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Hey, it’s our last show of the year and we go out with a jump to hyperspace as Rob has already seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, much to James’ chagrin. We also discuss the debates, the upcoming primaries, some of our favorite member posts from 2015, and more.
Thanks for a great year and Merry Christmas to everyone. We’ll see you in 2016.
Music from this week’s episode:
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Darlene Love
The opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James Lileks.
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On the nuclear triad, I’m not sure how much I worry that he didn’t know the answer…the first time. That he got re-asked the question and still didn’t know the answer. It says any number of things, but none of them good.
Thank you all for once more delivering a solid years worth of entertaining content. Your podcast is where I found Ricochet eventually decided it was worth the money.
Thanks for that Star Wars-era history, Rob.
But, of course, I and countless other people grew up in the 80s and 90s and love Star Wars. Sure, our parents encouraged our enthusiasm. But the series has appeal beyond the cultural markers of its original era or even America. It’s popular worldwide. Granted, much of that is a bandwagon effect, but the series is truly special.
I’ll cite just 3 factors.
First, like James says, Star Wars is “such a contrast” from typical sci-fi… and not just stories of the 1970s. It’s science fantasy, rather than science fiction. Its focus is people, rather than technologies. It features timeless moral themes. It regards knights, wizards, and providence of sorts. And, as James says, it’s fun, unlike the dry treatises that sci-fi authors often produce.
Second, John Williams’ score lifts otherwise unremarkable characters and events to majesty and epic drama. The music stood out more at the time, but it continues to distinguish Star Wars from run-of-the-mill sci-fi.
Third, it offers an unlimited, imaginative, and compelling setting. The audience never knows where the story will turn next because there’s an entire universe to explore. That world is full of implied history. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter all rely as much on the setting as on characters and plot. A story like those is never truly over (hence, the upcoming Harry Potter film without Harry Potter).
By the way , someone mention to Mr Hewitt that the nuclear triad is a touch outdated, we also have cruise missiles, a spaceplane and drones as methods of delivery.
The answer no one gave to his question should have been, “Damned if I know which one needs the most investments, Hugh. I do not yet have access to the readiness information and I should not. How the hell do you know? Is someone leaking that stuff to you?”
Well said about the “nuclear triad”, Rob. It’s irrelevant. Even if our nukes could deter our enemies, which they obviously don’t in many cases, what President would actually use them? Truman didn’t have to decide after a precedent of nuclear destruction and generations of hand-wringing. Even a Republican President in modern day would tolerate a huge number of American casualties and contested battles before even considering resorting to nukes.
And Peter is right that it’s an obscure phrase. You folks who lived through the Cold War might be very familiar with it, but it’s a term that one doesn’t even hear regularly in discussions about the Cold War. One can know the concept without knowing the term. Ignorance of the phrase is hardly ignorance of MAD or of modern threats. It’s a cheap gotcha question that apparently served its purpose.
Maybe Donald Trump could have said that…if he had done his homework after not knowing what it was the first time.
I’ve often thought rather than facing an incumbent in 1996 . Powell could have had both the nomination and the Presidency for the asking in 2000.
I’m a political junkie since the 60’s and a Navy veteran, I never heard the term ‘nuclear triad’ in my life.
Just a quick correction. One man race. All the way to the White House.
maybe Rubio could have said it, also.
Remembering an outdated piece of Herman Khan cold war jargon does not a CINC make
I was a 32-year-old father and doctoral candidate when I went with friends to see the first Star Wars movie. As we emerged from the cinema, one of them grumped: “Typical Southern California theology.” As I remember it, Alec Guiness, who was Catholic, expressly distanced himself from “May the Force be with you” mentality…By the end of the 1970s, I had, somewhat to my own surprise, become an unabashed conservative, and what I liked about Southern California was not its theology but rather Ronald Reagan.
To respond to Peter (and others) who don’t “get” Star Wars, it’s a lot like Jimi Hendrix: You listen to “Electric Ladyland” now and you think “Well, that’s good, but really, what is all the hype about?”, but placed in the context of 1969, it was a stunning album completely like anything else on the scene.
Star Wars was the same way back in 1977. Movies had forgotten how to be fun: Disney movies were on life-support, and all we had to watch were “Important” movies were everyone, including the hero, died at the end. And teen movies? Fuggedaboutit. Nobody wanted to sink money into a movie that just entertained people and not teach them Something Important about the utter meaninglessness of life.
Star Wars showed us that movies could be fun, and that the future didn’t suck. In a way, it was the Beatles of my generation.
One of the things about presidencies is that, in most part, decisions do not have to be made in seconds. Even in the most dire of situations, you have minutes or days. Most policies would require months of work before finalization.
So that Trump doesn’t know something, or any other presidential candidate, really, is inconsequential. It’s most important that they have a background in being able to make decisions, based on inputs, that’s more relevant.
Put Barry in as an example. He made a decision to implement ObarryCare without knowing jack about it. In fact, he knew so little about it, he threw the ball (like a sissy) to Congress to create it, and we wound up with, you guessed it – garbage.
Why? He didn’t make a decision. He made a political pitch. That’s not decision-making. For all of Trump’s idiocy, and there’s tons of it, he’s made decisions, both good and bad, because he had to. Barry’s decisions have almost entirely been without consequences for him, because, in politics, the only impacts are political ones for the politicians.
The rest of us just have to sit here and suck on it – the real-world consequences.
Britain may well leave the EU, but I cannot imagine that’s being a top five story in the US for the year.
Jeb Bush took the wrong tack. He was hoping to show appeal to middle-of-the-roaders. Recent events cry out for a strong conservative and he doesn’t seem like one. Too soft.
It had to be said:
http://www.steynonline.com/7372/star-wars
Thank you gentleman. Enjoyed the entire years collection of the best ‘mostly’ hi-brow discussion online. Merry Christmas.
We were going to do another Star Wars cover but Disney didn’t send the check.
On the NR website today Kevin Williamson gives a good rundown about the theme whoever is the Democratic nominee will be running on: Totalitarianism.
The next president will be the GOP or the Democratic nominee. A third party from Right or Left may throw the election one way or another, but almost certainly has no chance whatever. That includes any rump effort by the GOP “establishment” to set up a 3rd party which rumor seems to be playing on the Internet lately.
The questions or Rob, Peter, and James are:
Nick poses a rough question, but it’s easy to decide: Anybody other than Hillary, if she’s the nominee.
Anybody. Even a chowderhead like Trump can’t be worse than Hillary, and his essential unpredictability I think would lessen the challenges we’ve seen abroad the last 7 years or so. I’m quite sure that other countries can count on Hillary to do exactly as Barry has been doing in foreign policy, which is a signaled and advertised retreat.
Jeb Bush goes into debates a Bush and comes out of debates a Bush, no amount of money will change that. By not defending his policies and thus the Bush name W allowed libs to poison it. Sometimes reality is unkind.
Agree that The Bush name is the biggest issue for Jeb, even for Bush fans. He needs to wow them to overcome this Bush-fatigue and he has not been able to generate that level of energy, even personally much less among the electorate.
Cheers, Ricoteers!
Having lived under RobLongism since at least the early ’90s… and being a longtime critic of his phenomenally elastic squishiness… I must admit Robi-Wan has by far the best analysis of StarWarsism in the observable galaxy.
Long hit it out to eleven parsecs.
…
But I agree with Padawan-Robinson on how remarkably mediocre the original three movies were after watching them for the first time in 20 very odd years… My Jedi-nostalgic memories are better than the actual films. And of course we can all commiserate over the galactic missed opportunity of the menacing prequel debacleburger trilogy.
The Force was weaksauce in the late Nineties.
I enjoyed the latest installment in the Arclight HollywooDome at 2AM, an out-of-this world experience on its own, but it did feel a bit like getting the band back together… even if it was a hopelessly mediocre badass band.