The Right Spin

I've never been big into Angelia Jolie one way or the other. Sometimes I think she's attractive but that coes and goes. I do think it's great that she's using her fame to give aid to humanitarian causes. But with that said, I don't see how he talking with the President of Pakistan about Afghan refugees in his country will do anything.

I mean, it's not like he's not aware that they are there. And what's to make us think that her talking with the guy is going to bring about any change of heart? In some ways, and feel free to call me pessimistic here, I find it almost arrogant that she'd do such a thing. She's an actress. That's it. She's has no political, military or even financial clout behind her. It seems she could do about as much for change as I could sending a sternly worded letter to the bloke.

I'm not trying to down Angelina Jolie or her work at all. But it just seems to me to smack of typical Hollywood liberal arrogance. That, somehow, if only actors ran things we'd live in a utopian paradise.

But, maybe, just maybe I'm being too hard on her.

So, Ridley Scott's got this new film coming out starring Legolas and Qui-Gon Jinn set during the Crusades (I'm not sure which of the 10 it is). I'm honestly excited to see it. But I'm also a bit... apprehensive. All too often the Crusades are painted as "Christians vs. Jews & Muslims" and it's left at that. Never mind the fact the Crusades began as a defensive move against Muslim expansion. But even that does little to shed light on a series of very complicated event - so complicated that I'm not going to comment much more on them just now until I'm fully comfortable with my knowledge of the subject. I suppose I simply object to the label above being slapped on the whole complicated mess with little thought more given to it. And it still happens! From President Clinton stating it as a reason for 9/11 to terrorists throwing it about in their propaganda. The fact of the matter is, as I know it to be, looking across the whole of the Crusades there was very little "Christian aggression". By that I mean the raping and pillaging of Muslims and Jews. Did that happen? Yes. Was it the norm? Very, very far from it! And I think it's safe to say that those who participated and endorsed such things were not practicing the religion of the Messiah of Israel.

And I think that is something that needs to be shouted from the mountaintops in this post-9/11 world. Everyday we hear that suicide bombers and terrorists are not practicing the true religion of Muhammad. That Islam is a religion of peace. Okay, I say, I'll give you that. But in return you must grant me that the atrocities committed during the Crusades were not the actions of true Christians. I think it only fair.

Hopefully, in a short time, I'll have some more stuff up on the Crusades and how it relates to this film. Full links will be provided.