Star Wars The Force Awakens review

STAR WARS 4

The Force Awakens

 So I finally got around to watching Star Wars 4 the force awakens. Just so you know there is going to be spoilers here, if you haven’t seen the movie, go watch it already.

SPOILERS!

 And I have got to say it’s pretty good. After the abysmal prequel nonsense, it’s great to finally see the story from the first three movies actually continued.

 We are introduced to the first order, which seem to have replaced the empire as the big bad of the series. Its sightly odd that they have their own branding and uniforms, but some time has passed since the last movie.

 The Jedi are gone again, and no one believes they existed, which is strange. There is a major light-sabre wielding villain so I’m not sure how such disbelief can exist so soon. Maybe the big bad mind wiped the universe or something.

 That’s the general back drop; we are then introduced to some scavenger woman and a Stormtrooper. This seems like it’s going to be a ham-fisted romance. A romance hammered into a sci-fi because there has to be a straight male lead and a female object of his affection. 

 This seems like it’s going to be a little better as the hero is the woman and her love interest is played by an African American.

 But then Poe enters, and I almost think I see flirting from the two male leads, Finn the Storm trooper and Poe the rebel pilot. I think maybe the actors just had amazing chemistry. But no that’s actual flirting, there actually romancing each other. 

 I am amazed, a romance between two male characters in star wars. They have taken a tired and overused movie-trope and just altered it slightly, but it’s beautiful and it’s refreshing. 

 Some highlights for me were; Finn recognises Poe’s flying skills and is overjoyed to see he survived. Poe lets Finn keep wearing his team jacket, just like a high school romance, which is adorable. 

 I also have to say I like the practical effects, there was some CGI of course, but the movie didn’t seem too saturated with it.

 I am very happy that Finn is a great role model, a former Stormtrooper who becomes a Jedi. On top of that he’s played by an African American and is in love with a male rebel pilot. It’s great to see such inclusion. I remember watching the originals when I was a kid, I can’t imagine how more well-adjusted I would have been if Luke had had a male love interest, instead of his sister.

 My only concern is that this romance was only just developing; I worry that bigots will harass the team to destroy the romance. I hope they don’t retcon Poe and Finns love. It’s really the one thing that made this movie stand out. Otherwise it’s just kind of redoing the first movie.

 I hope the fans of Star Wars don’t allow the dark side of bigotry and hate to influence their appreciation of this movie.

 As it stands now with the burgeoning relationship between Finn and Poe i give this movie; 4 out of 5.

Bigot Point: "Same sex marriage isn't biblical marriage."

Bigot Point:

"Same-sex marriage isn't biblical marriage"

 Some of the bigots who argue against marriage equality, say that same sex marriage is nontraditional and that that somehow is an excuse to discriminate against others.
 We have already seen that same sex marriage is traditional, but what a lot of homophobes mean when they say traditional marriage is actually biblical marriage. 

So what is biblical marriage? 

This is what these people mean when they argue for traditional biblical marriage.

 *Monogamy is allowed in their view of marriages, but know that a rape victim must marry their rapist. 
 *If your brother dies you must marry his widowed wife, so monogamy isn't always required.
 *Know that they believe it is actually better to remain unmarried, then to marry. They are actually encouraging self castration and a life of celibacy as a better option then marriage. Those advocating traditional christian marriages aren't actually that fond of marriage.
 *They are against interracial marriage, and demand that those already in interracial marriages get divorced. That's right those who celebrate biblical traditional marriage are kind of racist.
*And keep in mind that divorce is seen as a hateful thing, usually outlawed, unless very specific things happen.
*They believe that those few who are allowed to divorce can never remarry.
 *They are even actually endorsing same sex marriages; as the god of the bible blessed the lesbian union of Ruth and Naomi. In addition to the gay male relationship of  David and Jonathan.
 *They will sometimes allow you to have multiple wives and to keep concubines.  
 *They will allow you to have your wife and her slaves, yes they are condoning slavery. You can force your male slaves to marry your female slaves if you have the whim to do so. As an added bonus you get to keep the children they produce as slaves too.
 *If your a male solder then you can force any prisoners of war you capture to be your wife. 
 *They want the legal age to be around 14 for boys and 12 for girls.

The people who advocate for traditional biblical marriage are often the same people who claim marriage has never changed and can never be changed, and so must endorse all of the above.
 This is obviously inexcusable as not all chistians choose to be so bigoted, and there is nothing stopping anyone from worshiping a different god who is nicer to the LGBT community. It really does seem they are only hiding behind religion to try to justify their existing prejudices.

  If your interested this site is a great easily accessible resource.

 I wont get into the separation of religion and law here, ill save that for another time. 

This baseless argument also doesn't address why moral christians or non-christians should be forced to follow christian laws.

Children need both a biological Mother and Father.

"homosexuality is a choice."

"Same-Sex marriage isn't Traditional Marriage"

"Homosexuality is Unnatural"

 "Marriage Equality threatens religious freedom"


Further Reading:

What constitutes marriage according to the Bible?

The Christian Mythology Bible

Bigot Point: "homosexuality is a choice."

Bigot Point: 

"homosexuality is a choice."

Sore eyes? Hard of reading? Try out the video version of this post.

                                    Or read on brave soul.  
  Scientific Study's have proven that homosexuality is not a choice. Better yet all it should take to end this "argument" is one homosexual person, if only i had access to a homosexual, where does one find such a beast?...

 Wait i do, i am one of those, so i ask myself if being gay is a choice and the answer is flat out no. Being homosexual is not a choice for me. No gay person i have spoken to has ever said it was a choice. And that's all it takes, one homosexual telling you it wasn't/ isn't a choice for them, that is enough to make your "argument" invalid.
 If you don't believe me ask yourself. Was your sexuality a choice? Did you choose which gender you are capable of being attracted to or falling in love with? 

 Now homophobes have been told being gay isn't a choice for years, and yet they still lie, i hope no one who says that is a christian because there is that "little" commandment about committing falsehoods.

 Manny years ago i was watching a talk show, i think it was the Ricki Lake Show. Stop judging me! Anyway, so this episode was the homophobes Vs the gays. They had a lot of "religious" people on the pro-bigotry side. One guy on the pro-homophobia side, stands up and says;

"Being gay is a choice! We all are attracted to the same sex, but we are strong enough to fight those urges." (or words to that effect).

 One of the panelists pointed out rightly that feeling that way meant the guy was probably bisexual and not actually straight. 
 Now i have seen this repeated a few times over the years. It seems that a lot of homophobes are fighting their own internal battles, ether they are bisexual and only "choose" to act on feeling for the opposite sex. Or they are gay and "choose" not to act on their natural urges. 
 Know i have noting against anyone who doesn't want to love who nature designed them to, but i do have a problem if they feel they need to act this way due to indoctrination or ignorance. I have a greater problem if they demand that i should act that way too.

 I think they muddy the water, they claim that homosexuality is a choice because they are "choosing" not to physically act upon their natural impulses. Or that somehow not acting upon ones natural sexuality means they have changed who they are. But they fail to realize that it is the fact that they have these impulses that make them homosexual. 

 As an example, i haven't had sex in months, (since my breakup), but that doesn't make me straight. Hell, i could force myself to have sex with a woman, (shudder) and that still wouldn't make me any straighter.

 Also if being gay is a choice then i challenge any bigot to honestly change their sexual orientation. Whats the problem, they can always just change back right?

 I am writing this to address some of the catch phrases and fallacies that bigots use to oppose equality. I intend to link to these instead of having to rehash the same BS every time. Also i hope that those searching might read it and choose to further educate themselves by doing their own research.
This post also applies when bigots use language such as "lifestyle", and "sexual preference". As terms like this are used to imply our sexuality is a choice.

The "argument" that homosexuality is a choice gets used as some kind of " trump card". I don't really understand why though, if homosexuality was a choice, that wouldn't mean we should make homosexuality illegal or remove rights from homosexuals. 
Why would we punish something that does no harm, homosexuality is simply the ability to romantically love a member of the same sex. And homosexual love making between two consenting adults doesn't seem like a problem. The acts performed in homosexual sex are performed by straight couples all the time and there is no campaigning against that. 
Though i am sure that homosexuals are just the tip of the iceberg for the bigots.

Children need both a biological Mother and Father.

"Same sex marriage isn't biblical marriage."

"Same-Sex marriage isn't Traditional Marriage"

"Homosexuality is Unnatural"

 "Marriage Equality threatens religious freedom"


Further Reading:

Being Gay Not a Choice:

 Sexual orientation and gender identity

Sexuality is not a choice

 

 

Bigot Point: "Homosexuality is Unnatural"

Bigot point: 

"Homosexuality is Unnatural"

I am writing this to address some of the catch phrases and fallacies that bigots use to oppose equality. I intend to link to these instead of having to rehash the same BS every time. Also i hope that those searching might read it and choose to further educate themselves.

Short answer no. While for many years, those studying animal behavior refused to accurately document homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom, due to observer bias possibly due to societal or religious prejudices or simple ignorance. Since the 1990's researchers have slowly admitted to and even started studying homosexuality exhibited by animals.

 "No species has been found in which homosexual behaviour has not been shown to exist.-"
1,500 animal species practice homosexuality.

Let that sink in a little, contrary to being unnatural, there is no known animal species  (excluding those that don't have male/female reproduction) that homosexuality hasn't been witnessed in.

So what animals have been scientifically documented, you want a list lets make a list. Take a deep breath;

Amazon molly, Anole (lizard), Ant (various),  Appalachian woodland salamander, Barn owl, Bearded dragon, Bee (various), Beetle (various), Bison, Black-spotted frog, Blackstripe topminnow, Bluegill sunfish, Blue-tailed gecko,Broad-headed skink,Brown bear, Brown rat, Box crab,Butterfly (various), Cavy (guinea pig), Caribou, Cat, Cattle, Char (fish), Checkered whiptail lizard, Chicken, Chihuahuan spotted whiptail lizard, Chimpanzee (various),  Common Ameiva (lizard), Common garter snake, Cuban green anole, Desert grassland whiptail lizard, Desert tortoise, Dog,  Dolphin, Dove, Dragonfly (various),Elephant, Emu, European bitterling (fish), Fence lizard, Five-lined skink, Flea (various), Fly (various), Fox, Grayling (fish), Gull, Giraffe, Goat, 
Gold dust day gecko, Gopher snake, Green anole, Green swordtail (fish), Guiana leaffish, Horse, Houting whitefish, Inagua curlytail lizard, Jewel fish, Jamaican giant anole, Kestrel, Koala, Laredo striped whiptail lizard, Largehead anole, Least darter (fish), Lion, Mallard (duck), Marmoset,  Moth (various),  Mountain dusky salamander,Mouthbreeding fish, Mourning gecko, Octopus, Orca, Ostrich, Plateau striped whiptail lizard, Penguin, Raccoon, Raven, Red diamond rattlesnake, Red-tailed skink, Salmon, Seagull, Side-blotched lizard, Southern platyfish, Spider (various), Speckled rattlesnake, Stickleback (fish), Tengger desert toad, Wasp, Weevil,  Water moccasin, Western rattlesnake, Western banded gecko, Whiptail lizard, and Wood turtle. 

 Please keep in mind that this is not an list off all species, there are many more. Oh and one species of animal i forgot to place on the list is Human.

For anyone to claim that homosexuality is unnatural is clearly ridiculous. 
A lot of these bigots hide behind religion (particularly Christianity) to try to justify their personal prejudices. It should be noted that this information wasn't difficult to find, and that Christianity strictly forbids lies. 
I believe if your going to speak out against something you have a responsibility to do at least a quick bit of research, just to check your not completely wrong.

How some people can think they are above the laws of nature truly amazes me. 

 

 READ-

1999- Biological Exuberance - Bruce Bagemihl
2009- Evolution's Rainbow - Joan Roughgarden 
Homosexuality is Natural 
Top 7 claims for why homosexuality is “unnatural” refuted

WATCH-

Out in Nature documentary
Animals Like Us  Animal Homosexuality documentary series 
(I was unable to watch this due to nasty region blocking)
Bill Nye Explains Why Homosexuality Is Perfectly Natural

If you would rather watch this blog, you can.

Bigot Point: "Same-Sex marriage isn't Traditional Marriage"

Bigot Point:

"Same-Sex marriage isn't Traditional Marriage"

 

I am writing this to address some of the catch phrases and fallacies that bigots use to oppose equality. I intend to link to these instead of having to rehash the same BS every time. Also i hope that those searching might read it and choose to further educate themselves by doing their own research.

The video version of this post is right here:

This post also applies to the false claim that marriage has always been strictly between a man and a woman.

 Traditional marriage is often banded about by some homophobes, but what exactly is traditional marriage?



 Marriage as a legal and spiritual institution has so many different definitions depending on culture, spiritual beliefs and time in history that it would be impossible to address them all.
So i am going to limit myself to addressing that question as it relates to same sex marriages.

 Firstly you cant get much more traditional then the same sex marriages in Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Ming and Zhou Dynasty China, Ancient Mesopotamia and of course Ancient Europe.

Ancient Egypt (3100 BCE)
Ming Dynasty China (1368 BCE)
Zhou Dynasty China (1043 BCE)
Ancient Greece (800 BCE)
Ancient Rome (753 BCE)
Ancient Mesopotamia (620 BCE)
If you take a look at the dates you can see that all these traditions predate the invention of Christianity in 355 CE.

 Ancient Native Americans performed same sex marriages, sadly much of Aboriginal Australian cultures is lost and we may never know how the traditional Australians treated their homosexual fellows.

 Late medieval France had legal same sex marriages. While in Europe the post middle ages Orthodox church performed same sex marriages. Records exist of a church marriage performed in Spain in 1061 between two men.

 Again back in Australia we see that our marriage laws were changed in the marriage act in 2004, marriage was defined to specifically exclude same sex couples. 
(I will note that this goes against our constitution* and that also no plebiscite was deemed necessary by the same government that now refuses to accept marriage equality without a plebiscite.)

 The Australian Capital Territory had legalized same sex marriage but these were overturned because of the 2004 definition of marriage.

 While i have not gone into the various definitions of marriage endorsed by the various religions here, i will just note that strictly man - woman marriages aren't even that traditional in Christianity.

 I would advise you to rethink and educate yourself if you falsely believe that marriages are only between an man and a woman.

* Section 116 of the Constitution of Australia precludes the Commonwealth of Australia (i.e., the federal parliament) from making laws for establishing any religion, imposing any religious observance, or prohibiting the free exercise of any religion.

Children need both a biological Mother and Father.

"Same sex marriage isn't biblical marriage."

"homosexuality is a choice."

"Homosexuality is Unnatural"

 "Marriage Equality threatens religious freedom"

Sources:
 History of Same sex marriages
Secret History of Same sex Marriage 
History of Same Sex Marriage 

 "A History of Same Sex Marriage"