Comments for Independent Lens https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/ Independent Documentary Films Fri, 04 Aug 2023 23:06:24 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 Comment on William S. Burroughs – Godfather of Punk by Janet Chang https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/william-s-burroughs-godfather-of-punk/#comment-3351 Thu, 02 Jul 2015 08:07:00 +0000 #comment-3351 This is one of the best films ever on gender because it comes from such a deep cultural understanding. Bruce Jenner would have been a lot happier growing up in Hawaii!

]]>
Comment on EmmyAward by Mymyheyhey https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/?attachment_id=3039/#comment-3348 Fri, 26 Jun 2015 16:50:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/EmmyAward.png#comment-3348 “There are issues”? Science has and continues to explore “issues” with evolution. Problem for you is we haven’t found any evidence that doesn’t support it.

]]>
Comment on 554314_10151161503695256_689233491_n by Mehernosh Chemi https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/bill-siegels-docs-biggest-impact/554314-10151161503695256-689233491-n/#comment-3330 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 02:51:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/554314_10151161503695256_689233491_n.jpg#comment-3330 My salute to you guys!! The next time Im in India, Id love to visit the Orphanage and it would be an honor to meet Rocky

]]>
Comment on micmacs by tracey marie https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/heartofthesea/micmacs/#comment-3329 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 00:58:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/micmacs.jpg#comment-3329 In reply to ryan.

and it failed, the Union was preserved and slavery was abolished. We are still fighting the racist mindset of white superiority, but that is also dying out.

]]>
Comment on For Once in My Life Director Finds Inspiration at Band Practice by Ziska https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/for-once-in-my-life-director-finds-inspiration-at-band-practice/#comment-3316 Fri, 19 Jun 2015 05:47:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/?p=51#comment-3316 Touching film. I can’t believe how the USCIS is holding back this one green card. If they had been a heterosexual couple, Anthony would be a citizen by now. Check out my post with the second title “Give him his green card already!” http://wp.me/p6lQeD-16

]]>
Comment on For Once in My Life Director Finds Inspiration at Band Practice by Dan https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/for-once-in-my-life-director-finds-inspiration-at-band-practice/#comment-3313 Wed, 17 Jun 2015 11:47:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/?p=51#comment-3313 This was an excellent film and story to see now, just days before the Supreme Court ruling is released.

]]>
Comment on IL Classic China Blue to Stream Free; Chat on Globalization with PBS NewsHour by Skeptic https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/il-classic-china-blue-to-stream-free-chat-on-globalization-with-pbs-newshour/#comment-3303 Fri, 05 Jun 2015 23:33:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/?p=102#comment-3303 The planning and break-in by these amateurs had the elements of a classic bank vault burglary. That should get some respect, if a little difficult.

]]>
Comment on SUMMERPASTUR_Yama_Teaches_Lynn_Dung by twinxx https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/?attachment_id=5959/#comment-3292 Tue, 26 May 2015 23:04:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/SUMMERPASTUR_Yama_Teaches_Lynn_Dung.jpg#comment-3292 I have just seen this documentary and was very moved by it [see my poster name] .
It must be a very strange thing to handle for both sets of parents as well as the girls, but it seems they are all trying their best to make things work and I hope all their efforts are rewarded, and that the relationship between the girls is maintained.

]]>
Comment on micmacs by ryan https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/heartofthesea/micmacs/#comment-3284 Mon, 25 May 2015 20:05:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/micmacs.jpg#comment-3284 In reply to bopeep.

I did not call slavery a “movement”. I was referring to the secessionist movement which existed for years before the Civil War.Your reading comprehension skills are exceedingly poor.

Slavery was the South’s economic system. Secessionism was the movement. People who can read understand that.

]]>
Comment on micmacs by bopeep https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/heartofthesea/micmacs/#comment-3282 Fri, 22 May 2015 23:35:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/micmacs.jpg#comment-3282 In reply to ryan.

“Leaving aside slavery”? The fact that you can even say that makes you unworthy to be taken seriously. Slavery wasn’t a “movement” it was an evil institution which the majority of the country practiced.

]]>
Comment on micmacs by ryan https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/heartofthesea/micmacs/#comment-3277 Mon, 18 May 2015 23:53:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/micmacs.jpg#comment-3277 The Confederacy is the ultimate expression of dissent in American history yet there isn’t a movie listed about it. How strange. They took on the power of the US government directly and with force.

Leaving aside the issue slavery for argument’s sake the notion that a section of a nation has the legal or natural right to secede is a serious point worth discussion. The US Constitution did not strictly forbid secession. One can maker the argument that the South had every right to secede. The modern concept(purposed by the southerner Woodrow Wilson) of self-determination that is enshrined in the UN’s charter is a solid basis for this.

No other dissenting movement did as much to fight for the success of it’s movement as the Confederacy. No other movement suffered as much either. 330,000 dead and tens of thousands of men terribly wound and their culture thoroughly destroyed.

As moral beings we say this is a good thing because it ended slavery. But we learned folks know that the war was not fought to end slavery. It was fought to preserve the union. At least that is what Northerners were told.

Dissent comes in many forms.George Wallace was every bit the dissenter that Angela Davis was, except his goal was very different.Just because a cause is not perceived as being moral or just that does not mean it isn’t dissent. It’s still dissent regardless of the ideas that drive it.Hitler, Lenin, Mao, Castro…all of these men were once dissenters in their own(or adopted in Hitler’s case) country.

As these examples show dissent is not necessarily a good thing. I believe that most dissenters do not fully comprehend the consequences of their actions .For example, the efforts of anti-Vietnam War protestors in opposing an immoral war resulted in the victory of a totalitarian and brutal regime. The Vietnamese people still lost even in victory. Whatever “victory” dissenters earned was a hollow one for human rights and social justice were still erased in Vietnam. Did the anti-war protestors intend this? Of course not. But that was the result of the end of the war.

I think we need to change how we view dissent from the positive outlook that this list implies to a much more critical approach based on actual history and not the rose-tinted reminiscences of participants and Fellow Travelers.

America has a long history of dissent and for a vastly different reasons. Any serious study of dissent has to include the Confederacy/pro-slavery movement because it is by far the largest and most historically important movement in American history.

]]>
Comment on micmacs by Flaneur https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/heartofthesea/micmacs/#comment-3276 Mon, 18 May 2015 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/micmacs.jpg#comment-3276 The 1979 documentary, ‘The War at Home’ tells the story of the anti-war movement in Madison, Wisconsin, in the sixties. An eye-opener for millienials who don’t fully understand the extent and scale of resistance to the Vietnam War.

]]>