop there. They are shallow, nasty-nice, simple, insensitive, completely oblivious, hypocritical, annoying, and prudish. Of course the few irreligious ones are complex, passionate, curious, compassionate, understanding, lively, and extremely interesting. You find yourself cringing every time a middle-aged lady church lady comes on screen, and rejoice at the quasi-prostitute with the kind and engaging personality.

What is wrong with this picture?

If Christians are really the only ones who are in touch with Father God, the Creator of this lovely, deep, intricate universe so full of joy and meaning, shouldn't we be the ones who "get it"? The ones who are fascinating? The ones who are full of love and true selflessness? How have we gotten this sour reputation and why must Hollywood beat it into people's skulls?

Now I'm not saying that atheists and Buddhists and Muslims, etc. can't be wonderful people too, but why do Christians have to be portrayed as such unpleasant nutcases? Steven Crowder wrote an awesome post on this topic called "All Christians Are Serial Killers", I highly recommend reading it. He makes a very good point, "We've never seen Hollywood go after Buddhism, Hinduism, or even Islam." For some reason these groups are handled with kid gloves, while it's OK to make Christianity the media's whipping boy. 

Try paying close attention to the next film you watch. Are there any religious characters? How are their personalities scripted? Does the director have an obvious agenda? 

It's so easy to be brainwashed into accepting the fact that Christians will inevitably be beaten up by the film industry. Next time you see this kind of injustice, consider writing to someone in charge. Make the truth known! 

We were the only ones.

TEA: Taxed Enough Already. This is a movement which has my whole-hearted support. It is all about Americans trying to take back their rights to their own money. Why should the government decide what we do with our paychecks? It is largely the people of America's fault, they keep voting money out of their own pockets. But what about this healthcare bill (which will cause a raise in taxes)? About half of the American population opposed it, yet it passed. What does this mean? It means that the only reason the bill got through was because of a majority vote, not because it lined up with the Constitution. That is a characteristic of a democracy, not a republic. America is a republic, or at least it was. I'd like to have that back again.

Empty Parking Lot, originally uploaded by Joe Shlabotnik.

So of course, when it came to April 15, the biggest day of the year for TEA Party goers, my family and I were prepared. We made up signs, unpacked the American flags from the attic, hung our clothes with tea bags and loaded up into the car, ready to head off to a party scheduled to be in a parking lot behind a movie theater in Bella Vista. We brought four of our friends in addition to our own family, and in two vehicles zoomed off to get there on time, hoping that we wouldn't be late!

When we arrived we were more than a little confused. There were cars in the parking lot, but nothing like what we had expected. We saw that they must all belong to restaurant and grocery store goers. After cruising around a little we saw a Jim Holt van sitting forlornly by itself with some signs leaning up against it. 

No one else was there.

I don't know what happened. Perhaps the event coordinator (if there was one) dropped the ball, perhaps the time frame, noon to 6, was far too broad. There was nothing going on in the parking lot, and even after we all had lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant, the place was bare of activists. We talked to the lady in the Jim Holt van, who had been there for an hour and a half already, and learned that a representative had driven by earlier, but he had had to leave and go to Little Rock. To her knowledge at least one couple had  come to the party, seen that there was no action, and gone on. 

You know what's the real kicker? After we went home yesterday afternoon, Mom and Dad went into town to do some work and while there stopped by the Bentonville Square during the time another TEA Party had been scheduled. No one was there either.

Perhaps everyone decided to go to Fayetteville instead (they were going to have Dick Morris as a guest speaker), perhaps the events in Bella Vista and Bentonville weren't well-publicized. But really, we were willing to go, we didn't want to fight the traffic in Fayetteville, we were all ready and prepared and came wearing tea bags! So where was everyone else?

Do you believe that the average American should spend 14.8% of their yearly pay on taxes (see the video here)? Did you do anything about that on April 15? Were you one of those people who felt like they ought to do something, and didn't? Maybe you had something better to do, a legitimate excuse. But what about the other 364 days of the year? 

No matter what you believe in, action is one of the few things people understand. You have to make your voice heard, whether it means attending a rally, penning an article, wearing a t-shirt, writing a blog post, telling your friends, making calls, sending letters...whatever you are capable of doing. Don't let others do the dirty work for you. Don't think that you can't do something! Because if you do your part, others are almost sure to gather around you. You just have to speak out.