Culture – Gregory Scott Blog

Movie Review: The Mauritanian

Some movies are intended for consumption; others are intended to consume. The Mauritanian is of the latter sort. It will consume your thoughts long after the movie ends. The issue is torture, and more specifically the use of enhanced interrogation at Guantanamo Bay in the years following 9/11.

I’ve written before about torture, and why it is an issue that requires a more nuanced ethical approach than simple absolutism offers. The Mauritanian takes up the issue of the real life story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a man picked up in North Africa in the months following 9/11 for his alleged association with Osama Bin Ladin. He was taken to Jordan and then to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was held by the U.S. Government for 14 years (through both the Bush and Obama administrations) without charges ever being brought against him.

When I began watching this movie, I fully expected a strong helping of the typical Hollywood hubris combined with twisted facts to support a hard-left premise. What I got was something more honest and penetrating. The Bush and Obama administrations must have both thought Slahi guilty, but if they did, why not indict him and put him to trial? The suggestion offered by the movie is probably accurate: the evidence was merely circumstantial or inadmissible. And without spoiling the movie, I can say that the best evidence against Slahi was certainly and rightly inadmissible.

Avoiding Media Brainwashing

I just finished reading an excellent biography of Cato, not Inspector Clouseau’s Cato but Rome’s Marcus Porcius Cato a/k/a Cato the Younger (95 B.C. – 46 B.C.). Cato was known for his integrity in a time of intense political corruption and polarization in Rome that ultimately led to the fall of the Roman Republic when Caesar declared himself dictator for life in 44 B.C..

Cato stood against both political parties, the populares (Democrats) and the optimates (Republicans), in favor of the Republic and doing what was right. As a result, Cato was highly respected, and sometimes also despised, by both sides. That is the price of speaking the truth. Even the 1st century Christians held Cato up as an example of integrity in the midst of corruption.

The current U.S. political climate bears similarities to the Rome of Cato’s time. Political opponents today are demonized. There is no rational discussion by which consensus is reached. There is no middle ground. The reason for the polarization is that people are being brainwashed by the media. But before my friends on the right say, “Amen,” read on, because for polarization to occur there must be two poles, not one.

A Kingdom Response to COVID-19

We are in the midst of a pandemic.

And while history is no stranger to plagues and pandemics, we have not seen a pandemic like this in America or the world in general in over one-hundred years.

In a previous post, “Will This Be the Church’s Covid-19 Legacy?,” I asked whether the Church would be remembered for being a super-spreader of the virus. It’s a fair question.

But maybe the better question is, “What should the Church’s Covid-19 legacy be?” As one committed to continuing to see the advance of the kingdom of God on earth, I want the Church’s legacy in this pandemic to be a positive one, as it has been in other plagues, such as the Plague of Cyprian and the Black Plague, where the Church actually gained credibility and Jesus-followers as a result of its response to pestilence.

So, here is a best case scenario of how the Church could be remembered 50, 100, 200 years from now if it can pivot in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Benefits of Halloween

Halloween is this week.

It’s obviously a beloved holiday because Americans spend more money on Halloween than any other holiday except Christmas.

I’ve wondered in a past blog post whether those in the occult complain about the commercialization of Halloween like Christians do about Christmas.

I’ve written on the history of Halloween.

But as I thought about what I had written in the past, I wondered if maybe I had been too negative about this very popular holiday.

Therefore, in the spirit of being fair and balanced, I’ve decided to list some of the reasons for celebrating Halloween and wanting your children to participate.

Continue reading “The Benefits of Halloween”

On The Cleveland Sex-Slave Case

Like most of America, I was shocked to see the news about the three girls who had been kept as sex slaves for ten years in a perv’s basement in Cleveland.

I was not, however, surprised.

What happened in Cleveland was a logical progression from the standard narrative our culture feeds us about women: that they are sex objects to be lusted after, used to sell products, or possessed.

Should we be surprised then when we hear that a man has locked up three women in his basement for ten years to do with what he pleased?

The objectification of women is not a new phenomenon; it has been around since the Fall of Man. But the advent of television, movies, marketing, and a willing media has ramped up the intensity of the brainwashing that women are merely objects, products and not persons. Continue reading “On The Cleveland Sex-Slave Case”