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“Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

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Re: “Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

#211

Post by strongai »

roryisok wrote: post #143

Whatever you might argue about it's prescience, Children of Men is one of the best films of the last decade. The writing, directing and acting are all stellar. It has some of the best single take shots ever filmed. There's a 20 minute running street battle at the end with tanks and explosions that is shot in a single take. It's also one of those rare occasions where the movie is far better than the original book. Boo…

Disagree. I thought it was always fighting a low budget, and for me, it never rose beyond the level of a poor mini series. Clive Owen was not good either - he has no real talent.

Re: “Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

#213

Post by iiiggglll »

SmokyBourbon wrote: post #69
iiiggglll wrote: post #59

> The one aspect of the film that doesn’t seem to be coming true is its central premise. The idea is that no human beings have been born in the last 18 years, so when Theo meets Kee, an African woman who is miraculously pregnant, he has to protect her from the various groups who want to exploit her condition. Obviously, we know that this infertility pandemic hasn’t happened: in Children of Men, the youngest person on…

The fact is overpopulation isn't an issue, it's a myth. World population is decellerating at a rapid pace and will begin decreasing within decades. It's painfully obvious to anybody who looks at the numbers. But science fiction has convinced everyone otherwise. Just look at all the countries with programs trying to entice their citizens to start families and make babies. Governments know its going to be a catastrophe…

No argument with any of that, but I think that the theme of the movie in question was merely using a population crash as a proxy to explore what happens to society when it has lost all hope for the future. I don't believe it was actually trying make any statements in particular regarding risks around population growth (or decline).

Re: “Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

#214

Post by codetwelve »

smallgovt wrote: post #204
ferdythebull wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shame on you. I've experienced "first-world poverty", and it sucks. The solution isn't to plug our privileged tech worker ears and pretend "the poors" don't exist. The solution is to get involved with our communities, by helping the old man at the convenience store, helping the wheelchair man up the curb, and talking to the homeless who spend their entire day on the sidewalk getting ignored by everyone caught up in t…

I find this comment extremely distasteful. Who are you to "shame" another person? He's justified to his own opinion and even if his opinion is damaging, he wasn't trying to force it on anyone else. He asked two questions that are fair and thought-provoking. Starting and ending your comment in the way you did is almost guaranteed to invoke a negative, defensive reaction from the commenter which will only further drive…

The person you're defending is the one trying to shame, just not directly saying it.

Re: “Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

#215

Post by fredsir »

lacampbell wrote: post #206
fredsir wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be dangerous if everybody not poor wanted nothing to do with poor areas and poor people. All kinds of poverty counted. That is the direct route to segregated communities and cultures of poor and rich, as seen already many places, except that right now, in 2016, most know that there is "lesser" communities and cultures next to theirs, having experienced them themself. If the fortunate communities would shield…

I would love to be in a position where I could have nothing to do with (western) poor areas and poor people. Why would I want to be in areas with high incidences of domestic violence, crystal meth abuse, alcohol abuse, muggings, sexual assault, dog-baiting, and low education? I can't change anything. I can't help them. It's not my responsibility. I'm out and I want to put as much distance between myself and that as p…

You are lying to yourself if you think you can't do anything about it. You can change anything if you try enough. There's only people in your way. Choose the red pill and you'll see.

Re: “Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

#216

Post by fredsir »

sheepmullet wrote: post #144
fredsir wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be dangerous if everybody not poor wanted nothing to do with poor areas and poor people. All kinds of poverty counted. That is the direct route to segregated communities and cultures of poor and rich, as seen already many places, except that right now, in 2016, most know that there is "lesser" communities and cultures next to theirs, having experienced them themself. If the fortunate communities would shield…

I don't think that's a natural outcome at all. I think wealthy "first worlders" tend to be very "aware" of poverty and want to make a difference despite being quite far removed from it. On the other hand in countries with serious poverty where the middle class live in the same communities as those in desperate poverty there is a lot less focus and sympathy.

Have you ever been to USA? Ever been to Washington DC? You'd think at least the people in the White House would do something about their capital city, but no, not even that. It's littered with poor people everywhere. Even more the rest of the USA. It's a frightening shit show over there. Even more since the election of course, and that is no matter who would have won. Both were horrible candidates. Shit show indeed.

Re: “Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

#217

Post by m_fayer »

Decade wrote: post #208
m_fayer wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up poor/working class and spent a lot of my youth in the nastier parts of Queens and the Bronx in the mid 90s. And I absolutely would! One reason is that my background gives me a realistic (as opposed to hysterical) view of the suffering and danger in these areas. I'm not deathly afraid to get mugged, and if it happens to me yet again it's not the end of the world. And I can see past the grimy streets and home…

On Nextdoor this week, I saw that people are raising funds to pay for dental surgery for a woman who was mugged while walking in Mission Terrace, San Francisco. And that’s not an especially bad neighborhood. https://www.youcaring.com/valeriesgoodguys

Are you implying that I'm being flippant about the trauma and suffering caused by muggings? If so, I can see how my comment could be read that way - I wrote too quickly, this was not my intention.

Re: “Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

#218

Post by smallgovt »

codetwelve wrote: post #202
lacampbell wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious, have you experienced poverty? I mean "first world poverty", like the kind you bus drives through? I have, and I want nothing to do with it. I certainly wouldn't choose to walk through it again. Have you stopped to consider you're being a bit of a slum tourist, or maybe you have a saviour complex?

I think that you should really assess your own inner self. Your thoughts, your feelings and why you react this way to someone helping others out. Do you at all refer to yourself as cynical? You probably do, and it's usually rooted in something in your past. Hoping for something that never came to fruition. We all have to deal with that but some is way more traumatic and permanent (without even realizing it is at the…

I disagree that the original commenter is a likely cynic.

I think the most likely belief set here is that it's possible for any poor person to escape poverty through hard work and tenacity. This belief (though arguably incorrect) is supported by his personal experience. Furthermore, because he's proud of his struggle and achievement, the idea of someone 'pitying' or feeling 'guilt' for someone in his former position is detestable because it suggests that they think they're better than him.

In this light, he is not a cynic. Rather, in a sense, he is an extreme optimist and someone who is very proud of where he came from.

This is ALL speculation. My main point is that we should remain open minded in discussion and not make moral judgements on others when they are unsubstantiated (e.g. you "should really" assess your own inner self) i.e. i really think something is fundamentally wrong with you.

Re: “Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

#219

Post by smallgovt »

codetwelve wrote: post #214
smallgovt wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this comment extremely distasteful. Who are you to "shame" another person? He's justified to his own opinion and even if his opinion is damaging, he wasn't trying to force it on anyone else. He asked two questions that are fair and thought-provoking. Starting and ending your comment in the way you did is almost guaranteed to invoke a negative, defensive reaction from the commenter which will only further drive…

The person you're defending is the one trying to shame, just not directly saying it.

You are using your own interpretation of his comment to make a moral judgement on his character.

Based on what we know, it's possible that he simply believes any poor person can escape poverty through hard work and tenacity. This belief (though arguably incorrect) is supported by his personal experience. And, the idea of someone 'pitying' or feeling 'guilt' for someone in his former position is detestable because it suggests that they think they're better than him.

I want to make it clear that I don't agree with this perspective, and don't believe it's constructive. However, I don't believe we need to be publicly shaming people when we can be having constructive conversation. Instead, I think we should be trying to understand where people are coming from, and discussing ideas openly. A person's character really has no place in a discussion of ideas.

Re: “Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar

#220

Post by [deleted] »

icebraining wrote: post #187
witty_username wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HTTPS stops interception. But, sneakernets are relevant because the internet is slower.

HTTPS stops interception. Even if you have perfect faith that it's currently impossible to crack TLS (and you probably shouldn't), they might record the stream and crack it in the future, having tools you can't even imagine currently.

[deleted]
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