War Of The Chickenhawks

Apparently the wingnut braintrust thinks that H.G. Wells is a Hollywood scriptwriter living in Laurel Canyon with a gold retriever and BMW Z8. Jesus, it’s almost enough to make me cry.

Amanda links to Fred at Slacktivist as they both try to come to grips with some of the stupidest people on this planet — the 101st keyboarders — who seem to think that Spielberg wrote “War of the Worlds” and Michael Moore invented anti-colonialism.

These critics believe that WOTW is an anti-American screed. But they are very confused. Here’s why:

To anyone with a brain, the story is anti-colonial so if it can be interpreted as representing events of today, it represents the war in Iraq. The US would be the aliens, right?

The alien invaders arrive. We cannot understand them. Our best technology cannot harm them. They are inscrutable and unstoppable. There is nothing we can do.

Big tough America. Hooyah!

But the keyboarders are complaining about the behavior of the humans:

Right-wing critics of the film complain that Spielberg’s hero, played by Tom Cruise, spends most of the movie running away and hiding. But that’s the point — there’s nothing else he can do.

But, see, if this is an allegory about Iraq (presciently written a hundred years before it happened) then the humans represent the Iraqis. Which means that if they think the humans are behaving in a cowardly fashion, the Fighting Hellmice must admire the real life Iraqi insurgents who are ferociously fighting back the alien invaders — the US. The Iraqi “terrorists” are behaving precisely in the manner the Cheeto Brigade insists brave people should behave.

In other words, these chickenhawks are terrorists sympathizers.

However, I don’t think the fighting keyboarders understand that the movie is anti-colonial. I think they think it’s about 9/11 and the martians are supposed to be al Qaeda. They think it shows America as being weak and afraid because Tom Cruise tries to get away from the aliens.

I actually agree with them, although not in quite the same way, I’m afraid. Before I ever knew that Spielberg was re-making WOTW, I saw the crazed reaction of the right wing as being comparable to the hysteria we would see if Martians had landed rather than the intelligent, critical response we would expect a superpower to show in the face of a bunch of Islamic fundamentalist losers. Rightwing behavior from the beginning has been one of extreme overreaction — the “existential threat” the “our oceans no longer protect us,” the whole litany of fear inducing lies about Iraq are all manifestations of severe panic. Look at the difference between the way everyone else in the world behaved in the face of terrorist attacks and look at us. It’s embarrassing.

I think you can see the movie both as a criticism of the invasion of Iraq and as a criticism of the inchoate frenzy that overtook the right wing after 9/11. Their hysterical reaction betrayed what they would do if a real existential threat emerged — they’d lose their heads.

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