ANGRY BIRDS 2, THE CULTURE WAR CONTINUES

Eric Martindale • September 9, 2019

OUR BLACK LEADERS WERE RIGHT 40 YEARS AGO WITH THE THEORY OF LABELING

It doesn’t matter if the movie is a cartoon, an action film, or a love story. Everything produced these days has the same culture war message. This has been going on for over 10 years. Television is no better.  

Women, and especially women of Millennial age, are portrayed as smart and heroic. Men, and especially men of Generation X age, are portrayed as flawed in some major regard, and as the cause of all other problems. The only exception to this rule is if the male character is a minority or LGBTQ. There is simply no way that a straight White male character is going to be shown in a positive manner.

This is part of an ongoing culture war in America, and it’s an extension of the political theory in which a large segment of the population is considered “deplorable” based on their social and political views.

The pattern is eerily similar to the labeling of Black men as criminals that was very common several decades ago, and still continues with a new twist. More on this later. 

I took my wife and young daughter to see Angry Birds 2 at the budget theatre in downtown Bergenfield, NJ the other day. She was starting Kindergarten the next day, and I wanted to treat her to a movie. Here’s information on Angry Birds 2 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6095472/

 The lead male character, which is the red Cardinal bird, is symbolic of the angry White male. He is brash, bold and privileged, and over-rated. He is portrayed as a flawed leader lacking in insight and real direction.  

The lead girl character, of course, is portrayed as smart, heroic, under-rated, and compassionate. The other lead female character, the female Eagle, is evil, but the film makes it very clear that her evil nature was directly caused by a secondary male character, the male Eagle. Under no circumstances can a female character in a movie these days be evil of her own accord; it has to be the result of being mistreated by a man. We saw the same theme in Oz the Great and Powerful. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623205/

Oz the Great and Powerful also continued the same culture war theme of the lead male character being weak and deeply flawed in major ways.  

I am not cherry-picking movies to make my point. It’s literally every movie I see coming from the mainstream producers. And under no circumstances will a person of Faith ever be portrayed positively. The anti-abortion movie, Unplanned, came from an alternative producer, and the rest of the industry did everything possible to bury it and downplay it.

In the last two years, I saw only two other mainstream movies, and each time I thought the male character wouldn’t be portrayed as deeply flawed. Each time I was wrong.  

One of those movies was the Last Jedi. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527336/

I had some delusion that Luke Skywalker, even though he is a White male, would have to be portrayed positively. How could they possibly continue the Star Wars legacy otherwise? Nope, he was portrayed as old and weak and defeated, a hermit and a quitter to the cause of righteousness. The key scene was of Skywalker readily consuming a sticky and disgusting bodily fluid emitted by some kind of organ on a slobby creature. The writers know exactly what that is symbolic of, and they were sending the message that there should be no associated shame or stigma.

To make matters worse, Luke was shown as abandoning his Jedi religion, and attempting to burn it to the ground. And then his mentor, Yoda, actually did burn their temple and their religion to the ground, and then laughed about it.

The message of the movie was that religion has no place any more in our society, but it’s quite acceptable for men to consume questionable bodily fluids. I am taking this movie review to a step most professional movie viewers haven’t. Most of them are far Left, and part of the same culture war thinking, so they won’t criticize those scenes or identify what they are really about.

In the end of the movie, when Luke Skywalker finally did come around and sacrifice himself to the cause of the rebels, it was because he was inspired by the young female character’s determination.  The young female character, naturally, was the hero. And she mostly did all her Jedi training herself. She didn’t need the older man to teach her much, which is another culture war theme. Her nemesis was Kylo Ren, and naturally he was an evil White man.

Another major culture war theme of the movie was the clash in leadership styles between Princess Leia and the rebel pilot Poe Demeron. Poe was reckless and impulsive, made flawed decisions, and refused to follow the orders of a woman leader. The woman leader, Princess Leia, was shown as having the right insights, and nobody should even question why they are abandoning their ships to reach a particular planet, no matter how many people are dying in the process. Instead just follow the woman’s leadership decision because she must be correct. Note that the other two heroic characters of the movie were anything other than a White male. One was a Black man, and the other an Asian woman.  

The other movie I saw was Incredibles 2. The writers had a problem because the lead character in the original Incredibles was a heroic White man, but they found a way to maintain their culture war. Mr. Incredible was portrayed as secondary to Elastigirl, and not wanted by those interested in resurrecting the superheroes. He was told to stand aside. The evil character in the movie was again a White male, in this case a bumbling and incompetent idiot who should not have been given any power.  

Now I must ask, what are the social consequences to every movie portraying every leading White male character as deeply flawed, while all the heroes and good leaders are women and minorities?  

Are White men in society, especially Generation X, following the script, and acting as they are portrayed? Are they becoming angry White men, and mad at the world? Are they grabbing firearms and becoming mass killers? Are they becoming “deplorable” and even voting in a so-called deplorable manner?

All of this appears to be happening, and it is not a coincidence. There is a huge backlash to the culture war, but those offended lack the ability to combat the social justice warriors at their own game by creating and airing movies and television shows. Instead, they appear to have chosen one of their own, who is bold and brash and mad at the social justice warriors, and put him in the White House.  

Let’s take it one step further. If White men were portrayed in movies and on television as a positive force in society, would there be so many angry White men out there. Would there be as many mass shootings at the hands of White men? Probably not.   

I recall back in the 1960’s and 1970’, many folks in the Black community talked a lot about what they called labeling. Here’s some information on Labeling Theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labeling_theory

They said that if you label people in a certain manner, that’s how they become. The theory was especially popular at the time with older Black Christian women. They said that the key to uplifting Black men is to stop portraying them as criminals, drug dealers, bad husbands, and bad fathers. I discounted that theory for many years. Now I realize that the psychologists who came up with the theory, and all of those astute church ladies with their big hats, were right all along. The theory of Labeling is valid, and it does guide people either in a good or a bad direction.

Now in 2019, it’s straight White men who are being negatively labeled. We are the deplorables. We are the bumbling, stupid and evil ones, and the gun-toting sociopaths, according to the labeling. Meanwhile Black men are now labeled as victims, and that also has social consequences. It’s a step up from being labeled a criminal, but still problematic.  

So the next logical question is why not label everyone as good? Why not push all of society in a positive direction? Why isolate straight White men and label them as flawed, wrong, and stupid? Why label Black men as victims?   

Why not promote a positive and uplifting value system, one that unifies all people of all backgrounds and economic levels. Shouldn’t all of society promote a value system centered on peace, love, forgiveness, and unity? One that guides the development and education of our children. One that labels everyone as good and decent, and molds young adults into becoming productive citizens, strong workers, and good parents. Some folks know where I am going with this argument. We already have that value system. It’s been around for 2000 years. It’s called Christianity. The more messed up the world becomes, the more relevant is our Faith. There simply isn’t a better value system out there.  

And while other Faiths may have many positive points and Teachings, over 90% of Americans come from a Christian heritage, whether they follow it or not. Therefore the Faith base to turn this country around and end all of the cultural and political nonsense has to be Christian. Furthermore, it has to be mission-centered on bringing together Christians of different races, and creating a unified front of Christians in the two major political parties.  

We must develop Christian coalitions in each Party who are more favorable to each other than to their respective party extremes. The rise of the mighty center has to come, and I believe it is coming. It will become a massive and unstoppable force. This is a long overdue and revolutionary idea, and it has become the centerpiece of everything I hope to accomplish with the Welcome Movement.  

Our adversaries are the people of little or no belief in God, and they dominate both major political parties. They want us Democratic and Republican Christians divided. They do not want us working together, because they know if we ever bridge the gap and create a unified Christian force, the non-Faith political extremes are each relegated to 25% of America. Maybe less. The political math is pretty clear. 25% controls nothing. 25% elects zero Senators, Congressmen, Governors, or Presidents. Our non-Faith political adversaries want us divided. It is their only possible means of continuing their power, and their domination of all aspects of our society. There’s a giant tug of war going on, with 25% on each side bearing all the force.  

Christianity can force political change, and we have the numbers needed in all 50 States. There really aren’t extreme differences between Democratic and Republican Christians, or between Christians of different races. There are far greater differences between the atheistic social justice warriors on the Far Left and minority Christians who vote Democrat.

On the other side of the aisle folks are quieter about the differences, but there remains a huge difference between Christian Republicans and economic conservatives who are more the follows of Ayn Rand than our Lord and savior.

The way I see it, the ‘Randian” perspective is further Right than the Christian Right, and it grades towards Social Darwinism and racism. The ultimate expression of Social Darwinism (aka “Survival of the Fittest”) is racism on the level of Nazi ideology. It’s saying that it’s OK for whole races of people to rise or fall in some social and economic competition with each other.  

The goal of each major political party is to try to unite their two major factions, no matter how ideologically different they may be. Guess what, my religion isn’t Republican. My religion is Christian. And whatever factions of the Republican Party that are hostile to my Faith teachings I cannot support.  

The political unity of Christians can happen, and I believe that it best starts with an open declaration of a political truce between Christian Democrats and Christian Republicans, and an open acknowledgment that the two Party extremes are the real problem. I don’t see too many Christians in each Party disagreeing with this, but I do see them being timid to take the stand.  

And this declaration should not be hostile to other Faiths doing positive works in their communities as well. Rise up folks, speak your minds, and get involved. Do not let the forces of greed and selfishness control the Republican Party. Do not let the forces of culture war division control the Democratic Party. The answer is not necessarily one Party over the other, the answer is for the forces of good to rise up within each Party, put the zealots in their places, and forge agreements across the aisle.  

And the culture war must be directly challenged, and exposed as being a negative force of labeling.  

What has to happen for smart-thinking people to get together and produce movies and television shows with overall positive themes? Why can’t this happen? There are enough people with enough money to make it happen, and even if only 1 out of 10 actors would take on such roles, there’s enough talent out there for quality productions. Wake up fellow Christians, this is our country, and we can’t let all of this nonsense continue.   

For more information, and to review all of our blog postings, see www.thewelcomemovement.com

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By Ahmed Odeh Guest Contributor • September 24, 2024

We are upset that Donald Trump is positioning himself as the great defender of Israel. Trump has done nothing to try to win the Muslim vote, even though most Muslims are social conservatives. Meanwhile, the political support that many Muslims feel for the Democrats is unsustainable, as the core positions of the Left are hostile to our beliefs. Both problems are much more than frustrating. Muslims who are social conservatives must take a stand to state their beliefs. Those who agree with the following 25 conservative points are asked to click on the link below, print it, sign your name to this Declaration, and mail it to the Trump Campaign. Trump needs to be deluged with thousands of these. Each will be opened, because they think it’s a campaign donation. Trump and the Republican establishment need to hear it loud and clear that Muslims are the real conservatives, and that Jews are the Leftist and atheist enemy of the whole world.