Monday, December 18^th, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

MOVIES AT CHRISTMAS TIME!

 

I don't know about you, but I'm a real movie buff.  I have always really liked going to the movies.  My love for the big screen started all the way back to the 1940s where every Saturday morning I was at the local theater watching Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, the Lone Ranger, and I host of Disney cartoons.  My fascination with the biggest screen has not wavered.  I’ll pass on the various tv movie streaming services if there is a first-rate film showing on the big screen.

 

My father-in-law at one time before his death owned most of the small-town movie theaters throughout Louisiana. I guess I’ve watched films from Natchitoches down to Hammond, and all across south Louisiana. There is nothing as enjoyable as buying a bag box of popcorn with a super-size drink, and maybe a candy bar along the way.  This is particularly true when the holidays roll around.

 

I have two favorite Christmas movies. The first is “Love Actually,” a film that has been projected on movie screens every holiday season for the past 20 years.  Yes, it’s a lively Christmas story, but not the traditional “Hallmark happy holiday” kind.  It’s a holiday laugh and cry fest that deals with real life issues. It’s a film where each of us can find some plotline or character that we can relate to. There is love, but there’s also disappointment. The music is first rate with a variety of great upbeat songs, that of course includes “All I want for Christmas is You.” The film is worth the price of admission just to watch British actor Hugh Grant portray the British Prime Minister as he dances down the stairs at 10 Downing St. to pursue a new girlfriend.

 

The second on my list is the movie version of Charles Dickens “a Christmas Carol.” Not one of the more recent versions, but the 1938 film in black-and-white.

Most of us have seen this poignant Christmas story filled with an array of colorful characters like Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present, and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  But the real lessons of the spirit that emanate from this special time of year come, not from miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, but from his dead partner, Jacob Marley.  While alive, Marley failed to help others, and in death he is damned to the agony of recognizing the pain and suffering of others, and being unable to help in anyway, and this is his special hell.

My attorney friend Eric Duplantis, who practices law and writes in the small town of Franklin, Louisiana, puts it this way: “In life, Marley’s worst sin was not his venality, but his indifference.  After death he realizes this.  But it’s too late.  Death gave him compassion, but his sentence for a lifetime of indifference is an inability to act on the compassion he feels.”

Marley is given a single opportunity to do a good act, after which he must return to his Hell.  The ghost gives Scrooge the greatest gift of all.  Marley gives Scrooge the chance of redemption.  The message here from Dickens is that even someone as lost as Ebenezer Scrooge can be saved if he seizes this one-time gift of a second chance.

Here’s hoping that the coming year brings you the opportunity of a second chance if you feel you need one. We all generally do. But whether you do or you don’t, may you and your family have a blessed and healthy holiday season and a very happy New Year.  As Tiny Tim said in “The Christmas Carol,” God bless us everyone.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.  You can also listen to his weekly podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK BANNING IN LOUISIANA!

Monday, December 11^th, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

BOOK BANNING IN LOUISIANA!

 

     Is there a widespread effort here in Louisiana to band certain books?  As many of you know, I published books, and am an avid reader.  In all my years living here in the Bayou state, I can’t remember any effort to control what books are available in our local libraries. But this has now changed.

 

     Other states have jumped into the book banning business.  Did you know that the popular book, “All the King’s Men “has been banned in Texas?  If you have not read it, you’ve missed quite a story based loosely on the life of Governor Huey Long. It was written by Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989), who was named USA’s first poet laureate in 1986. Warren was also an LSU professor and won a Pulitzer prize for his popular novel.  Dallas libraries banned this marvelous book because it’s supposedly contained a “depressive view of life” and “immoral situations.”  I just wish instead of banning the book, more people would read it.

 

     The most banned book worldwide in recent years is George Orwell’s “1984.”  Orwell wrote about government controlling our daily lives. This has been called the most definitive novel of the 20^th century, has sold millions of copies and has been translated into 65 languages.  Orwell wrote about the thought police and created the phase “Big brother is watching you.” He was a perceptive guy about what happens today with mass surveillance and what many of us feel is governmental overreach. But the book just did not set well with many totalitarian governments throughout the world.

 

     You might be surprised at other books banned in libraries throughout the United States that include “To kill a Mockingbird,” “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “The Catcher in the Rye,” and “The Color Purple” just to list a few classics. There are several lawsuits challenging the right of local governments with library boards to ban certain books, and these cases are heading to the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

     So what’s the current status on banning books in Louisiana?  The legislature just this past summer passed a new law restricting access by minors to books that are defined as sexually explicit. Governor Edwards signed the law under protest by many libraries and free speech advocates.  The new law was strongly supported by Louisiana’s new governor, Jeff Landry.  Conservative activists throughout the state pushed for this legislation. 

 

     Here's what the new law entails. Each library in the state will now be required to set up a card system so that parents can list restrictions on what their child can check out. Library boards in each parish will make the final decision on what books will be made available and to who can or cannot check out a book. Pretty Orwellian if you ask me. I wish more of our kids were reading books instead of being restricted on what they can read. 

     If you believe that government serves us best at the local level, and think that citizens should have a direct say on how they raise their children, then it’s hard to oppose the new system in place. You can’t have it both ways. A state government cannot determine what an individual can or cannot read, and turn around and say, “Oh, we definitely want to have local government with full input from parents make this decision.”

     I personally would like to feel that I’ve raised my children in a way that they will use common sense on what books to read. Sure I would oversee just what young kids in my family are reading. But I do not like the thought that Big Brother is making these decisions.

     On the other hand, I don’t want someone from either the state or federal government intervening. We elect police juries and mayors in our state, and trust them to make the right decision. If they do not, then we vote them out of office. I’m OK with some restrictions that are placed on what young people can read. Perhaps putting books that are determined to be inappropriate in a separate section.

      But parents need to take the responsibility to monitor what their children are reading, just as they should be monitoring their child’s social media. The responsibility for any restrictions should begin right at home.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com. You can also listen to his regular podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

 

 

 

EFENDING OUR HOLIDAYS YEAR-ROUND!

December 4^th, 2023

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

DEFENDING OUR HOLIDAYS YEAR-ROUND!

 

This should be my favorite time of year.  The special season beginning at Thanksgiving and extending through the Christmas holidays. But there are disturbing signs of change and not for the better, as a movement continues to grow disparaging our holidays as not being politically correct. This crusade started a few years back as we obliterated our monuments in America, and decimated so many early political leaders who created the world’s unique democratic way of governing.  Now we are seeing an effort to eradicate our national holidays that are a significant part of our history and national identity.

 

Thanksgiving was always a time for family gatherings to reconnect and bless our highlights of the past year. In our family, we always take a few moments to remember the “first Thanksgiving” that was celebrated in 1621. In that gathering, 53 pilgrims from the Mayflower joined 90 native American Indians to share a meal together.  Now that’s all passe. Today, we are supposed to recognize white supremacy, colonization, and the abuse of those Indians.  We no longer can just observe a good family meal. Now we have to be multiculturally sensitive.

 

And don’t go wishing friends a “Merry Christmas.” This special time of year, when we use to look forward to decorated evergreens and carolers singing Christmas songs, has been superseded by shop till you drop in overcrowded malls and unbridled commercialism. Our schools have taken Christ out of Christmas, and relegated this special holiday to putting up nondescript decorations, and avoiding at all costs of making any reference to religion.

 

Did you know that Christmas has been completely canceled in Bethlehem? The small village where Christ was born is controlled by Palestinian Christians, and located in the West Bank of Israel. No festivities this year as a way of showing complete support for Palestinians living in Gaza. Politics simply pushed religion aside.

 

Other holidays are on the chopping block. Easter, that celebrates the resurrection of Christ, has been all but diminished, and is now the time for spring breaks and holiday travel.

 

Washington’s birthday? No longer. It’s been amalgamated into Presidents’ Day, but this day is now under attack because five of the first six presidents were slaveholders. Forget the fact that these leaders created an amazing system of governing that has served as a beacon for new democracies all over the world.  We are now supposed to hold them hostile to today’s standards, ignoring the surroundings where and when they lived several hundred years ago.

 

Columbus Day? What a great annual celebration for Italians all across the country. Outside of Mardi Gras, there’s no better parade in the nation than the New York Columbus Day celebration. I attended the parade at the invitation of a close Italian friend some years back. He wrangled me VIP tickets in the bleachers as the parade passed by. Pavarotti sat right in front of me, and, would you believe, Sophia, Lauren set behind me. I was mesmerized as I cheered on the Italian celebration.  Now in many cities, Columbus Day celebrations are banned because Old Christopher was a little rough on some natives when he discovered the New World.

 

Independence Day? You would be hard-pressed to find someone under 40 who has the slightest idea what is being a celebrated. For that matter, the same goes for Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Few Americans even know the difference between the two.  (Memorial Day is to remember those who lost their lives serving our country in the military, while Veterans Day is to remember all who served.)

 

These holidays should not be simply an excuse to take the day off or spend money. Instead of current efforts to degrade patriotism, our country will be better served if we honor these traditional and religious holidays. Our nation grows stronger by honoring our past. That’s a great message to share during this holiday season.

 

Peace and Justice

 

Jim Brown