Modern Heroes and Modern Politicians

When did careful planning and execution become un-cool in real life? Probably about the same time it became un-cool in Hollywood. 

Think how the American hero has evolved. He used to be smart, principled and disciplined.  Not anymore.  Where we used to have student-of-the-game Ted Williams, we now have Barry Bonds.  Where we used to have Atticus Finch, Rick Blaine and Jefferson Smith we have hot-headed Lt. Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise).  Planners and careful executers include heroes as diverse as Rocky Bilboa and Gandhi.  Heroes-who-plan include soldiers from starkly different backgrounds, such as the soldiers in The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen. 

Modern television and movies don’t offer heroes who intelligently plan and collaborate with others to save the day.  A television show offering this in the 60’s was Mission Impossible.  The Impossible Mission Force was a group of specialists who actually sat down to plan their mission at the beginning of each show. 

Modern heroes rarely sit down to plan their missions.  They bristle at the thought of collaborating.  Modern protagonists are reactive, not planners. Think of Indiana Jones, Han Solo, Terminator II.  These are individualistic hot headed rejecters of collaboration.  When they succeed in the end it is because they got lucky at that last desperate moment, not because they pondered contingencies before setting out.   Interestingly, if you want planning and execution, look to Hollywood’s villains, people such as Hannibal Lecter, Darth Vader or Batman’s Joker.

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Beware Claims of Pregnancy Resource Centers

The following is a letter I wrote to an acquaintance who asked me to contribute to a “Pregnancy Resource Center” in order to assist them to do their “important work.”   As you can see, my investigation revealed that Pregnancy Resource Centers are unwilling to plainly admit their real agenda.

Dear ____: 

I was intrigued when you invited me to contribute to the “Walk4Life” to support the Missouri “Pregnancy Resource Center.”   I took your invitation as an excuse to learn more about the PRC.  The more I learned, however, the more I disagreed with its work.  I decided to respond at length.  Though this email might seem out of proportion to your short request, it is commensurate with my strong feelings on these topics. 

I applaud the efforts of the PRC to offer free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to women.  Assisting women who really want to give birth to a baby is great.  Making parenting assistance available to pregnant women is laudable.  And I certainly agree that adoption is a genuine worthy alternative to abortion, for those who freely choose this option.

The web site of the Missouri PRC (like the sites of many of the numerous “Pregnancy Resource Centers”) says very little about what PRC actually does when a pregnant woman walks through the door.  Clicking on the topic buttons of the PRC website brings up only blank email forms (see http://www.prcmo.net/ ). I thought it quite odd that the Missouri PRC wouldn’t clearly state its true mission on its …

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