July 4th Party Reveals, Sadly, There Is No “THE” American Way Which Is Why Superman Has Nothing To Fight For
By John Lofton, Editor
‘SUPERMAN’ now defends ‘all that stuff’ but not ‘the American way.’If you’re a Christian, who knows the true Christian history of our founding, national celebrations of July 4th are sad and painful because they show that, alas, America really stands for not much of anything any more — at least not much of anything worth standing for. A case-in-point: Public TV’s broadcast of “A Capitol Fourth” from the U.S. Capitol — billed as a “musical celebration of the nation’s birthday.”
The festivities begin with host “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander surrounded by some scantily-clad female who sing and dance. At one point, Alexander reminds us that just as in the past on this date we are “at war.” And, just as in the past, he says, “we owe our freedom and liberty to the men and women of our Armed Forces.”
But, of course, our Founders, starting in 1620, gave credit to God and His Providence for our freedom and liberty.
God does, however, get a mention from Alexander. A little later, he calls on God to bless our Armed Forces who “keep us safe and out of harm’s way.”
Vanessa Williams sings a song I never heard of one lyric of which is “we alone can make it to the future.” The Muppet “Elmo” rides in on a tricycle. Vanessa and “Elmo” sing together. “Elmo” then sings to a bunch of kids gathered in front of him. His song extols the virtues of the imagination. He is joined on-stage by a saxophone-playing Muppet.
Everybody sings “Happy Birthday” to America.
GOV. SANFORD urges Christians to sin by attending ‘a service of faith different than their own.’Singer Michael Bolton praises Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder. He sings “For Once In My Life,” “That’s Life” and “America The Beautiful.” A female country singer sings about how “life is good” and “God Bless America.”
Jason Alexander tells us how great “freedom” is. He quotes Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt as we see two huge photos of these tyrants who diminished freedom drastically and lawlessly by un-Biblically and un-Constitutionally increasing the power of the State.
Actor Cuba Gooding praises and introduces Stevie Wonder who he says is, among other things, a fighter against “injustice and intolerance.” We see old photos of Wonder when he was known as “Little Stevie Wonder.” But, now, when we see him, Wonder is — well — no longer little. Now, he makes Oprah look anorexic.
Wonder asks us to remember those who lived and died “for the principles of peace, unity and oneness.” The only person he mentions by name is Crispus Attucks.
A Public TV Web site “Africans In America” says this about Attucks:
“In 1770, Crispus Attucks, a black man, became the first casualty of the American Revolution when he was shot and killed in what became known as the Boston Massacre. Although Attucks was credited as the leader and instigator of the event, debate raged for over as century as to whether he was a hero and a patriot, or a rabble-rousing villain.
“In the murder trial of the soldiers who fired the fatal shots, John Adams, serving as a lawyer for the crown, reviled the ‘mad behavior’ of Attucks, ‘whose very looks was enough to terrify any person.’ Adams, who became the second American president, defended the soldiers in court against the charge of murder. Building on eyewitness testimony that Attucks had struck the first blow, Adams described him as the self-appointed leader of ‘the dreadful carnage.’”
Wonder also said that our working for peace and unity must be a promise “to God and allah.” He then sang several of his songs. End of program.
Truly, as a people, we are, for the most part, mush.
Mark Sanford, the Governor of South Carolina (South Carolina!) has issued the following proclamation:
WHEREAS, our nation was founded on the principles of religious freedom and tolerance; and
WHEREAS, the people of the Palmetto State have diverse cultural roots, representing a variety of religious traditions; and
WHEREAS, Different Religions Week encourages people to attend a service of faith different than their own in an effort to promote religious tolerance.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mark Sanford, Governor of the Great State of South Carolina, do hereby proclaim July 15 — 22, 2005, as DIFFERENT RELIGIONS WEEK throughout the state and encourage all South Carolinians to recognize the importance of religious tolerance to safeguarding the American values of freedom and democracy.
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
JASON ALEXANDER clueless re- true origin of our freedom and liberty Who is the God of the Bible.But, we were not “founded on the principles of religious freedom and tolerance.” We were founded by Bible-believing Christians who came here to worship God in the way God commands in the Scriptures. Read, please, for example, the “Mayflower Compact” and John Winthrop’s sermon “A Model Of Christian Charity.”
And if Christians did what Sanford suggests — attended “a service of faith different than their own” — this would be a sin because this would violate the First Commandment!
Oh, and for the umpteenth time, not one of America’s original “values” was “democracy!” We were founded as a representative, Constitutional Republic!
A recent ABC “World News Tonight” report was about the new “Superman” movie. It began with Charles Gibson telling us this: “Finally, tonight, a significant change for Superman. He is still the man of steel. He still leaps tall buildings in a single bound. He still vanquishes bad guys and helps good guys. He still fights for truth and justice, but something has happened to fighting for the American way.”
A disembodied voice then tells us: “For more than 50 years, the man of steel has flown to the defense of basic values.” We then see the 1950s “Superman,” in black-and-white, saying that, among other things, he was defending “the American way.” And we see the 1978 movie “Superman” saying the same thing.
But, now? Now, in the new “Superman,” we see someone saying that “Superman” fights for truth, justice and “all that stuff.” No mention is made of “the American way.”
Why the change? Well, the reporter on this story tells us: “To make the kind of blockbuster profits Hollywood demands, movies must sell well in foreign markets. That poses a challenge for filmmakers who have to find a way to appeal to both the US audiences and foreign viewers that may not be so fond of America.”
Then Michael Gubbins of “Screen International Magazine” is shown saying: “You don’t, particularly, want to define ‘Superman’ as something, which is specifically an American product. You quite like the idea, I think, of him being a hero for the entire world.” That disembodied voice adds: “To movie executives, that means no more waving the flag.”
STEVIE WONDER asks us to make a promise to ‘allah.’We then see Martin Kaplan of USC’s “Annenberg School of Communications” saying: “It’s a measure of the times we live in that foreign audiences are ambivalent about America and American culture. It’s as if foreign audiences are saying, ‘We hate you, but please send us more ‘Baywatch.’”
Well, I, too, am “ambivalent” about America and our culture. In fact, I despise much of our so-called popular culture because it is demonic and anti-Christian to the core.
But, I think there’s a better explanation of why “Superman” no longer fights for “the American way.” I think it’s too simple to say “Superman” has dumped “the American way” bit because, to please foreigners and for his movies to make money, he must be a Citizen Of The World, a New World Order Man.
I think “Superman” no longer defends “the American way” because there is no longer anything that can be called “the” American way. Seriously, think about some of the mind-numbing, polytheistic poppycock perpetuated by our President. At the “National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast” recently, Mr. Bush said, proudly:
“I like to tell people that my job as the President is to promote the fact that people are free to worship however you choose. See, that’s what distinguishes us from the Taliban or al Qaeda — that we’re free to worship and that we’re all equally American. If you’re a Christian, Jew or Muslim, you’re equally American. If you choose not to worship, you’re equally American.”
But, such talk is blatantly at odds with what God says in the First Commandment — that we are to have no God but Him! — something you would think Mr. Bush, who says he is a Christian, would be defending. Such a ridiculous view of “the American way” is incoherent, theological gibberish that cannot possibly be defended by anyone — not even “Superman.”