http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/27/avatar_director_james_cameron_follows_box

No doubt, this certainly helped get the message home to many people whose minds have become dulled by tee vee and mind-less consumerism.

It is the old story of an out-of-synch materialist culture which is drunk on its own arrogance while consuming everything in sight with absolutely no regard for life nor for the most basic principles of the Universe, much less human rights.

The indigenous peoples who are far more attuned to reality, are aware of their own interconnectivity and have a better understanding of how the Universe operates, get snagged by a robotic grinder that cares only for one thing and one thing only—$$$. Why? Because $$$ means power and control. And all “accomplishment” is valued by that $$$, power and control which is falsely called “success.”

The mechanistic robotic salesmen of this psychopathic ideology are really proud of their high technological methods of raping and pillaging. And they care not how many “jungle bunnies” they have to murder for their aquisitional addiction and vampiristic hunger which they find impossible to satisfy.

Of course, to vindicated themselves and maintain a good PR front, they try to win hearts and minds but cannot understand why they are having difficulty. They can’t imagine why anyone would resist such wonderful “progress.”

They have bought their own lies.

Of course a few of the invaders actually DO have a conscience and are able to recognize reality when they see it. They can be the best help of all for real change because they can throw a tiger wrench into the machinery.

So, this tells us that even among the most disconnected exploiters, re-thinking is always a possibility and all it takes is stepping back and honestly judging the tree by the fruit it bears–if one still has even a spark of human conscience left.

Of course, this is the exact situation in which we now find ourselves here on planet earth in 2010.

One sometimes wonders if the World Control Game isn’t driven by soulless non-human Velosiraptors (from outer space, of course :O) ). But, these Predators are so arrogantly puffed up by how smart and clever they are, that they failed to learn a very basic Law of the Universe. Cause and Effect. One must eventually pay the fiddler for the dance.

Their materialst/realist/reductionistic “scientists” thought that manipulation of matter was all that there was and that consciousness was just a phenomenal artifact of automatic chemical processes.

So, the truly wise here on planet earth totally reject this insane paradigm and know very well that there is a much better way not so afflicted by selfish greed and blind tunnel-vision.

The people who deal directly with Mother Earth and her children ever day, such as those who work and give care to the land, have humility and appreciation and a timing which is far more synchronized with Creation, yet they often find themselves treated as slaves by the Masters of $$$ and war, their land stolen, strip mined, denuded of trees and poisoned. They find themselves genocided, ethnically “cleansed,” despised, ridiculed and left to starve without mercy amidst a shock and awe of utter destruction fueled by ideological political I me mine.

Traditionally, when they cry out in agony and despair, they are marginalized and ignored–or sent a “Care” package.

But that is rapidly changing because the mechanistic, robotic institutionalized error is showing itself to be totally unsustainable, counterproductive, self-destructive and rotting from its own greed and criminality.

So now the Law of Cause and Effect has caught up with this whole travesty and a great balancing has now begun.

As this total dysfunction collapses under the weight of its own corruption, an entirely NEW PARADIGM is now arising simultaneously.

Here amidst the darkness, anxiety and turmoil of today’s casualty list, What Raj Patel and many others are involved in is the prototype for this New Paradigm. It is not a “fix”…but a complete makeover…from the inside out. The problem is (and has been) SYSTEMIC, so every human on the planet must now use their creativity in the best way possible to co-operate in order to create a workable solution, while stopping ALL support for the old dysfunction so that it can die on the vine as soon as possible.

In these days of intense stress and fear, at the same time, a great AWAKENING is occurring–all over the planet.

All the many elements of this dysfunction are acting as a CATALYST to produce genuine soul-searching and the exercise of reasonable mental logic not locked into vain traditions.

So, there is great cause for great hope.

namaste

I love the points you make — though I was a little surprised you didn’t engage on the idea of Avatar as imperialist apologia, ably touched upon (surprisingly!) by David Brooks, among others. I think it’s a movie with multiple valences, intentional and un-, but I felt overwhelmed by the “lone white savior saves natives from the evils of his own people.” Also, the idea of a native people defined almost entirely by their harmony with nature, rather than the more complicated, if often still sustainable, relationships many advanced First Nations had/have was a little irksome; certainly I wasn’t expecting a critical re-construction of what we might call The Sustainable Unsavage, but it would’ve been nice if there was something to their personality/culture beyond “harmonious/warriors.”

Am I just too curmudgeonly in my insistence on emphasizing these points?

I still find Avatar a definitely thought-provoking movie.
And a beautiful one, with all the fantastic plants and animals and landscape, the wonderful music, and last but not least the touching (although not new) story. (And I don’t only mean the “Pocahontas” story.)

What troubles me is that in the end the “peaceful” Na’vi are using the same methods as the RDA. Do we really think we could gain peace by using violence?

Besides, I was a little horrified by the esoteric “Eywa” stuff.
I’m glad my God is no tree.

Personally I liked the storyline and its obvious political message. But even if you thought it was a tired re-hashing of the Pocahontas story, or an overly political piece on environmentalism, you have to admit that there was still beauty in it.

I’m always aware that I am missing something. and that no matter how happy I am there is always a sadness that I carry within me. I have become aware that this feeling is connected to a bigger collective sadness that we all share. I believe it comes from a poverty of spirit that is prevalent in the West as a byproduct of modern life. All around me I see people having babies but not cherishing them, people in relationships that don’t even love each other, people buying toxic plastic stuff to be thrown away a short time later to be immediately replaced with more junk. We live in a throw away society where the step from not respecting our natural resources, our planet and our animals to not respecting human lives has taken place.

Watching the Na’vi connect with each other in the scene where they accept Jake into their tribe made me more keenly aware of that sadness inside of me because it visually depicted what I feel I am missing. The whole community surround Jake and join themselves together in what looks like a beautiful sacred Mandala form when the camera pans out. Dis-connection to each other and to our Earth is like being taken off life support, we are slowly siphoning ourselves off from our most vital source of nourishment which is love. The fact that we live in a world of plenty but each day we are letting 13,000 people die of starvation is a testament to this. Would or could the Na’vi ever let this happen? I think not.

I am heartened by movies like Avatar because I think it reminds us of what we have lost and therefore kindles a hope in each of us that we can regain it. Like the ever wise Mr. Patel puts it, “there is always space for resistance.”

I would hope that this resistance be against the destruction of our human family and the creation of a world where we are so connected to each other once again that we heal each others sadness and create a world where we are all safe, fed, housed, clothed, educated, happy and cherished.

Viva la resistance!

I do think though that the debate about the film speaks volumes about the ethical bias that many people live under. Yes the story is simple and blunt, yet still many still don’t get it.

That’s why I expect when Peak Oil and Climate Change kick in, instead of cooperating people will instead gang together and blame the outsider.