Sydney R - Dr. Strangelove

After watching Dr. Strangelove, I was most struck by how much damage the main characters were able to inflict in such a short period of time.  It seems like the events in this movie took place over a few hours or half of a day at the most.  And yet, the men in charge were able to destroy all of humanity because they had the power to do so.  This film emphasized the reality of how much power and trust we give to our leaders, even when they may not deserve it.  An issue here is that the general public does not seem to understand how much power these leaders have.  It is hard to conceptualize the destruction that a nuclear bomb can cause and I doubt that many individuals would want to be tasked with the responsibility of deciding when and where this type of destruction is necessary.  This kind of responsibility requires the leaders that we choose to be perfect which is impossible for humans to achieve.  Finding a near-perfect leader is hard enough, but agreeing on one to elect is even harder.  In the increasingly polarized political climate that we live in, people are becoming less and less willing to compromise.  

I really liked the idea of "final-five voting" that was brought up in the first article because even though we still will not have perfect leaders, this system seems like a way in which we can expand our options and be less confined by party lines (Gehl & Porter, 2020).  With the current system of closed primaries, it forces people to stay in their own political bubble which does not allow for exploring different ideals.  The general election is also restricted in that the public are only given two options, one from each party, to choose from.  I think that this contributes greatly to low voter turnout and the fear of "wasting votes."  If people are not inclined to vote for either candidate, they will either not vote at all or they will vote for the candidate that aligns with their political party, even though they do not necessarily want that person to win.  This new system would loosen the restrictive nature of the primaries and hopefully provide the public with more satisfactory options in the general election.  It would also eliminate the possibility of wasted votes because votes would just be redistributed and all would count towards something no matter what.  

We have become so invested in the systems that we currently have and now we are too afraid to explore new options, even when it may result in a better outcome. The people who are currently in power have too much to lose if a new system were to be proposed, yet the citizens are the ones suffering the consequences.  The use of satire and over exaggeration in the film was successful in emphasizing this reality.  It highlighted the dysfunction within the U.S. government and how the consequences of a broken system can result in disaster.  

Gehl, K. M., & Porter, M. E. (2020, July). Fixing U.S. Politics. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved March 18, 2023, from https://hbr.org/2020/07/fixing-u-s-politics







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Milk - Emma G.

Image
In 2021, it was estimated that roughly 20 million Americans--roughly 8% of the adult population--were part of the LGBTQ+ community. Even more Americans reported attraction to the same sex, but were unable to give themselves a label that categorized them into the 8%. The number of Americans identifyng as part of the LGBTQ+ community has increased over the years, with a huge increase shown after the legalization of the gay marriage within the United States. In the 1970s, even some of America's communities full of LGBTQ+ activism struggled to flourish against the homophobic values within the United States. In the film Milk , Harvey Milk, an openly gay man in Castro, runs for public office. His campaign and election is met with criticism from the homophobic opposition. While campaigning, Milk famously states, " On the Statue of Liberty it says, 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.' In the Declaration of Independence, it is written, '
Read more

Milk

Image
 Maddie Dieringer  During class we discussed how acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals has changed quickly compared to other public opinions throughout history. This makes sense with my understanding of history, but I feel as though there has been an increase in the number of laws taking rights away from LGBTQ+ individuals, especially people who are transgender. I did a few quick google searches and found that there were 17 anti-LGBTQ laws passed in 2021 which was the worst year for LGBTQ rights since 2015. It seems that with more awareness and progress there is even more legislative push back to create laws that harm LGBTQ people than before. According to the American Civil Liberties Union there are 389 anti-LGBTQ bills being introduced across the US having to do with health care, education, civil rights, free speech and more. Linked below is the ACLU page that is kept up to date.  In the film Milk we see some of the adversity gay individuals faced during the 70s, and it's easy to see
Read more

Reservation Dogs

Image
 In connection to the other films, I thought this show represented a lot of unity and togetherness within the characters. The group had to all stay together to progress and questions of leaving versus staying to help the community also came up, specifically for Bear. I thought it was really important that the entire cast and anyone who helped create the film were Native American or Indigenous because of the lack of opportunities they often have and the educational aspect behind it. Growing up and going to school during the years of K-8, kids don't normally learn about Native American culture or history. If you're lucky to learn about them while in school, it is usually pretty vague. I don't remember learning about the history that much, but I do remember a period where we discussed the culture and why some things are important that may not be to ourselves. I think that community gets left behind and forgotten a lot and people are uncomfortable discussing that. The most prom
Read more