Itaril

[TheMisfortuneTeller]

"TMT went beyond good natured, insightful disagreement and personally, I thought it appallingly distasteful." -- Boromir88

Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment.

Frankly, I do not remember directing any unkind or unfair remarks to any other poster in this forum. In fact, I don't think I have "disagreed" with almost anyone here. I have expressed my own opinion and directed my remarks -- in the clearest and most literary way I know how -- distinctly at what I consider a truly lousy idea. And I don't write for children.

Now, if you feel inclined to take umbrage at my manner of expressing myself, then I can't do anything about that. As the Buddha said: You can't give offense to anyone unwilling to take it. Take as little or as much as you like. I have never seen your published standards for forum discussion and I certainly haven't agreed to abide by them. I write what I wish to say. Others can take that or leave that, just as I take or leave what they have to say. I never take offense because I won't allow anyone else to give me any.

Personally, I spent too many years in the United States military and too many of those years in the now-defunct Republic of South Vietnam because the majority of my countrymen thought it impolite and distasteful to bluntly question official stupidity when they had the chance to do something about it. And I lived long enough to see the whole sorry, rats-*** "war" wagon get rolling again for another decade of mindless mayhem and near national bankruptcy. By this late date, few persons in my country seem the slightest bit interested in sanity, so sheepishly accustomed to the criminally insane have they become. You can only stop a war or the erosion of civil liberties before the process starts, not once it gets going.

I feel the same about these films. I don't want to see cheesy Hollywood crap spoil a moment of them, and if I can say or do anything to help prevent that I will. Moaning about it after it happens doesn't interest me in the least. Too late then. On the other hand, fierce and rancid reaction before the crime has a chance of preventing it. For an example, see the antagonistic audience reaction to Jackson's 48 frames-per-second projection speed trailer exhibition that resulted in him showing his latest Hobbit footage at the standard 24 frames-per-second during the recent ComicCon exhibition. Negative feedback can and does work. If people don't like something they should say so. But if they couch their remarks in mealy-mouthed, simpering euphemisms -- i.e., "take out" rather than "kill" -- then no one in a position of power will take them at all seriously. Ridicule that hits the mark accomplishes a lot more than vapid generalizations that fear to "offend" tender sensibilities. Grownups can discuss anything without taking any offense whatsoever. So I write for adults.

As my younger brother the high school teacher and football coach likes to tell his students and players: "You will receive from others in this life precisely the treatment that you are prepared to tolerate." The same goes for crappy films and ruinous, endless "wars." Tolerate them for an instant and you'll get only more of the same.

And by the way, women who serve in real-world military forces -- as opposed to sanitized, choreographed fantasy ones -- stand a greater chance of sexual assault from their fellow male servicemen than they do getting killed in battle by the enemy. I take it that you would would not wish to read any real-world literature or see any graphic films painting for you a picture of what an actual elf-chick security guard's life would resemble. I don't think you have any idea whatsoever. And neither does Peter Jackson and his "strong women" script-writing team. So I don't want to see any of their dance-routines masquerading as orc-and-warg-disemboweling "combat." I'd rather just hear a poetry recitation. Much more useful and believable.