Braveheart and the Tea Party

it being Memorial Day weekend, i spent some time reflecting on our country, while watching war movies on AMC.  whilst channel flipping though, i happened upon one of my favorite not historically accurate but really fun exercise in blood spilling movies ever - Braveheart!  let me get this out of the way - i hate Mel Gibson and there is a certain part of me that cannot fully enjoy one of his movies because of the person he is.  Braveheart, however, still remains a great watch, no matter how much i dislike the man. 

as i was watching it this time though, some strange parallels were running through my head.  maybe it was all the talk about FREEDOM and PATRIOTS, but i couldn't help but think that today's Tea Party movement must somehow identify with this movie in a really special and epic way.  i could imagine that they sincerely identify with the Scottish rebels and admire how they stood up to a tyrannical government, how all they wanted was freedom and they would stop at nothing to get it.  i could see how they could conceivably attain inspiration through watching Braveheart, and i wondered if it's the kind of movie they must watch over and over. 

and apparently, i was right. 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/21/embracing-bravehea...

boy, i thought i had an original idea here, but original ideas are tough to come by in this information age.  the idea of the Tea Party embracing Braveheart has been discussed by some bloggers since at least December of last year.  i'm 6 months too late to be original i guess.  so close...

still i need to throw in my 2 cents here.  it seems as though the Tea Party sees Freedom as being completely eviscerated in America.  they are taking the role of modern rebels out to defeat the government.  the problem as i see it is that their vision of today's America is inaccurate.  the government, while not perfect by any stretch, is not in need of defeating.  reform, perhaps.  but they aren't looking to reform - reform requires compromise.  no, they have their own vision for what our government should look like and their goal is to achieve it.  in this, the Braveheart parallel comes to life.  of course, the Scottish rebels had a true tyrannical leader to oppose, and they had no country of their own.  this is not the case in America.  what the Tea Party seems to want is to overthrow the current government and replace it with their own version.  here the parallel dies.  their version of the Braveheart theme is a coup, not an effort to gain freedom. 

a Patriot is supposed to love its country.  if your goal is to change the country top to bottom, then you obviously don't love it.  now, i see an argument that if the country somehow runs afoul, or a fascist leader is elected, a true Patriot would fight against this.  i think this is where they feel emboldened.  they see Barack Obama as that tyrannical despot akin to King Edward Longshanks.  again, their comparison fails utterly.  but they seem desperate to make it so, facts be damned.  so they conjure up an image of a President that is counter to reality.  this is why the Birther thing is so rampant in Tea Party ideology.  it explains the comments on his Socialist/Communist agenda.  this gives them the right, nay, the DUTY as PATRIOTS to radically oppose this administration.  what would William Wallace do? 

it's sad, really, that such a movement exists, and sadder yet that they can use a silly but fun movie as a basis for their inspiration.  to be able to believe such a false analogy show serious problems with cognitive dissidence.  it shows a complete lack of logic, and likely a healthy dose of stupidity (or ignorance).  no wonder the Tea Party is full of religious nuts.  ignorance and religion, once again, go so well together. 

happy Memorial Day!