Quote of the Week...from Fictional Character John Mallory

Where there's confusion the man who knows what he wants stands a good chance of getting it.    

                                                                            ---John Mallory

The above quote is from the classic 1971 Sergio Leone "spaghetti western" movie A Fistful of Dynamite (alternate title Duck You Sucker), with James Coburn playing the Irish revolutionary explosives expert John Mallory, who made the above comment to his sidekick, Mexican bandit Juan Miranda (played by Rod Steiger).  Today the quote applies to how public opinion can be manipulated through both social and mass media with "alternative facts" and conspiracy theories, and how foreign adversaries like Russia are planting confusion and division within our society in this manner.  After all, if America is at war with itself over the simple notion of what is real, how effectively can it stand up to other countries who choose to challenge it?  It used to be that the political and social differences and disagreements among our population could be discussed between anyone, with a commonly-agreed-to set of facts forming the reality basis for the argument.  Nowadays, this side has its special facts and the other has theirs...I think one of the main problems is that many people have abandoned the traditional sources of information (the newspaper, the evening news) in favor of specialized Internet sites, Facebook and Twitter feeds, clearly agenda-driven "news" channels, and hearsay to get their information.  The sad truth is...and always has been...that those traditional news shows and newspapers have always had embedded bias within them. But one of the reasons we went to school is so that we could discern that bias and filter out the truth value of what others were expressing. Instead of recognizing this fact, though, and continuing to rely on these sources for their primary information, I see an increasing segment of our population abandoning this basic functioning of mature adulthood and instead latching onto media idols, automatically accepting whatever they say, no matter how ridiculous, and demonizing whomever they choose to demonize. I used to think that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter would provide effective forums for people to exchange their views with me on what I have posted on them. Well, I'm older and wiser now...the overwhelming majority of those old classmates...as well as contemporaries...never chose to interact with me on Facebook and I've become pretty intolerant (and correctly so) of those users who voluntarily allow themselves to be deluded by questionable information sources. This voluntary succumbing to disinformation, by the way, isn't just confined to those with conservative leanings.  Many on the political left stubbornly insist on their own narratives about the way things are, selectively including anecdotal events affirming them while rejecting or ignoring anything contradictory.  It's interesting in this time of very effective and...unlike in most of the world...universally-available and free COVID vaccines, both ends of the spectrum are engaged in wacko conspiracy theories that masses are following in refusing to get their vaccines...at least on the left (in general) those choosing against vaccination are still wearing masks to protect themselves... 

A Fistful of Dynamite is one of my all-favorite movies.  Being as self-indulgent as I am on this blog for listing my "favorites" of this and that, I'm working on a new weekly feature in which I review a movie that meant a lot to me...stay tuned...