Hapless review by duh-5

If duh-5 had more expertise in reviewing movies than having watched 1000 hours of Wrestlemania, it might lend some credence to his pitiful review of this film.

Kenny Rogers wrote a beautiful song about one of the more difficult aspects of leading a principled, peaceful life. If we are to listen to duh-5, we would believe that Tommy was a coward, rather than the dutiful son and self-disciplined person his character was meant to display.

Duh-5 and other idiots who equate pacifism with cowardice are, themselves the most cowardly, weak, ass-clowns on the planet. One need only listen to the song to hear the biblical reference to Jesus and His "Sermon on the Mount" in which he told his followers to love their enemies and to turn their left cheek to them after they strike the right cheek. To relegate true pacifists and conscientious objectors to war to the status of coward is an insult to the intelligence of those who read that review and to the memories of those who were shot when they refused to be conscripted in this world’s endless wars. You would probably call 12-year-olds in the Congo cowards for letting militants cut off their arms rather than pick up a gun or machete and rape innocents themselves as part of the militant armies there.

Another clue that this numbskull missed was that the song lyric said "Everyone considered him the coward of the county". Well DUH! Christianity has never been popular in the United States, though the majority of her citizens claim to practice it. Anyone with the moral courage to refuse military service or refuse to buy an automatic rifle to protect their flat-screen TV is considered a coward by a nation that believes in "pre-emptive" war to protect low gas prices. The fact that those stupid hicks (who duh-5 probably calls his folk) considered Tommy a coward for remembering his promise to his father is no reason to believe Tommy was actually a coward.

In fact, the only thing in this film that could possibly make Tommy look like any kind of coward at all would be that fight scene that duh-5 got all stiff about. It requires a certain degree of moral cowardice to shrink from one's beliefs and values at a time they are truly tested. While Tommy's rage is understandable, ultimately, his violent reaction will do little to stop the phenomenon of rape. As behavioral scientists have been telling us for decades now, rape is a crime of violence, not sex. If Tommy had listened to his father at that crucial moment, he might have started a series of lectures at the local church or in the schools, teaching young boys to use their minds and hearts to solve conflict, rather than their fists. He might have counseled teen boys that women are not objects for their lust, but real people. He might have saved other girls from rape, rather than give in to his passion and submit to his violent impulses.

I know some will read this and think it's a joke, or that I'm over-reacting. But this song was one that my grandfather played for me as a boy and talked to me about at great length so that I understood what it meant. Pacifists are not cowards. They struggle ever day with an entire society of idiots like duh-5 who love violence and will not let this world live in peace for ANY price.

To idiots like that, I have just one parting statement:

I hope you enjoy the rest of World War III. It promises to be filled with blood and hate. Very little room for pacifists or, as you like to call them, cowards.