We are all beasts

Missouri 2021-10-13 13:05:29






Morgan Freeman said: "There has never been a great person, only a great motivation." There are three motivations that prompted me to write this post. The first motivation, I read a post about "The Destruction of the Empire", in which many people are singing the praises of Hitler, making no secret of his admiration. Although I argued for reasons, I was helpless, and soon drowned in the shouts of "Long live Hitler". I always feel that it is necessary to take a different approach and solemnly express my views. The second motivation is that I saw an article against Japanese TV dramas today. Many netizens do not make judgments about whether they like Japanese TV dramas based on the merits of Japanese TV dramas. Instead, they proceed from patriotism and boycott Japanese TV dramas in the spirit of boycotting Japanese products. I can't help but sigh, this anti-Japanese anger finally burned into film and television reviews. The third motivation is that I just watched the American film "The Beast and the Good People", which is really an excellent movie. We can all find the spiritual food we need from the movie. Whether we are democrats, neo-conservatives, or centrists. These are my three motivations. Although they are not great, they are sufficient. These three motives are undoubtedly related to film reviews, so this post is naturally posted on film reviews.

I am not an angry youth, nor am I a so-called democrat. I am very sensible, and sensibility makes me choose to hold on to both ends and take the mean. Okay, well, I withdrew the slanderous argument of rationality. In fact, I am a coward, and cowardice prevents me from joining the democratic camp, because the lessons of the past make me not want to be labeled as HJ and be scolded by the dog-blood spray (the lesson of the past refers to a friend of mine, he is the famous HJ of Guoguan). And a little bit of honesty prevented me from joining the camp of angry youths to laugh and curse happily. Because on the one hand I don’t agree with angry youth’s propositions, on the other hand, as a cowardly, I can’t do "I encounter cockroachers and thieves walking around in reality, but on the virtual network, I am justly attacking distant countries" (Liu Yazhou language). This behavior makes me despise myself. Therefore, in this post, I will not discuss the sensitive Sino-Japanese relationship or something, but use the movie "The Beast and the Good People" as a carrier to discuss some of my views on faith.

If the name of the film is literally translated, it should be "American History-X", but the name "Beast and Good People" seems to be closer to the essence of the film. According to Floyd's theory, there is an id and a superego in our thoughts. The id is our desire, our true face. The superego is our rationality, what we use to restrain our desires. Under the control of the id, we are all beasts, and the superego makes us suppress ourselves and become good people. Of course, it is not only the subjective self that suppresses our desires, but also objective power, law, morality, and so on. In essence, we are all beasts and good people.

Hooligans are not terrible. What is terrible is a hooligan armed with knowledge. The high-sounding argument is angry youth. Edward Norton in the film is an angry young man. Of course, there are different divisions of angry youth. Norton is a typical racist. He firmly believes in his beliefs.

Faith is undoubtedly one of the most powerful emotional forces of mankind. In the face of faith, people will become fearless and unwilling to turn back, regardless of whether the faith they rely on is correct or not. If this belief is wrong or used by others, it will produce a huge destructive force. There have been countless massacres and wars under the banner of various beliefs in history. The power of faith is so powerful, it is extremely difficult to change one's faith. What is faith? Faith is to do what one wants. If the content of the faith fulfills your desire, you will become his believer. The propagandists of the faith will become your mentors. Opponents of your faith will become your enemies. Inspired by the enemy is a betrayal of one's own beliefs. Who wants to be his own traitor? If a belief is wrong, or even evil, it is extremely difficult to persuade believers of this belief in truth. It is even more difficult to persuade him to abandon his faith as a thoughtful believer rather than a blind follower. Just like Yang Weili said: "All human beings cannot bear the perception that they are evil. Only when they are sure of their correctness can they become the most nervous, cruel, and merciless person. ."

The protagonist is firm in his belief and unwavering. It was impossible for his teacher and stepfather to persuade him, but the result only caused him to leave school and split from his family, and embark on a road of cruel violence. The only thing that can shake his faith is reality, and this reality comes from prison. Prisons are undoubtedly the holy places or cemeteries of human faith. He found that belief in prison is no longer the purpose of struggle but a tool to be used. It is a means to cultivate power and a way to satisfy desires. In prison, the beliefs on which he used to survive proved to be insignificant, fragile, and wrong. The enemies he once hated proved to be harmless, friendly, and kind. This cognition is also extremely painful. I don't have this kind of experience. I can only imagine how painful it will be when one's beliefs are finally deemed wrong or even evil by oneself. We don't know what kind of ideological struggle the protagonist has had, but I think that compared with the pain of drug rehabilitation, the subversion of faith must be even worse. In any case, the protagonist repented, and the prodigal son turned around. At the same time, the master recognized an important fact, that is, he was used, and he was used by the person who had always been regarded as a mentor.

In "Saint Seiya", there is an episode called "Vigilance! "The Manipulator Behind the Scenes" is often like this sometimes. It is not necessarily the instigator or the biggest enemy who comes to the front desk. Maybe he is just a puppet, a banner, and a gun. The protagonist is the flag that has been used. Even after he went to jail, his banner didn't fall down, but fluttered in the wind even more. He was portrayed as an idol, which was a total use. If the protagonist is a rogue armed with knowledge, then the instigator behind him, this ultra-Nazist, can be named a human intellectual with Jacobin tendencies. This kind of person is many times more terrifying than the former. Not only do they have firm ideals and clear goals; they also master the theories that guide practice and the path to goals. They are no longer hot-blooded angry young people. They are calm, clear, firm, and clear-cut. They have passed the practice. They clearly understand the meaning of their beliefs and understand whether their beliefs are correct or not. Faith is not entirely their goal anymore, what they want is the things hidden behind the faith. They are ambitious and unstoppable. They are true careerists, the enemies of mankind, and the people we should be the most vigilant. Just like Paul Johnson said: "Be wary of humanistic intellectuals, and even more so that we must be wary of Jacobin-style humanistic intellectuals with rights tendencies. Once they are combined with extremist rights and totalitarianism, they may think of their nonsense. Impose on others. At that time, they did not lead people to go astray, but forced them to follow the'right path'".

In fact, what we really should be wary of is ourselves, as we said before, we are all beasts and beloved. Most human beings are slaves of desire, and the end of the road of human desire is often destruction, such as drugs, cults, and totalitarianism. And human beings are often unaware of this, and are often bewildered and tempted by desires, and head toward destruction. Desire is the most essential thing of mankind, and it is the driving force for the advancement of history. It is absolutely impossible to try to eliminate the desire of mankind. All we can do is contain and guide, contain negative desires, and guide positive desires. Objectively depends on the law, morality, and system. Subjectively depends on our sanity, the super self. Of course, if someone deliberately wants to curb our positive desires, then we must open the shackles, release the beasts in our hearts, and destroy those who force us to take the "right path". Only a vast expanse of land is left, so clean!

In some movies that reflect profound historical facts and social status quo, there will always be a reader of thought or a witness to history. For example, Ryan in "Saving Private Ryan", such as the pianist in "The Pianist", such as the younger brother in "Tai Chi Flag Flying". They are all extremely lucky people, because the dead cannot tell the story to others. Originally, I thought that the handsome and unusual brother played by Edward Fortune was the lucky witness, and the brother would be a victim. But I was wrong. The homework named "American History-X" already showed the tragic ending. In the end, brother, this beautiful doll was broken and became the price of madness. The only thing left is the homework. At the end of the homework, there is a sentence like this: There are many great people who have said a lot of great things. If your language can't exceed them, then you can quote them and it will give you strength. I will quote a sentence that can give me strength as the end of the article.

"After a lapse of ten years, I came to consider the issue of belief again. I suddenly discovered that any kind of belief, including my belief, can be a stick for beating people and a tool for persecuting others if it is abused. Blasphemy is a crime. National anti-tradition and ancestorlessness are all crimes. As long as you can cite a belief that can be fanatical without the danger of losing your mind, there is no need to say that it has other benefits. I will immediately take refuge in it-this benefit is better than all others. Together, they are much bigger."
----Wang Xiaobo

View more about American History X reviews

Extended Reading

American History X quotes

  • Cameron: This is stupid. Go cool off, get laid, do something, come back when you're ready to talk.

    Derek Vinyard: Yeah, but it really doesn't matter if I do, does it? Because you got a whole crop already lined up, you fuckin' chicken hawk!

    Cameron: Excuse me?

    Derek Vinyard: You prey on people Cam. I lost three years of my life for your fuckin' phony cause, but I'm onto you now, you fuckin' snake.

    Cameron: Hey, watch it Derek, be careful. Remember where you are. This isn't some fuckin' country club where you can waltz in and outta here!

    Derek Vinyard: Shut up! Shut the fuck up! I came here for one reason, to tell you that I'm out. Out! And Danny's out, too. And if you come near my family again, I'm gonna fucking kill you.

    Cameron: Well excuse me, but fuck you Derek. You can't come in here barking threats at me. Look, you can do whatever you want, but Danny's a good kid. He's not some whiny pussy like you. He needs my help and I'm gonna give it to him.

    Derek Vinyard: If you come near Danny again, I will feed you your fucking heart, Cameron.

    Cameron: I won't have to. He'll come to me. I'm more important to him now than you'll ever be.

  • Bob Sweeney: There was a moment, when I used to blame everything and everyone for all the pain and suffering and vile things that happened to me, that I saw happen to my people. Used to blame everybody. Blamed White people, blamed society, blamed God. I didn't get no answers 'cause I was asking the wrong questions. You have to ask the right questions.

    Derek Vinyard: Like what?

    Bob Sweeney: Has anything you've done made your life better?