Landsakes this is a good piece here and it speaks ta me true and clear.
One'a my favorite films too--and indeed SO timely--we Moses's wartched it last year as films like this are ESSENTIAL remedies to the plandemic down-on-America blues. They shine in SPITE of what we know--of what Capra knew (quite a lot Ill bet!). Brilliant ensemble actin' aside (THAT alone has me grinnin' like a droolin' fool jack-o-lantern cuz it's THAT good and eat-able to wartch!). But as ya know Mary, you kin have a gimlet eye for the truth, see the ugly underbelly (the value of Dr. Strangelove or Manchurian Candidate or Network) AND YET... yet LOVE what is also an equally prevailing truth--that "dang I'm'a gonna do it" American Spirit, the belief that humans DO have good in 'em even if they have to bring it up from the lost corners of Scrooge-like amnesia (Paine...i.e pain), and that against all odds--the UNDERDOG can WIN.
One other thing I like 'bout Smith--is that it's NOT the career experts (ex-spurts! git yer ex-spurts! trust the ex-spurts...) that SAVE US. It's the folks comin' from left field--from WAYyyyyy outta their wheelhouse who have NOT been pre-cannibalized and indoctrinated by the system; it's these unpolished outliers that really become our heroes--voir Smith, a rube in short pants, green, stammerin', hopeful and able to think outta the box cuz he ain't been in it yet! HONEST patriotic Boy Scout leaders may indeed make better polly-tisch-ins than those who spent their whole dang lives steepin' in citified politi-cull swamp water. Is this not why SO many non-doctors make up some of the best / wisest medical voices and newly minted journalists speakin' out against the jabs and the mandates an' all?
In a way we are ALL Smiths and village smithies! poundin' out our thoughts, usin' Substack as our bellows, makin' new tools cuz the old ones rusted out and the known ones wouldn't recognize most've us. (An' thank ya so kindly Mary for includin' me among the alt. "journalists"--it's an honor! You're in there too!--theater folks denied the boards, pickin' up pencils!) While there are some right-fielders who were well-steeped experts but left the toxic brew (Yeadon, Zelenko, McCullough, Kory, etc) here, I'm thinkin' of all the left-fielders, not unlike Smith, who brought fresh-faced non-medical insight to the fore and heretofore untapped skills into their writin' and speakin' making them FAR better voices in journalism AND in health info perspective than all "them expurts" together!
To name just a few well-knowners--randomly listed here...there's Steve Kirsch (invented the optical mouse!), there's Naomi Wolf (who majored in poetry and worked on speeches for the Clinton admin), there's Ed Dowd (ex-banker and financial numbers guy), ya got Amazing Polly (a brilliant info detective if ever there was), there's Mark Crispin Miller (a "banned" media studies professor), Mel K (a former film actress), there's RFK Jr (environmental lawyer) and Katherine Watt (a legal /para-legal scholar--and another citizen detective), Sascha Latypova (medical researcher and fine art painter) and then there's REALLY left fielders like Stew Peters who was a bounty hunter and rap artist BEFORE he found his voice and created his show. I mean DANG (whether you like the guy or not--he's had BRILLIANT shows and has done amazin' interviews). This is just the tip of an iceberg but sayin' there that some of the finest insights and help come from newbies to the lion's den--SMITHS! The risks are similar too--gettin' banned, censored, struck down, lied about... We too write as if this is OUR filibuster!
And also, today the woke-i-fried pundits are sayin' that bein' resilient is "racist" not because it "is" but to take us down--to take America down by convincin' folks that they are too fragile, too weak, too lame to fight--in the name of being brittle, breakable, easily destroyed. It's SO blatant, though some folks are too bone-headed ta see it. But the American spirit--as embodied in Mr Smith--IS all about bein' resilient. He keeps comin' back like an EverReady Bunny! Like a Timex (takes a lickin' keeps on tickin'!) That's yet another reason to love this film--it IS about resilience and those who get on board to prop it up (like Saunders).
It's no coincidence that OLD Hollywood ('fore it was Hollyweird) is bein' erased just like much of America's history (warts and all). Movies that seem too gung-ho American run counter to the Soros "bring it down" narrative. Instead they bring on dystopian hopeless AI bullcrap (mostly at least). So yup, some think this WONDERFUL movie is cornball but why? Are they bein' groomed (literally) to dismiss what I surely would call a masterpiece as uncool? Dated? What the heck is wrong with Norman Rockwell? (I love that stuff, genuinely! I can love Dali....and Rockwell, Capra AND Kubrick). Git them arbitrary arbi-turds 'a taste outta the room. This movie is GREAT. And ya know what....another one of my FAVORITE films is even more cornball flag-wavin' and PURE JOY. It's Yankee Doodle Dandy--and though I like the first 3/4's the best (and know full well they left out Cohan's first wife entirely!), I STILL get teary-eyed wartchin' a (playin' old) Jimmy Cagney tap his big-hearted way up the White House stairs to meet FDR. (FDR, philanderer, socialist, gold stealer... yup, that guy...) And still the American Dream flies high like the flags. Because the TRUTH of the American Spirit--just like your son and you finding this anew in different ways Mary--IS about American Dreams and holdin' 'em high there in spite of what we know, of what Smith knew.
And I loved the story about yer friend there... And THIS is why we need our BRAINS to navigate--GPS (digital) will not save ya. May we ALL catch our flights--every kind--includin' the soarin' ones we thought we lost. Callin' all the Mr Smith among us--complimentary soap boxes available in Left Field--take one while ya can!
This essay breathes hope, Mary. Forgive me for cheating-- I’ve never seen the movie but I read through the spoilers anyway. I resonate with the sentiments. I agree we sometimes fight harder when the causes are lost.
I agree with Steven, your prose is so cohesive. You weave your point like a master seamstress. Thank you for including me in your list of stackers. The feeling is mutual. Grateful to have stumbled on you out here in the stackverse. 🤗
Just had to say how much I enjoyed reading this, and I did so for two reasons.
1) Your prose is so clear and cohesive, the reader effortlessly glides through a deceptively long post.
2) I resonate with your values and honesty regarding even the bluntest expressions of Platonic ideals. I also prefer those Wizards of Oz, dead poets, Casablancas, and the killing of mockingbirds over 'high' art — which as often as not, dazzles with technique to either compensate for a lack of the best in humanity, or for incentives and agendas other than inspiration.
For style and content, saving this one to read again.
Mary that was just beautiful! Genuinely inspired and woven to perfection. I'm honored you included me in your list of stackers. So appreciative of your clear, sane, uplifting and intelligent voice.💞 Such a talent!
Aw Mary, lot's've XOs back to ya--glad my com-mints rang true fer ya--yup, there is SO much in that durned good movie--so much in humanity that Capra embraced and hugged us back with. So go ENJOY the amazin' Yankee Doodle Dandy (git out'cher tap shoes!). Cagney is just THE BEANS he's so good -- but it's a marvelous cast too (Walter Huston is 'specially dear...) This is what we've been fightin' for all along, right? THIS America ... and even knowin' 'bout the (dirty!) rats in the sewers underneath all our sensible (then) shoes, even knowin' 'bout Operations Paperclip an' Mockinbird an' so many others--what we had (even if was a stage set) seemed strong and sturdy an' (to quote-eth another great Jimmy Stewart flick... ) yar! Lady Liberty...yar too!
As a Canadian, thank you, I really enjoyed this. Trust me I get the whole soul crushing realization that my government is pure GARBAGE. Definitely watching Mr. Smith now.
Landsakes this is a good piece here and it speaks ta me true and clear.
One'a my favorite films too--and indeed SO timely--we Moses's wartched it last year as films like this are ESSENTIAL remedies to the plandemic down-on-America blues. They shine in SPITE of what we know--of what Capra knew (quite a lot Ill bet!). Brilliant ensemble actin' aside (THAT alone has me grinnin' like a droolin' fool jack-o-lantern cuz it's THAT good and eat-able to wartch!). But as ya know Mary, you kin have a gimlet eye for the truth, see the ugly underbelly (the value of Dr. Strangelove or Manchurian Candidate or Network) AND YET... yet LOVE what is also an equally prevailing truth--that "dang I'm'a gonna do it" American Spirit, the belief that humans DO have good in 'em even if they have to bring it up from the lost corners of Scrooge-like amnesia (Paine...i.e pain), and that against all odds--the UNDERDOG can WIN.
One other thing I like 'bout Smith--is that it's NOT the career experts (ex-spurts! git yer ex-spurts! trust the ex-spurts...) that SAVE US. It's the folks comin' from left field--from WAYyyyyy outta their wheelhouse who have NOT been pre-cannibalized and indoctrinated by the system; it's these unpolished outliers that really become our heroes--voir Smith, a rube in short pants, green, stammerin', hopeful and able to think outta the box cuz he ain't been in it yet! HONEST patriotic Boy Scout leaders may indeed make better polly-tisch-ins than those who spent their whole dang lives steepin' in citified politi-cull swamp water. Is this not why SO many non-doctors make up some of the best / wisest medical voices and newly minted journalists speakin' out against the jabs and the mandates an' all?
In a way we are ALL Smiths and village smithies! poundin' out our thoughts, usin' Substack as our bellows, makin' new tools cuz the old ones rusted out and the known ones wouldn't recognize most've us. (An' thank ya so kindly Mary for includin' me among the alt. "journalists"--it's an honor! You're in there too!--theater folks denied the boards, pickin' up pencils!) While there are some right-fielders who were well-steeped experts but left the toxic brew (Yeadon, Zelenko, McCullough, Kory, etc) here, I'm thinkin' of all the left-fielders, not unlike Smith, who brought fresh-faced non-medical insight to the fore and heretofore untapped skills into their writin' and speakin' making them FAR better voices in journalism AND in health info perspective than all "them expurts" together!
To name just a few well-knowners--randomly listed here...there's Steve Kirsch (invented the optical mouse!), there's Naomi Wolf (who majored in poetry and worked on speeches for the Clinton admin), there's Ed Dowd (ex-banker and financial numbers guy), ya got Amazing Polly (a brilliant info detective if ever there was), there's Mark Crispin Miller (a "banned" media studies professor), Mel K (a former film actress), there's RFK Jr (environmental lawyer) and Katherine Watt (a legal /para-legal scholar--and another citizen detective), Sascha Latypova (medical researcher and fine art painter) and then there's REALLY left fielders like Stew Peters who was a bounty hunter and rap artist BEFORE he found his voice and created his show. I mean DANG (whether you like the guy or not--he's had BRILLIANT shows and has done amazin' interviews). This is just the tip of an iceberg but sayin' there that some of the finest insights and help come from newbies to the lion's den--SMITHS! The risks are similar too--gettin' banned, censored, struck down, lied about... We too write as if this is OUR filibuster!
And also, today the woke-i-fried pundits are sayin' that bein' resilient is "racist" not because it "is" but to take us down--to take America down by convincin' folks that they are too fragile, too weak, too lame to fight--in the name of being brittle, breakable, easily destroyed. It's SO blatant, though some folks are too bone-headed ta see it. But the American spirit--as embodied in Mr Smith--IS all about bein' resilient. He keeps comin' back like an EverReady Bunny! Like a Timex (takes a lickin' keeps on tickin'!) That's yet another reason to love this film--it IS about resilience and those who get on board to prop it up (like Saunders).
It's no coincidence that OLD Hollywood ('fore it was Hollyweird) is bein' erased just like much of America's history (warts and all). Movies that seem too gung-ho American run counter to the Soros "bring it down" narrative. Instead they bring on dystopian hopeless AI bullcrap (mostly at least). So yup, some think this WONDERFUL movie is cornball but why? Are they bein' groomed (literally) to dismiss what I surely would call a masterpiece as uncool? Dated? What the heck is wrong with Norman Rockwell? (I love that stuff, genuinely! I can love Dali....and Rockwell, Capra AND Kubrick). Git them arbitrary arbi-turds 'a taste outta the room. This movie is GREAT. And ya know what....another one of my FAVORITE films is even more cornball flag-wavin' and PURE JOY. It's Yankee Doodle Dandy--and though I like the first 3/4's the best (and know full well they left out Cohan's first wife entirely!), I STILL get teary-eyed wartchin' a (playin' old) Jimmy Cagney tap his big-hearted way up the White House stairs to meet FDR. (FDR, philanderer, socialist, gold stealer... yup, that guy...) And still the American Dream flies high like the flags. Because the TRUTH of the American Spirit--just like your son and you finding this anew in different ways Mary--IS about American Dreams and holdin' 'em high there in spite of what we know, of what Smith knew.
And I loved the story about yer friend there... And THIS is why we need our BRAINS to navigate--GPS (digital) will not save ya. May we ALL catch our flights--every kind--includin' the soarin' ones we thought we lost. Callin' all the Mr Smith among us--complimentary soap boxes available in Left Field--take one while ya can!
This essay breathes hope, Mary. Forgive me for cheating-- I’ve never seen the movie but I read through the spoilers anyway. I resonate with the sentiments. I agree we sometimes fight harder when the causes are lost.
I agree with Steven, your prose is so cohesive. You weave your point like a master seamstress. Thank you for including me in your list of stackers. The feeling is mutual. Grateful to have stumbled on you out here in the stackverse. 🤗
Loved this: “Truth is the bug in a system, any kind of system. It’s powerful, and it can bring down the whole shootin’ match.”
Indeed 💜
Wow! For now I'll just say that you are inspiring and moving.
I might come back later and articulate a bit more about how and why...
Hello Mary,
Just had to say how much I enjoyed reading this, and I did so for two reasons.
1) Your prose is so clear and cohesive, the reader effortlessly glides through a deceptively long post.
2) I resonate with your values and honesty regarding even the bluntest expressions of Platonic ideals. I also prefer those Wizards of Oz, dead poets, Casablancas, and the killing of mockingbirds over 'high' art — which as often as not, dazzles with technique to either compensate for a lack of the best in humanity, or for incentives and agendas other than inspiration.
For style and content, saving this one to read again.
Thanks again.
Cheers from Japan,
steve
Mary that was just beautiful! Genuinely inspired and woven to perfection. I'm honored you included me in your list of stackers. So appreciative of your clear, sane, uplifting and intelligent voice.💞 Such a talent!
Wow! you outdid yourself, Mary. I'm at a loss for words. You have a wonderful gift. Thank you for sharing it with us. YOU are "inspirare".
Aw Mary, lot's've XOs back to ya--glad my com-mints rang true fer ya--yup, there is SO much in that durned good movie--so much in humanity that Capra embraced and hugged us back with. So go ENJOY the amazin' Yankee Doodle Dandy (git out'cher tap shoes!). Cagney is just THE BEANS he's so good -- but it's a marvelous cast too (Walter Huston is 'specially dear...) This is what we've been fightin' for all along, right? THIS America ... and even knowin' 'bout the (dirty!) rats in the sewers underneath all our sensible (then) shoes, even knowin' 'bout Operations Paperclip an' Mockinbird an' so many others--what we had (even if was a stage set) seemed strong and sturdy an' (to quote-eth another great Jimmy Stewart flick... ) yar! Lady Liberty...yar too!
(now back ta bein'g a "laundry smith!")
As a Canadian, thank you, I really enjoyed this. Trust me I get the whole soul crushing realization that my government is pure GARBAGE. Definitely watching Mr. Smith now.
Just reading this again. It’s in my “inspiration”, saved articles queue. Hope. 🕯️ Reading this is the breath. ❤️