Video update below- 11:52 EST:
“Entertainment Weekly's” online site, EW.com, is usually politics-free, but not this week. Who would have thought that EW's “Lost” blogger could inject a little Bush Derangement Syndrome into a review of the show's May 23 season finale? Somehow, writer Jeff Jensen managed to find a way (spoilers ahead).
In case you aren’t a “Lost” viewer, here’s what you need to know to help explain this article about the show's season closer entitled “Through The Looking Glass.” Ben, the leader of the Others, intercepted the retreating Losties to negotiate with their leader Jack. Three Losties stayed behind to attack the Others’ but were taken hostage in the process. Ben threatened to have them killed by their captors if Jack didn’t follow his demands. So, now that the scene is set up, here is the BDS in full glory (emphasis mine):
When Ben caught up with the castaways, he and Jack retreated to a quiet place for a superpower summit that played out like some Art of War scenario from hell. What came out of Ben's mouth was either a torrent of lies or some serious foreshadowing of next season's central conflict. He alleged that Naomi was not the woman she said she was but rather a representative of a group of people who've been trying to find the Island for a very long time, presumably for nefarious, exploitive reasons. These people, he claimed, were ''the bad guys,'' and bringing them to the Island would be very, very, very bad — for the Others, for the Castaways, and especially for the Island. Ben's deal: Naomi's satellite phone in exchange for Jin, Bernard, and Sayid, who could be heard yelling, ''Don't negotiate with terrorists!'' over the walkie-talkie as Ben laid out his proposal. Jack did the Bushy thing and refused. Ben ordered that the hostages be killed. Bang! Bang! Bang! Jack responded by beating Ben into a bloody pulp, an act of violence as terrifying as it was cathartic. Boy, did Ben deserve it. And boy, do I worry about the rage in Jack's heart, especially when he followed it up by swearing War on Terror vengeance on all the Others. His ultimate dream: humiliating Ben by making him watch as the castaways get rescued — then killing him. Heavy stuff. I wonder: Did George Bush have these kinds of daydreams about Saddam Hussein?
Actually, after seeing some of the footage used as testimony against Saddam in his trial, shouldn’t the question be, “Who didn’t have these kinds of daydreams?” Of course, that wouldn’t let the Lefties have a self-satisfied communal smirk while reading this.
In a way, Jensen made an appropriate comparison of the Others to terrorists and Saddam. All have lied on a regular basis and have played tricks to get what they want (plus Saddam and the Others have a fondness for gassing to death entire villages). Now all of the sudden, Jack/Bush is just supposed to believe them? Well, since it is TV, of course. Unfortunately, it isn’t so easy in the real world, which is a reason why Bush tends not to publically negotiate with terrorists.
It also is interesting that Jensen criticized Jack (and Bush) for not negotiating, but it turned out that the terrorists were lying about their threat (surprise!) and just faked killing the hostages this time. If only the real terrorists were liars as well, but the dead soldiers and contractors who are tortured and then dumped like old tires indicate otherwise.
Entertainment websites are often a refuge from politics, but annoying and pointless politicizations on those like EW.com just make me wonder if they understand that their audience includes more than Blue Staters and Ron Paul.
*If you want to read a current article on EW.com concerning someone who doesn’t trivialize the War on Terror, read this Q&A with “Batman: The Dark Knight,” “Sin City” and “300” writer Frank Miller, whose opinion about the “spoiled brats” in America who refuse to acknowledge the threat from Islamists was featured here at LGF in January 2007. Listen to it all.
Update: YouTube video of the awesome Jack/ Ben smackdown. It explains a little more.
(hat tip to the very funny Jim Treacher at The Daily Gut)
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