Last night I went to see AKA Tommy Chong at the VIFVF festival. What a great movie... not sure if it's available on DVD or not... but if you get a chance to see it... do.While the movie is very funny and briefly covers Tommy’s life story, the main focus of the movie is his incarceration for selling water pipes over the internet. The Governments war on drugs went after Tommy and in a hilarious twist has turned him into a martyr for those who think the drug laws in America are insane and want them to change. In effect the Gov’t made Tommy more powerful then he ever was. While you may or may not agree with someone selling drug paraphernalia what struck me the most during this movie is how close his story mirrored The Shac 7.
With animal rights groups now apparently America’s biggest “threat” we have The Shac 7 on trial for “domestic terrorism”… Let’s boil down what The Shac 7 did. They ran a website that provided information. Um... What?
One of the interviewees in AKA (can’t remember his name offhand) said it best… and I’m probably going to mis-quote him something terrible… but basically he said that The Gov’t of America is doing it’s best to disassemble the counter culture. Anyone who is different is now a threat and will be prosecuted.
While AKA was very funny... it was also very sobering. Made me think of my buddy Jake and all the other defendants of the SHAC 7 who are going up against so much power and money... that it makes me feel anxious at what the outcome will be.
Even sitting here in Canada... I can feel the ominous presence of America seeping in now with this new prime minister. Yeesh... Time to go walk the dog and clear my head of the image of Stephen Harper in a leather vest. *shiver* He makes me feel dirty...and not in a good way.
I did not think it was possible for a politician to look dorkier and more idiotic than Dubya, but Mr. Harper has done it. This is the Fashion Police, PULL IT OVER!!!
ReplyDelete22 years later, Orwell was right after all.
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