Hot Fuzzy Genius

We went and saw Hot Fuzz last night. It seemed to be getting good reviews, and I loved the Nick Frost/ Simon Pegg wit that flowed through 'Shaun of the Dead.' I was expecting it to be fun and light, maybe not as good as 'Shaun.'

We loved it. It was the perfect crowd, with 14 year-olds innocently randomly going "Boom Chicka Waa Waa" in front of us, and arrogant but stunned older teens behind us. We were apprehended by the movie, and we all laughed at different types of comedy. The lowbrow for the teens, the scat for the kids, the irony for us - well, I like it all.

Then we came home to find out that the Golden State Warriors had won, upsetting the number one seed Dallas Mavs. I'm a local from Oakland, and now live in San Francisco. The Warriors are our team. I've always loved to play sports, but i haven't really watched a season of anything since I was a teen. This is different though. The Warriors always stink, so now that they are pulling out some magic, the joy and ebullience is infectious. There is community built on our local team.

Of course, it's not going to mobilize us out of Iraq and into Darfur, but that might not be bad. I'm not saying that we don't need to leave Iraq and get into Darfur, but that the sports might not be subtracting from the cause.

Let me explain. Marx famously said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." He was talking about how people and movements are numbed by Religion. It wasn't a value judgement - he wasn't saying it was good or bad, he was just saying it was numbed. Of course, if it is used for nefarious purposes such as propaganda by a state or greed by a minister, then evil is certainly inserted into the equation. Well, organized entertainment, such as television, most film, some music, and almost all sports similarly can anesthetize a populace, or at least a statistically relevant portion of a populace.

In the zealous moral enlightenment of my youth, when I was formulating world views upon world views, I didn't realize that this didn't need to be a bad thing. I thought back then that people needed to work in their free time to save the world. They needed to be inspired to do so. Well, certainly many people are numb in our culture, but it turns out that some people are depressed instead. We need to strike a balance between the horror of our work, and what we are doing to the future earthlings, and our inner selves. If we are happy we can be more productive. So, for some, the Warrior's win will help us make the changes for which we strive.