the power of an idea

i watched v for vendetta again. folks pooh pooh the movie as a conspiracy theory and propaganda against the neo con regime but to me- it is overtly symbolic. v, himself, said that you can't kill an idea. what stuck with me too- they can pick us off one by one- but they can't stand up to large numbers of us.

what was the biggest single reason for the totalitarian regime in v for vendetta? fear. the reason that we, the people, are allowing our civil liberties to be taken away? fear. what are we afraid of? our way of life being taken away? our actual lives being taken away? evey confronted her fear of death with her integrity intact. can we say the same? who are our enemies? illegal immigrants? gays? other americans? i found it interesting that the people who were rounded up first in the 'reclamation' were gays and protesters. they were the ones that were experimented on first with the virus. c-dell had an interesting post about a law that bans saggy pants. does that mean that the young people who predominantly wear them are our enemies? are we brave enough to crawl back up the slippery slope that we are on?

the last section of the movie when the crowd starts taking off their masks and you see them one by one- and you recognize the people who gave their lives trying to save freedom and civil liberties- that was powerful. so, yeah, the movie was obvious. the movie has been dismissed for all sorts of reasons- for being based on a comic, for being anti-conservative, etc. but it shouldn't be.

it should open people's minds to the fact that it only takes one person to plant the seeds of dissent. it only takes a few people standing up for more to follow. you can kill a man or a woman but you can't kill ideas. ' as long as one person knows the constitution- it will still be here.' my mom said that. it isn't about us as people- we will eventually die. it isn't about our white picket fences or our suvs- they won't last either.

it is about the idea of freedom. the idea that all men are created equal. the idea that there is a place that welcomes the world's poor, tired and hungry with open arms because it is a land of plenty and the people are generous. we have to carry that idea and pass it on because even if we die- someone out there will know the idea. someone will pass it on. someone will keep it alive.

"We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."