Brokeback Mountain - The movie is causing such a stir. It would seem that it isn't, but that's only because the companies that show the movies are effectively keeping it out of the public's awareness. I thought at first it would have to be because they are smarter than I, and they would know what will appeal to the general public. They either got this one wrong, or there are ulterior motives lurking about.

The movie was released to a limited number of theaters on December 9th. This is not unusual, limiting a movie to certain theaters that is. It would be unusual if say another Matrix movie were produced, because based on the popularity of the first three, it would be a no brainer as to the popularity of the film, and would of course get a wide audience. I thought with Brokeback that it was one of those unusual movies that wouldn't, because of the subject matter, and the limited showing. I tend to think otherwise now though, or at least have considered the possibility that there are other pressures involved.

The movie opened over a month ago, but in this town it showed in one theater, the one that usually shows the weird off the wall stuff. It has been there ever since, my wife saw it there two days ago, and at the 3:30 showing the theater was nearly full. This tells me that maybe the movie isn't as bad as one would think at first under the circumstances. There are obviously a lot of people that want to see this movie.

I don't know how it all works, what kind of pressures are brought to bear on movie houses in making their decisions to show a movie, but it seems the financial pressures are influencing the decision in regards to this movie. Nearly two months after initial release, a major theater in town is showing the film for the first time, it opened there four days ago on the 20th. Are they just wanting to cash in on the popularity?

Then there is the fact that the movie won all kinds of awards very recently. Cynical me thinks it's quite possible that the people that decide on such matters may be wanting to influence the public, get something going with this movie to counter the bias that has been keeping it out of the mainstream theaters.

Aside from that, I decided to post this opinion on the forum I have recently mentioned. Now I realized that they were probably talking about the movie soon after release, the people that frequent this forum tend to be a little more with current events than most, and indeed they had been talking about it. The thread didn't last long though, the homophobes beat it until it digressed to meaningless drivel almost right away. I figured my little comments would get lost in the shuffle, and that my topic wasn't about the movie anyway, it was about the controversy around the movie. Here is my post...

Has anyone seen this movie? Brokeback Mountain was showing here only in the artsy theater since it was released on Dec 9th. My wife went to see it the other day, said the theater was packed. It started in one of the major theaters in town this last Friday, almost two months after the release date, after all the awards. It makes me wonder if it really deserved these awards, or if the awards were a way to drum up business for the movie and force it into the mainstream theaters.

Here is what the previous thread about the movie digressed to...

Fuck both of you and fuck your gay movie. It's literally a gay movie so I can say that.

And you're literally gay so you can say that!

Yeah well, your Uncle twice removed!!!!

The point to all this is that my post was deleted, or effectively so by being moved to the 'Recycle Bin'. It seems there is a site admin that suffers from that which afflicts a lot of site admins on the Internet; power trip.

Why would I say that? Here is the reason given for deleting the post...

Search is your friend. And along with that there is a link to the thread that has already 'discussed' the film, if you want to call it a discussion.

What a dick! I erroneously thought that so called 'freethinkers' would be immune to such trivial shit, but it seems I was deluding myself. I also realize that if this particular site admin actually makes his way down here to the bottom of this post, I will get banned from the site. It will be interesting to see, but I think there is a chance I won't because there are some even on this forum that don't pay attention to what they read, and are much too quick to pounce on others rather than take part in rational discourse. This admin is obviously one of those, because otherwise he would have actually read my post and seen the topic wasn't about the movie at all, but about the circumstances surrounding the movie.

Now I realize this is going way off on a tangent, but I have to point this out as well. Going back to the 'freethinkers' concept, again, I really thought they were. This little exchange shows otherwise...

J wrote:

L wrote: Ok, at the risk of bragging, I am comfortable enough in saying that I have a pretty active social life. I go to bars, I date, I mingle and what-not. Yet I am sure many of you can see that my post count is already quite high for only being here since late November. This is due to the fact that I bullshit around work all the time (I work at a recovery house, pretty mellow work) and I work crazy hours. Sometimes having to come in three times a day if one of our clients decide to relapse. Why am I telling you all this might you ask? I get bored being limited to the A v T section. I often find myself wanting to put input in the above forums. I realize I must respect the rules of the house, but I was wondering if it was possible for a theist to ever ''make his way up'' so to speak. Is this determined by the user's post count? The over-all attitude towards the theist in mention? Or something else? Honestly, the few theists I have let outside of A vs T showed a genuine interest in understanding us in a way that could only be done through immersion. That, coupled with a show of decency and a genuine respect from others also helped. Think of it like moving to a new country. Unless your willing to learn the language, and respect the culture, and have a genuine desire to understand , you aren't going to be allowed in.

J, I always get excited to see when you make a post down here, sort of like when the head boss comes into work and tells everyone how there doing. Just thought I would let you know how I view you.

Here is more from the same exchange...

--I like him, and I think he should be allowed in. He hasn't preached even once since he got here (I don't think preaching is possible with his beliefs, anyway), and he's laid back and polite. Pretty much like most of the people who post in Heretic Hall.

I for one am looking forward to seeing his input in the other sections of the forum. Guess we've just gotta wait until the powers that be make up their minds, though.

--I normally pitch a temper tantrum about this kind of thing, but I wouldn't mind a free-range L, as long as he keeps any theistic talk to AvT. I think he's shown a great deal of willingness to learn, and he's certainly capable of rational and intelligent discussion.

--Seconded. He's cool - and clearly superior to the typical heaps of ignorant trash we get in the AvT section. Plus, a free-range L lays waste to the "poor victimized theists at AN" fallacy.

--My opinion is that we can trust L to abide by the rules and allow him free-roaming privledges. I don't agree with the odd, rather new-agey views, but hee seems much more intelligent and well behaved than the typical non-atheist who comes here.

--OH I disagree with his views and his with mine, but I believe he has yet to be really a pain. He has demonstrated a pleasant, enjoyable array of posts. I concur that we should allow him to be free-range, but that is the one whose name shall not be spoken...*makes the sign of the horns and sacrifices three virgins*. Damn theists and their weird rituals!!!

AvT stands for Atheist vs Theist, one of the groups of forums where such discussions are supposed to be restricted to. I didn't know they could keep people from certain forums, and even if I knew this I wouldn't have thought 'freethinkers' would have done so. Even on the conservative forum they didn't do this. I was a professed non-conservative and atheist, and they didn't bar me from any of the topics. I guess it could've been because they were too stupid and didn't know how, but I wonder...

Anyway, on with the forum. There is one last entry I would like to share...

--Okay L....

Ahem...

You are here by given official permissions to post outside of A vs T !

*sniff* *sniff* so much love, thank-you. I shall use my new privilige with great respect and carefulness. I will also most certainily keep all of my theist views in the A v T section. Plus Free-roaming theist, or whatever J thinks best is fine by me. I actually have little preference on the matter.

This little exchange is pretty disgusting.

I have tried to keep the nicknames out of this as well, but I'm sure if anyone from the forum gets wind of this I will be banned, as I said before. I haven't been there in a while, after observing this exchange I lost interest. I thought there would be diverse opinions expressed, I guess I was wrong. How could there possibly be diverse opinions when you restrict the conversation to only a few. This is exactly what is wrong with the very concept they object to, that of theism. From christian to muslim thought, they strive for a homogeneous society, where everyone conforms and subscribes to the same thought processes. Here we have a forum based on antitheism restricting the conversation, and one of the things that drives people away from theism is that bitter pill called group think, which does the same thing. Is that irony or what.

I think I've said this before, about the conservative forum, but it seems these people are only interested in participating in a circle jerk. In my opinion, it is much more stimulating to talk about matters with someone that disagrees with at least some of your opinions. It would be rather boring if this is not the case. They don't seem to realize this on the Atheist forum, but I guess the objective here isn't reasonable discourse, it's simply to bust a nut....