Why Neocons Can't Stop the Landslide of Brokeback Mountain

[amber]

Lightish little column, a bit humorous, a bit serious.





Sam Alito On Brokeback Mountain
What do the bitter neocon nominee and the amazing Oscar-bound film have in common?
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, January 20, 2006

There is this theory, more of a truism really, tossed about like a fuzzy beach ball by the gurus and the masters and the mystics since Jesus was but a lint ball of possibility in the Great Belly Button of Time.

It goes like this: When human consciousness expands, for whatever reason and with whatever stimulation and even if you can only measure it in hairbreadths, when our nasty habit of harsh judgment falls away and people begin to get a little bit, you know, lighter, there is always, as sure as there's someone who hates the sunrise, a clampdown, a recoil, a desperate need by the terrified and ever-paranoid conservative sect to, you know, put a quick stop to this so-called awakening crapola ASA-damn-P.

As soon as people begin realizing there's more to this brief little slice of existence than hate and war and the constant drumbeat of fear, there's always resistance, a reactive sneer at the idea that people might be waking up, even a little, and it's all in the name of protecting the status quo and defending the power base and not upsetting any of those carefully wrought prejudices, about making sure everyone stays quiet and doesn't ask any difficult questions of the Authority.

Religious groups make phone calls and complain. Big chunks of money get thrown into the pockets of sanctimonious politicians. Quasi-religious bonk-job leaders declare sex and music and gay people the source of all woes and vices and diseases. Ugly new laws get passed. And yes, bitter, convulsive justices get appointed to the Supreme Court.

Just like, you know, right now.

Witness, won't you, the confluent forces, the twin streams of conflicting culture represented by the amazing "Brokeback Mountain" movie phenomenon, a spare and sad and highly controversial little indie-style flick that is shaking up the homophobic community and raking in the Golden Globes and which now seems a shoe-in to win an Oscar or four, as compared and contrasted with, say, the humorless, depressing, dry-as-death Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination. Oh yes, we have a match. Do you see it?

Look closer. On the one hand, here is the astounding reach and power of this rare and striking little film, an emotional tinderbox of a movie that, in the wrong hands or with the wrong marketing or if it had been off pitch by just this much, could have very easily been trashed and quickly dismissed, would have hobbled the careers of two up-and-coming hunk actors, been mocked across the board and demonized by the religious right as revolting gay propaganda, the source of all ills, proof of the existence of the devil himself.

Of course, the latter is still happening (isn't it always?), but the amazing thing is, no one seems to care. The screech of the right's homophobes is being easily drowned out by the fact that this astonishing, pitch-perfect film is now considered a movie that, quite literally, changes minds. Shifts perceptions. That moves the human experiment forward and makes people truly think about sex and gender and love and not in the way that, say, "Pride & Prejudice" makes you think because that kind of thinking is merely sweet and harmless, whereas "Brokeback" slaps bigotry and intolerance upside its knobby little head and induces heated discussions of the film's dynamics and politics and ideas of love over a bottle of wine and some deep curious sighing.

That's one side. On the other hand, here we have this relentless neocon spiritual death wish, as evidenced by the imminent appointment of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, yet another dour white male judge who, by all evidence, will do everything in his power to keep America's spiritual, humanitarian and sexual progress -- you know, the exact kind of universal awareness illuminated by intensely intimate movies like "Brokeback" -- locked in the ironclad box of anti-women, anti-gay, power-über-alles conservative thinking for the next three decades or more.


Of course you may say: Oh please, this is just silly, no way is there a direct connection between Alito and "Brokeback." I mean come on, one's just a heartbreaking gay love story and one's a massive disheartening political maneuver and they simply have no direct correlation in this world as we know it and to draw a correlation is to, well, make stuff up.

To which I say: You are right, but only a little. Of course Alito is not about to be appointed to deflect "Brokeback"'s message per se, but rather, he is being installed in general reaction to, in attack on, in preparation for what "Brokeback" and its ilk represent. Which is, of course, the aforementioned awakening, the shift, the movement toward something new and different and open. Do you see?

This is the ever-present push-pull of the culture. This is how we stumble toward the light, gasping and bleeding and with painful rope burns on our wrists. After all, there is no progress forward -- intellectual, spiritual, sexual or otherwise -- without a concomitant blood-curdling scream from the power brokers and the religiously terrified to hold it all back. Change brings fear. Sexuality brings confusion. For every person who has his rigid homophobic ideology shattered by "Brokeback"'s emotional hammer, there is a confused neocon who redoubles his efforts to replant it.


But it doesn't matter. No matter the heat and bile of the resistance, no matter how brutish or sanctimonious the stranglehold of our leadership, no matter how many complaints about nipples or wailings about intelligent design or accusations of a "gay agenda," no matter how many uptight neocon judges they appoint, progress still manages to find the cracks, to slip through the holes, to seek the sun. Consciousness expands anyway. The river flows on. The awakening continues. It is always the way.

And the Bushes and the Cheneys and the Rumsfelds, the Gonzalezes and the James Dobsons and the Sam Alitos of the world, they can only stand at the base of that mountain of new awareness and pass their laws and beat their chests and scream their resistance as the mystics and the masters just smile that ageless, knowing smile and walk away.
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/

[dissention]

Oh my crotch, the run-on sentences are maddening. This is quite good, but damn. Thanks for posting. I especially loved this:

"For every person who has his rigid homophobic ideology shattered by "Brokeback"'s emotional hammer, there is a confused neocon who redoubles his efforts to replant it."

That is absolutely true. Just cruise some of the movie forums on the web. For every positive response that's posted, there's a homophobic comment to combat it. Or four.

And here's something that I was stunned to read and see:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200601200002
[Chris] Matthews cited [Michael] Savage's "Bareback Mounting" characterization of Brokeback Mountain; [Don] Imus cited producer's "Fudgepack Mountain" remark

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by amber

Lightish little column, a bit humorous, a bit serious.





Sam Alito On Brokeback Mountain
What do the bitter neocon nominee and the amazing Oscar-bound film have in common?
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, January 20, 2006

There is this theory, more of a truism really, tossed about like a fuzzy beach ball by the gurus and the masters and the mystics since Jesus was but a lint ball of possibility in the Great Belly Button of Time.

It goes like this: When human consciousness expands, for whatever reason and with whatever stimulation and even if you can only measure it in hairbreadths, when our nasty habit of harsh judgment falls away and people begin to get a little bit, you know, lighter, there is always, as sure as there's someone who hates the sunrise, a clampdown, a recoil, a desperate need by the terrified and ever-paranoid conservative sect to, you know, put a quick stop to this so-called awakening crapola ASA-damn-P.

As soon as people begin realizing there's more to this brief little slice of existence than hate and war and the constant drumbeat of fear, there's always resistance, a reactive sneer at the idea that people might be waking up, even a little, and it's all in the name of protecting the status quo and defending the power base and not upsetting any of those carefully wrought prejudices, about making sure everyone stays quiet and doesn't ask any difficult questions of the Authority.

Religious groups make phone calls and complain. Big chunks of money get thrown into the pockets of sanctimonious politicians. Quasi-religious bonk-job leaders declare sex and music and gay people the source of all woes and vices and diseases. Ugly new laws get passed. And yes, bitter, convulsive justices get appointed to the Supreme Court.

Just like, you know, right now.

Witness, won't you, the confluent forces, the twin streams of conflicting culture represented by the amazing "Brokeback Mountain" movie phenomenon, a spare and sad and highly controversial little indie-style flick that is shaking up the homophobic community and raking in the Golden Globes and which now seems a shoe-in to win an Oscar or four, as compared and contrasted with, say, the humorless, depressing, dry-as-death Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination. Oh yes, we have a match. Do you see it?

Look closer. On the one hand, here is the astounding reach and power of this rare and striking little film, an emotional tinderbox of a movie that, in the wrong hands or with the wrong marketing or if it had been off pitch by just this much, could have very easily been trashed and quickly dismissed, would have hobbled the careers of two up-and-coming hunk actors, been mocked across the board and demonized by the religious right as revolting gay propaganda, the source of all ills, proof of the existence of the devil himself.

Of course, the latter is still happening (isn't it always?), but the amazing thing is, no one seems to care. The screech of the right's homophobes is being easily drowned out by the fact that this astonishing, pitch-perfect film is now considered a movie that, quite literally, changes minds. Shifts perceptions. That moves the human experiment forward and makes people truly think about sex and gender and love and not in the way that, say, "Pride & Prejudice" makes you think because that kind of thinking is merely sweet and harmless, whereas "Brokeback" slaps bigotry and intolerance upside its knobby little head and induces heated discussions of the film's dynamics and politics and ideas of love over a bottle of wine and some deep curious sighing.

That's one side. On the other hand, here we have this relentless neocon spiritual death wish, as evidenced by the imminent appointment of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, yet another dour white male judge who, by all evidence, will do everything in his power to keep America's spiritual, humanitarian and sexual progress -- you know, the exact kind of universal awareness illuminated by intensely intimate movies like "Brokeback" -- locked in the ironclad box of anti-women, anti-gay, power-über-alles conservative thinking for the next three decades or more.


Of course you may say: Oh please, this is just silly, no way is there a direct connection between Alito and "Brokeback." I mean come on, one's just a heartbreaking gay love story and one's a massive disheartening political maneuver and they simply have no direct correlation in this world as we know it and to draw a correlation is to, well, make stuff up.

To which I say: You are right, but only a little. Of course Alito is not about to be appointed to deflect "Brokeback"'s message per se, but rather, he is being installed in general reaction to, in attack on, in preparation for what "Brokeback" and its ilk represent. Which is, of course, the aforementioned awakening, the shift, the movement toward something new and different and open. Do you see?

This is the ever-present push-pull of the culture. This is how we stumble toward the light, gasping and bleeding and with painful rope burns on our wrists. After all, there is no progress forward -- intellectual, spiritual, sexual or otherwise -- without a concomitant blood-curdling scream from the power brokers and the religiously terrified to hold it all back. Change brings fear. Sexuality brings confusion. For every person who has his rigid homophobic ideology shattered by "Brokeback"'s emotional hammer, there is a confused neocon who redoubles his efforts to replant it.


But it doesn't matter. No matter the heat and bile of the resistance, no matter how brutish or sanctimonious the stranglehold of our leadership, no matter how many complaints about nipples or wailings about intelligent design or accusations of a "gay agenda," no matter how many uptight neocon judges they appoint, progress still manages to find the cracks, to slip through the holes, to seek the sun. Consciousness expands anyway. The river flows on. The awakening continues. It is always the way.

And the Bushes and the Cheneys and the Rumsfelds, the Gonzalezes and the James Dobsons and the Sam Alitos of the world, they can only stand at the base of that mountain of new awareness and pass their laws and beat their chests and scream their resistance as the mystics and the masters just smile that ageless, knowing smile and walk away.
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/

Ugh. This just made me depressed. Alito. Ugh.

Brokeback Mountain--Yay!!

[amber]

Originally Posted by dissention

Oh my crotch, the run-on sentences are maddening. This is quite good, but damn. Thanks for posting. I especially loved this:

"For every person who has his rigid homophobic ideology shattered by "Brokeback"'s emotional hammer, there is a confused neocon who redoubles his efforts to replant it."

That is absolutely true. Just cruise some of the movie forums on the web. For every positive response that's posted, there's a homophobic comment to combat it. Or four.

And here's something that I was stunned to read and see:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200601200002
[Chris] Matthews cited [Michael] Savage's "Bareback Mounting" characterization of Brokeback Mountain; [Don] Imus cited producer's "Fudgepack Mountain" remark

Why were you shocked to see that? I've never seen that show/those people, but aren't they well known a$$holes? Still and all, it was over the top inappropriate to use those "alternate" titles.

It's funny, I was thinking while I was reading his column "This guy reminds me of how I write" and I'm a terrible run on sentence-er. You must go nuts when you read my posts.

I'm suprised about what you say - about the equal and opposite reactions. I guess I've been protected, like the little baby egg, from any negative opinions. The Golden Globes was a love fest, and since it is doing so good at the box office...
That sure is a shame, though. But it really is a huge step forward, the tide will continue to turn - I just hope faster rather than slower. (der)

[DavidMn]

Speaking of conservative weirdos, I remember at the Buffalo Fleetwood Mac concert in 2003 these peoeple were out in front of the arena telling all of us pagans that we were going to hell for listening to Rock music. It was rather amusing.

[sparky]

Yeah, his writing style is annoying, but he makes some interesting and accurate points. A subtle shift has happened. The majority of the people out there don't really care about all this stuff, and have a live and let live philosophy. Especially younger people. The nut bag zealots will screech and howl. And as they are allowed to, their idiocy will continue to be exposed for what it exactly is. I was pleasantly surprised to read the stranscript of that Larry King thing of a few days ago. I am no fan of Larry King. But I was impressed. He gave the nutbags plently of rope and they did indeed hang themselves. At one point, with a few simple questions, the man on there was painted into a corner so simply and completely that he actually said he made a decision to be heterosexual. LK was tasteful and smart, and very matter of fact. Very common sense. Frankly, that is all that is needed to expose those people. Common sense and fairness. They have no sense of either concept, and when faced with them, they dissolve or shatter.

[amber]

I agree with you, and I tend to think that is exactly what is happening. And I, too, think they are hanging themselves and their bs is readily apparent to everyone.
But sometimes I look around and am shocked to observe that not as many people are always equipped to recognize common sense and logic as I had thought/hoped. I'm really taken aback when I observe those situations, because I do assume what you said about the way people feel is happening fairly universally. Almost every single person I know or have met is extremely liberal about these things, and everything else.

Mostly I see the very reactive people when I watch Wifeswap.

My rose colored glasses are sassy, so I keep them on.

[SuzeQuze]

Originally Posted by sparky

Yeah, his writing style is annoying, but he makes some interesting and accurate points. A subtle shift has happened. The majority of the people out there don't really care about all this stuff, and have a live and let live philosophy. Especially younger people. The nut bag zealots will screech and howl. And as they are allowed to, their idiocy will continue to be exposed for what it exactly is. I was pleasantly surprised to read the stranscript of that Larry King thing of a few days ago. I am no fan of Larry King. But I was impressed. He gave the nutbags plently of rope and they did indeed hang themselves. At one point, with a few simple questions, the man on there was painted into a corner so simply and completely that he actually said he made a decision to be heterosexual. LK was tasteful and smart, and very matter of fact. Very common sense. Frankly, that is all that is needed to expose those people. Common sense and fairness. They have no sense of either concept, and when faced with them, they dissolve or shatter.

This is true. When the interviewers get it right oftentimes there is dead silence because there is no way to counter facts with falsities.

[Rickypt]

Originally Posted by amber

I mean come on, one's just a heartbreaking gay love story

I give up, everyone's just determined to call this movie a "gay" love story.

Morford's got good politics, but I can't stand his writing. The Chronicle has gone so downhill in recent years, imo.

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by Rickypt

I give up, everyone's just determined to call this movie a "gay" love story.

Morford's got good politics, but I can't stand his writing. The Chronicle has gone so downhill in recent years, imo.

I just want to see it because it's a good movie, that's all.

[strandinthewind]

I have called it Bareback Mountain from day one - so, I can hardly fault that idiot Savage for doing essentially the same, though mine was with mirth, his with presumed derision - that is a distinction with a difference. Also, he is a jerk, I am not - at least by the reckoning of most