New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd really wants a national security system that looks really nice and has lots of fancy bells and whistles, but is, beneath the shiny exterior, quite mediocre and extremely expensive.
Dowd implied as much when she asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in a New Years Eve interview, "Why is it so hard for those charged with keeping us safe to be as imaginative and innovative as filmmakers like James Cameron?"
Yes, Cameron is so imaginative that he managed to spend $400 million on what amounts to a visually dazzling remake of Disney's Pocahontas (see plot summary below the fold - h/t Big Hollywood).
Disney'sJames Cameron's
PocahontasAvatar
In16072154, a ship carrying Johnake Smithully arrives in the lush "new world" ofNorth AmericaPandora. The settlers are mining forgoldunobtanium, under supervision ofGovernor RatcliffeColonel Quaritch.John SmithJake Sully begins exploring the new territory, and encountersPocahontasNeytiri. Initially she is distrustful of him, but a message fromGrandmother Willowthe Tree of Souls helps her overcome her trepidation. The two begin spending time together.PocahontasNeytiri helpsJohnJake understand that all life is valuable, and how all nature is a connected circle of life. Furthermore she teaches him how to hunt,grow cropstame dragons, and of her culture. We find that her father is ChiefPowhatanEytukan, and that she is set to me barried toKocoumTsu'tey, a great warrior, but a serious man, whomPocahontasNeytiri does not desire. Over time,JohnJake andPocahontasNeytiri find they have a love for each other. Back at the settlement, the men, who believe the natives are savages, plan to attack the natives for theirgoldunobtanium;KocoumTsu'tey tries to killJohnJake out of jealousy, but he is later killed by the settlers. As the settlers prepare to attack,JohnJake is blamed by theIndiansNa'vi, and is sentanced to death. Just before they kill him, the settlers arrive. ChiefPowhatanEytukan isnearlykilled andJohnJake sustains injuries fromGovernor RatcliffeColonel Quartich, who is thenbrought to justiceshot with arrows.PocahontasNeytiri risks her life to saveJohnJake.JohnJake andPocahontasNeytiri finally have each other, and the two cultures resolve their differences.
If DHS spent an ungodly sum of money on a security system that looked all fancy and high-tech but was really just the same old (dysfunctional) system we had had for years--the same way Avatar is the same old batch of Hollywood's hate-the-white-man cliches--would we really be better off? Dowd seems to think so. I am not so sure.