Tolerating today

It was quite the day for tolerance, wasn't it? First we had John McCain on Ellen discussing his disapproval of same sex marriages, and then we had Spike Lee insulting Clint Eastwood for not representing black soldiers in his two Iwo Jima films.

Right off the bat, I'll admit that I like John McCain. I'm extremely disenfranchised by the whole two party system that our government utilizes (as I often say, it works in theory, but not in practice), and McCain is one of the few politicians that seems to think for himself, and doesn't necessarily toe the party line. Yes, I know a lot of people will probably argue against this assessment due to the fact that he so often identifies himself as a "conservative Republican" on the campaign trail (when he's really not), but I honestly feel like if he is elected President, he'll do what he thinks is right and best, and not what the party dictates.

That being said, I thought McCain was exceptionally respectful during the light hearted debate. Granted, Ellen kept the tone un-confrontational -- which I thought was very professional of her -- but I thought McCain handled an extremely sensitive matter with a lot of class and dignity. To her credit, Ellen articulated her points very eloquently, just as McCain said she did.

Here's my view on the whole same-sex marriage thing. It baffles me how we can live in a society where "God" and "government" cannot go within 100 yards of each other, yet we give the government power over a religious ceremony. Along with that, this religious ceremony offers benefits recognized by the government. This doesn't seem to mesh.

So, basically, I think that marriage should be a purely religious ceremony, where the church (or temple or what have you) has the sole authority to dictate who can get married. However, this marriage would only be in the eyes of God -- it would not come with any benefits. In order to get those benefits, you will ALSO have to get a civil union. Many politicians -- even those who fervently fight against same-sex marriages -- don't have an issue with civil unions, they just believe that marriage should be shared between a man and a woman. To me, it's just really, really backwards that we can't say a prayer in school, but the government can decide who can and can't get married. Doesn't make sense to me. It also absolutely baffles me how we can openly admit how foolish we were to not treat blacks and women with complete equality, yet we continue to deprive homosexuals of certain rights because of their sexual orientation.

And then there's Spike Lee.

I don't like him. I haven't ever since his positively ridiculous lawsuit against Spike TV. Yes, this man is so deluded and egotistical that he believed that the network was attempting to capitalize on his celebrity by changing their name to "Spike." I also loathe the fact that he plays the race card ALL the time. Well, not all the time, only when it benefits his race.

At the Cannes film festival, he attacked Clint Eastwood because he, according to Lee, overlooked the role of black soldiers during World War II. I will openly admit that I have not seen Letters from Iwo Jima or Flags of Our Fathers -- and I firmly believe that anybody who risked or sacrificed their life by serving their country should be recognized -- but it is my understanding that during World War II, the units were segregated. That means that if these films focused on one particular unit and they happen to be white, there simply wouldn't be any black soldiers in it.

And nevermind the fact that the film included a Native American character and several Japanese soldiers. It's STILL racist, because there isn't a black soldier.

It also seems a bit odd that Spike Lee would be making these comments years after the films have been released. Well wouldn't you know? It just so happens that he's about to release his own World War II film, soley devoted to a black division.

So it's racist for Clint Eastwood to unintentionally exclude black soldiers, but it's artistic for Spike Lee to intentionally make a film excluding white soldiers? Double standards are great, aren't they?