The Gun Line MkIII

I had the opportunity to watch James Cameron’s “Avatar” last evening…

Despite the “PG” rating, I think that it contains combat scenes and language that might not be appropriate for the younger set.

Technically, the CGI was incredible, and the depiction of the planet “Pandora” is a visual tour d’ force; an amazing collection of bio-luminescence and jaw-dropping effects.  Were it real, this would be a wondrous place to explore, and hostile atmosphere notwithstanding, I could build me a nice little retirement home there…  The visuals of the indigenous population were handled with the tact of National Geographic, and well represented.

Without giving away the plot, it is a story of profit-driven humans trying to drive the indigenous population off of their sacred grounds to allow for the mining of a highly valuable mineral, using the military assets (specifically the Marines) to provide the heavy-handed eviction notice.  Bottom line, screwing the locals to make a buck…

And therein lies the message…

Those of us who adhere to a mono-theistic deity that is human-centric, and those of us who follow the martial vocation might be prompted to dismiss this as “another tree-hugging piece of work from Hollywood”.

And it would be wrong, in my view…

As far as I am concerned, relations between the Judeo-Christian God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are, first and foremost, a one-on-one relationship.  The whole idea behind Christ’s teachings is that we should lead by example, not force others to believe as we do.  Let our deeds do the convincing, in other words:  If we encounter another populace whose lifestyle is based on a different faith methodology, I believe that we should live and let live, unless that population is overly hostile with no discernible reason.  We should not fall into the trap of believing that our way (not HIS Way, OUR Way) is any more “righteous” that anyone else’s, and we should not be so arrogant as to think that we know all of God’s plans; He may have not granted us the Need To Know about His plans for our neighbors, in light of the fact that we are still trying to get our own house squared away.

So (after the appropriate suspension of disbelief), there is a population of ten foot tall blue folks who are so in tune with their natural surrounding that they have created a simplistic society that ties them to the land.  Sounds like a few cultures that once enjoyed an unfettered existence in our own backyard, doesn’t it?

Continuing the aforementioned suspension of disbelief, the reason for Humans even being on that planet was primarily wrong.  The presence of researchers attempting to learn about a totally different bio-system, culture, etc., might be justified, but to destroy a whole different culture for profit is plain wrong.

Which brings us to the Marines:  Had any of those Marines remembered the oath that they can be presumed to have taken upon their enlistment, the one that affirms that they will “Support and defend the Constitution of the United States…” not a man Jack among them would have fired a single shot.  Where was the threat?  From a population that didn’t even have the ability to escape their own atmosphere on a world that took six years to travel to from Earth?  I don’t think so.

Unfortunately, we have seen this scenario played out in our own reality.  Not in Iraq, or even Afghanistan, where there is, indeed, a threat to the United States from a hostile adversary that refuses to negotiate in good faith, and has proved their intentions through acts of violence upon our own soil.

So, taking all of this in, I think that there are two messages, both of which apply to my own life:

1)  If you’re going to pull the trigger, make sure that you’re pulling it for the right reason.

2)  Sometimes it isn’t doing what you are ordered to do…  It’s a question of doing what is right.

I approve of the movie’s message, and I hope that it makes people think.

Personally, I’m thinking that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to be tall, blue, and wearing a loincloth.