A Few Relevant, Irrelevant and Irreverent Things

A few nights ago I started watching the film The Falcon and the Snowman, a film I was given months ago but only watched in a fit of boredom. It has Sean Penn with the ugliest teenstache I’ve seen in a while. More importantly, there are some creepy parallels to the recent Wikileaks case.

I watched most of it last week, and last night I caught the last 20 minutes, and the film seemed different due to my changed mindset. The film is a true story about a young man who sells US government secrets to the Russians, based solely on his own principles. In the New Yorker’s fascinating profile on Julian Assange, it paints a portrait of a man who I think would have acted similar to Christopher Boyce in the film’s interrogation scene. Here are some excerpts:

Boyce: “I know a thing or two about predatory behaviour, and what once was a legitimate intelligence agency is now being used on weaker governments. I've never been an agent for the KGB. I work for no one but myself.”

Police: “What are you afraid of?

Boyce: “Of people who can imagine and create sophisticated weaponry and a government that can't be trusted with it. We're the only nation that ever used atomic weapons on other human beings. We "are" capable of it.”

               

Police: “By turning over US secrets to the Soviet Union you're putting every man, woman and child here in jeopardy.”

Boyce: “They're already in jeopardy.”

Police: “There are other forms of protest. You don't feel you hurt anybody? The government's worried, Charlie. This case could cause serious political damage. There's debate now whether prosecution is worth the disclosures that might arise in a trial.”

Whether what was done was right or wrong is irrelevant here, but I wanted to highlight how I feel like if Assange were presented with these points, his rebuttals would be quite similar.

I also watched Airplane! last night (I also love that the second one is called Airplane II: The Sequel) because of Leslie Neilson’s recent death which is…just, the worst. While watching it however, I was reminded of the recent TSA controversy. 

In the first few minutes, you see the hilarious sight gag of having to pass through an x-ray to get on a plane, and a passenger having to remove their prosthetic limb. It's presented in a context of upmost silliness. I hope my next flight isn't piloted by a blowup doll. Again.