Last night, I went with my family to see The Golden Compass. Even if you are not a fan of the fantasy genre, you have probably heard about this film by now due to the efforts of some Christian groups to boycott it. It was the Christian efforts, in fact, that first got my attention directed toward the work, and their complaints which made me want to see it. This is not a review, so I won’t go into how brilliantly acted The Golden Compass is (though it really is), or how the aesthetics of the film are deeply satisfying (though they are). What I want to talk about is The Golden Compass as modern mythology, and why the Christians are right to be scared.
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Blueprint for the Disintegration of America
Recently, there has been an increasing amount of talk centering on the possibility (or even probability) that President Bush and his administration are going to declare martial law and bring around a new fascist state. There has been a lot of predictable nodding and hand-wringing on one side, and just as equally predictable laughter and dismissal on the other. What we’re going to do here is take a serious look at the situation, what is, and then outline one simple path for what could be, and then explore what can be done about it.
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