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Priveleged Americans Asshats Don't See Who the Real Villain Is

posted 8 years ago by Innsmouth
35 replies | jump to latest

You know, very entertaining, well-made movie, but the moralistic (or lack thereof) presentation of the American "good guy vs bad guy" mindset is laughable and insanely ignorant at best.

Yes, thank you Americanos, we know war and drugs and violence and crime gangs is complicated business. We know it's very grey area, we know sometimes you have to do extreme things to fight evil people.

But there is a very straight-forward and clear reason for why a good deal of the world is F'ed up. And it's not found in a Mexican tunnel. It's found on Wall Street. In the heartland of American globalism, that exploits and sucks dry third world countries, and builds its pyramids of money and privilege. Newsflash: no matter how many drug lords you kill, you will never solve anything until you start addressing the real issue: worldwide income inequality. There's nothing "grey area" about that. The world ain't as complicated as you think it is. When you worship money, evil will rise, and people will die. Get that through your thick skulls.

Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBWDzkqEPY

[–] laurieann74 8 years ago

Aren't you late for a flag burning appointment?

[–] IceTruckDexter 8 years ago

OK what does 'income equality' look like to you?

They will bend the knee or I will destroy them.

[–] Innsmouth 8 years ago

OK what does 'income equality' look like to you?

Like billionaire bankers collecting millions of bonuses - not wages, just bonuses - for sitting on a chair gambling with the world's economy, while 99% of the non-Western world, including parts of Mexico btw, lives in deep and painful poverty?

Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBWDzkqEPY

[–] IceTruckDexter 8 years ago

Those are just buzz words probably from some idiot socialist teaching you bollocks. Answer the question.

They will bend the knee or I will destroy them.

[–] sascha-17 8 years ago

Here are some facts on income inequality:

http://www.businessinsider.de/share-of-us-household-wealth-by-income-level-2016-11?r=US&IR=T

Another interesting figure:

The 62 richest people in the world control more wealth than the bottom 3.5 billion people on the planet.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/18/richest-62-billionaires-wealthy-half-world-population-combined

BTW: I totally agree with the OP that the "war on drugs" is a pointless exercise and basically stems from massive income inequality, both in the US and on a global scale. People don't get into the drug trade because they think it's a great line of work. And unless you're at the very top of an organization, it's actually a pretty crappy job that doesn't pay well and is highly risky. Dealing drugs isn't something people dream of, it's something they do out of desperation and lack of economic opportunity.

S.

[–] JohnnyDoe (1887) 5 years ago

who are the bottom 3.5 billion people on the planet?

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 4 years ago

"that doesn't pay well"
You know nothing. Dropped.

[–] susie_not_sad 8 years ago

Tell this to Carlos Slim.

you re gonna need a bigger boat.

[–] NotASpeckOfCereal 8 years ago

That's all very nice and you are correct that the wealth distribution in this world is a huge problem causing grief for all the reasons you mention.

But that's not what this film is about. The subject is a lot more distinct than that.

When pressed from another reader for a solution to the very general world problems you mention, you just repeated the problem. I can think of several things that would help, but they're all very specific resolutions to particular problems that aren't on topic to a discussion on this film.

Stop being so generic. One way to help the world in respect to the matters presented in this film would be to upset the balance currently in favor of the drug lords. This film is mostly limited to assassination solutions, which is not efficient except for a unique situations and as the film points out, highly illegal.

Render the supply chain moot. Make the drugs legal, find other ways to deal with the opiate epidemic other than the ineffectual war on drugs. Regulate it, TAKE the business away from the drug lords. This is not a new idea. It's specific to the problems presented in this film only -- other world areas require different analysis.

Then tackle the other problems that contribute to the problems you speak of, but on a case specific basis rather than just the fruitless, blanket complaint that the world's wealth isn't distributed properly.

Be sure to proof your posts to see if you any words out

[–] Innsmouth 8 years ago

First of all...how is making drugs legal, and therefore more easily accessible, going to help addicts? When they are illegal, at the very least, more of the responsibility is on their shoulders. They know that using is wrong, they know they are killing themselves, and although it is tragic, their fate is partially their own fault, and they have to find it within themselves to break the chains.

Make it legal, and it's government-permitted suicide. Your not really at fault, your just buying legal things. Less motivation to fight back against the addiction.

And even if somehow you do defeat the drug lords...they will only become lords of something else. Wherever there is such gross income inequality, people will always find ways to exploit others for profit and build empires of dirt. Evil will always flourish in such a world where you are only fighting the symptom, not the disease.

Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBWDzkqEPY

[–] NotASpeckOfCereal 8 years ago

Thankfully, you're mistaken. It's not my job to educate you, so I won't bother doing your research for you; but if you were so inclined, you would discover that that are other advanced, western nations that have legalized drugs and found that it was beneficial in most ways.

It doesn't end drug use, but it reduces it by quite an appreciable amount. It increases social costs on one hand in that the continued users need to be taken care of medically (physically and mentally), but costs are still in the black when that country saves on the high cost of incarceration and enforcement (etc.).

Even in the great USA, many large urban areas have instructed police forces to stop arresting heroin over-dosers and instead take them to medical facilities where they can be treated for their overdose, then counselled to help turn their life around (this is part of the story of what reduces drug users in those other western nations). So they don't die on the streets, and those that do survive their overdose don't fill prisons with non-violent drug users.

All of this is but a google away, but I think you've probably already heard such things.

And even if somehow you do defeat the drug lords...they will only become lords of something else.

Would that notion somehow defeat the victory of having largely resolved the illegally drug trade problem?

Because it is not just that our current war on drugs isn't working, it's that it is actually part of the problem.

Are you looking for some single magic bullet that just renders all of mankind's problems moot in a single swoop? That doesn't exist.

The struggle continues. Human greed ensures that we will still have income inequalities for a long time, if not forever; but progress will happen and will be measured in dosages that are smaller than the complete picture. Baby steps!

Be sure to proof your posts to see if you any words out

[–] Innsmouth 8 years ago

Of course these people need medical help, the American punishment-based prison system is awful and part of the problem, not the solution. I'm not saying people with a genuine problem need to be arrested. But how are you going to punish the real criminals if you make hard drugs like cocaine, heroin etc. legal?

I am not aware of any western nations where hard drugs are legal. You certainly will have to educate me on that, if true?

Of course there's no magic bullet, but whatever you do in the drug trade problem, the real villains live on Wall Street. If you don't stop them, you will never tip the scales in favor of the victims.

Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBWDzkqEPY

[–] stone_wolf_junk 8 years ago

Well said...war on drugs bad, legalization/treatment much less harm & more efficient.

Cheers!

[–] mobocracy (894) 8 years ago

The problem with criminalization is that it just doesn't work. It doesn't prevent addiction, it creates a criminal class made very powerful by its wealth, and it creates a vast police network which undermines civil rights. It's a complete failure.

I also don't think that many drug lords would be that successful as lords of anything else. The reason they wind up as "lords" at all is that drug smuggling is so incredibly profitable that it allows them to buy a lot of power -- men, guns, corrupt cops and officials.

No other criminal enterprise is that profitable, so even if they went on to other criminal enterprises they would lack a lot of resources and be easier to put down.

[–] Kent_Kainer 8 years ago

The movie was about giving that drug gang control over the drugs that can be better controlled.

Nothing more, nothing less.

---
Lincoln Lee: I lost a partner.
Peter Bishop: I lost a universe!

[–] NotASpeckOfCereal 8 years ago

The movie was about giving that drug gang control over the drugs that can be better controlled.

Huh?

Be sure to proof your posts to see if you any words out

[–] Kent_Kainer 8 years ago

Who was the good guy and who the bad guy?

---
Lincoln Lee: I lost a partner.
Peter Bishop: I lost a universe!

[–] stone_wolf_junk 8 years ago

The bad guy was the drug lord that got killed...the hero was Alejandro.

The point was that to deal with filth you need hands willing to get dirty. Alejandro's hands..he knew he was being used, and was okay w it bc he was using the US resources to get revenge for his family.

[–] smokescreensemerge-538-372043 8 years ago

Dude went on a complete killing rampage murdering a woman and children in the process. He's probably murdered several women and children prior to this anyways.
Alejandro was a very bad guy.

[–] asandaaron 8 years ago

This movie is about the people that have to deal with the drug war, not the economic elite.

[–] ladive 8 years ago

That's how I saw it too. Thus the opening and closing scenes.

[–] stone_wolf_junk 8 years ago

This movie is directed by a Canadian & staring an English actress and an Puerto Rican actor.

American asshats indeed.

[–] velvetjoneslives 8 years ago

Sorry pal, but the problems in Mexico are Mexico's problems. The US and Mexico were basically founded at the same time. The US flourished while Mexico has basically remained a worthless **** hole. If you want someone to blame, look in the mirror. You could have been as prosperous as us, you were too weak or pathetic to accomplish it.

[–] gfarrell80 8 years ago

The movie was nonsensical.

It was basically some kind of thought that righteous violence and getting dirty can be used to solve or contain a major problem in society (organized drug trade).

If anybody believes that for a second they are on crack themselves. This movie was only one degree removed from a movie like 'Taken'. It is a feel-good fantasy of violence to solve a problem.

[–] stone_wolf_junk 8 years ago

While American movies DO include male power violence fantasies (John Wick), THIS movie does not qualify imo.