Both Ways

My TV time this weekend was dedicated to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8—yes, my twice alma mater, UCONN, has returned to the Final 4 with four outstanding tournament wins after 9 years in the Wilderness ... and our local university, FAU, is in the Final 4 for the first time in its history. Wow!

After the games, I got an email from Netflix touting a limited series, The Night Agent, and decided, against my better judgement, to give it a watch on Sunday night. I binged a few episodes. 

What can I say—the show was a government-conspiracy, action adventure with a formulaic story arc, appropriately evil antagonists and lovable heroes, mediocre writing and acting, and all the necessary elements that will make it a trending hit.

Hollywood being Hollywood, there were the necessary DEI elements integrated within the casting and script. Fine, no problem there. But one thing always amazes me as Hollywood writers promote a left-leaning narrative. Their political ideology implies that a centralized government with near unlimited power can and should provide for our needs, control and/or censor any view that opposes the preferred narrative, and strive for "equity" of outcomes so that we achieve "fairness" in life. The amazing part is that they write scripts (think: the Bourne franchise) in which that same government is characterized as oppressive, violent, censorious, and malevolent.

In a blog post on the differences between equity and equality, "Professor Ornery" writes:

When dealing with the government, you should always assume that whether by design, malice, incompetence, or simply boredom, the worst outcome will be the most likely.

Finally, ask yourself why do all these people calling for government enforced equity and filled with assurances that government will make everything better, at the same time turn around and blame government for all their own ills and bad decisions? Why would anybody assume or argue that the same entity (filled with the same people) simultaneously deliberately causes, and then lovingly repairs, all problems in society? And why do you trust them to do so?

I suggest remembering two, supposedly trite, but worthwhile, phrases to live by.

The first is: Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

The second is: The nine most frightening words in the English language are: "I’m from the government and I’m here to help."

I'm not sure that Hollywood writers understand the profound conflict between their preferred political ideology and the stories that they write. They should remember that here is a third, admittedly trite, but worthwhile, phrase to live by: "You can't have it both ways."

UPDATE (03-28-2023):

In a loosely related story that goes to the quote: "When dealing with the government, you should always assume that whether by design, malice, incompetence, or simply boredom, the worst outcome will be the most likely," the Wall Street Journal reports that journalist Matt Taibbi got an unannounced visit from an IRS agent (think: the increasing weaponization of government agencies under Democrat rule) on the day he was set to testify on his findings that other government agencies tried to censor social media stories that ran against the Democrat narrative. This outrageous government attempt at intimidation (think: Lois Lerner of the IRS under Barack Obama) is becoming all too common. It must stop!

BTW, wasn't it Joe Biden who insisted on an additional $80 billion in additional funding for the IRS. Looks like they're using the money well—if you're a partisan big government fanboy.