Year: 2004

For The Repose of the Soul Of David Reimer

I was really sorry to hear about this. David Reimer has died. I read about David a while back. He had an amazing and disturbing story (which I’ll get to in a minute). He leaves behind a wife and two adopted children.

The children are adopted because of something that happened to him very early in life. He was the victim of a botched circumcision, following which

His parents consulted the famous sex researcher John Money, who had maintained that “Nature is a political strategy of those committed to maintaining the status quo of sex differences.” He advised them to let the doctors [give the child a sex change operation], and they raised him as a girl without telling him what happened. I [secular humanist author Steven Pinker] learned about the case as an undergraduate in the 1970s, when it was offered as proof that babies are born neuter and acquire gender from the way they are raised. A New York Times article from the era reported that Brenda (nee Bruce) “has been sailing contentedly through childhood as a genuine girl.” The facts were suppressed until 1997, when it was revealed that from a young age Brenda felt she was a boy trapped in a girl’s body and gender role. She ripped off frilly dresses, rejected dolls in favor of guns, preferred to play with boys. . . . At fourteen she was so miserable that she decided either to live her life as a male or to end it, and her father finally told her the truth. She underwent a new set of operations, assumed a male identity [and the name David], and today is happily married to a woman [The Blank Slate, 349].

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of his story. He committed suicide after a failed investment cost him a great deal of money (warning: the obituary contains an explicit description of what happened to him earlier in life).

What a tragedy.

He was the victim of a horrible accident that was then immeasurably compounded by a criminally irresponsible sexuality “expert,” forced to lead a life contrary to the nature he genuinely had been given by God, and used as an instrument for advancing an absurd agenda to rationalize the sins of some and add confusion and error to the lives and belief systems of others.

That’s over now. Let’s pray for his soul.

. . . On The Other Hand

I’m a big supporter of the War on Terror, but sometimes will mistakes will be made. Sometimes they will be comical. Like this one:

The Google Terrrorist

It was the lead item on the government’s daily threat matrix one day last April. Don Emilio Fulci described by an FBI tipster as a reclusive but evil millionaire, had formed a terrorist group that was planning chemical attacks against London and Washington, D.C. That day even FBI director Robert Mueller was briefed on the Fulci matter. But as the day went on without incident, a White House staffer had a brainstorm: He Googled Fulci. His findings: Fulci is the crime boss in the popular video game Headhunter. “Stand down,” came the order from embarrassed national security types [Source].

Yes! Yes! Yes! Johnny Quest on DVD!

johnnyquest2Finally! Johnny Quest is on DVD!

If you’re of the right age, you know without me even telling you that Johnny Quest used to be the coolest thing going on Saturday morning–by far!

In case you aren’t lucky enough to remember Johnny Quest, the series was a thirty minute action/adventure cartoon that started airing back in 1964. It instantly became a classic, and it has remained famous for the last forty years. The main cast includes:

  • Dr. Benton Quest–a SCIENTIST (not specializing in any particular kind of

    science, just whatever the episode was about that week) who globetrots, solving

    mysteries for the U.S. intelligence community.

  • Johnny Quest–his intelligent, irrepressible son who is drawn into the

    adventures by his father’s globetrotting.

  • Roger "Race" Bannon–a government agent assigned to protect Johnny to keep

    him from being kidnapped and used to blackmail his father.

  • Hadji–Johnny’s best friend, an orphaned boy from India, and
  • Bandit–Johnny’s irrepressible, comic-relief dog.

Man, Johnny Quest was cool! The series was drawn on a limited, 1964 TV animation budget, so it used limited animation techniques in order to avoid breaking the budget, but it used the animation in creative and striking ways that make it far more interesting to look at than typical TV animation. It features the intriguing, stylistic designs of animator Alex Toth (who also designed Space Ghost and other classic animation series of the period) and detailed backgrounds that are covered with detail. The series’ premise takes the characters to exotic locations around the globe and confronts them with powerful, sometimes supernatural threats–further adding to the visual dynamism of the series.

Also outstanding is the writing. The scripts are intelligent and (despite the fantastic premise of the series) far more realistic than most animated series. Some of the stuff in the scripts would never make it onto Saturday morning TV today. Consider:

In one episode, Johnny, Hadji, and Race are in a South American jungle when they counter a panther who is about to kill a native man. Race has only a second to act, so to save the man he SHOOTS THE PANTHER. Notice that I didn’t say “stuns the panther with a sonic disruptor pistol.” He SHOOTS IT WITH A RIFLE. Then, rather than letting the boys approach the native, who has the panther laying at his feet, Race tells them to stay where they are and then he SHOOTS THE PANTHER AGAIN to make SURE it’s dead. (Remember: There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal.)

Yes! That’s what you’re SUPPOSED to do in that situation! Save human life and keep it safe, even if it means killing an animal–a valuable lesson in life (one that everybody used to learn) that you’d NEVER see on a modern, politically correct, eco-friendly, Captain Planet-y cartoon.

What a breath of fresh air a show like Johnny Quest is after years of agenda-driven pablum in animated form. It’s striking, intelligent, focused–and even delightfully scary at times for a boy of a certain age. It stresses virtues like loyalty, determination, inventiveness, and facing one’s fears–and it does so without preaching at the audience. The heroes display these virtues naturally while the series stays focused on the STORY instead of wallowing in introspection and self-doubt before finally summoning up the courage to do the right thing.

The current DVD set includes ALL the original Johnny Quest episodes (despite the misleading “Complete First Season” label; the manufacturer apparently is treating a 1986 sequel series as the “second season”), so when you buy this you’ll be getting all the favorite episodes you remember from childhood.

Whether you want to revive memories of Johnny Quest from your own childhood, want to share it with your own, appropriately-aged children, or appreciate it for the first time, hop on board the hovercraft and watch Johnny and the gang face a truckload of evil scientists, enemy agents, and wicked cool monsters.

BUY IT!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Johnny Quest on DVD!

johnnyquest2Finally! Johnny Quest is on DVD!

If you’re of the right age, you know without me even telling you that Johnny Quest used to be the coolest thing going on Saturday morning–by far!

In case you aren’t lucky enough to remember Johnny Quest, the series was a thirty minute action/adventure cartoon that started airing back in 1964. It instantly became a classic, and it has remained famous for the last forty years. The main cast includes:

  • Dr. Benton Quest–a SCIENTIST (not specializing in any particular kind of
    science, just whatever the episode was about that week) who globetrots, solving
    mysteries for the U.S. intelligence community.
  • Johnny Quest–his intelligent, irrepressible son who is drawn into the
    adventures by his father’s globetrotting.
  • Roger "Race" Bannon–a government agent assigned to protect Johnny to keep
    him from being kidnapped and used to blackmail his father.
  • Hadji–Johnny’s best friend, an orphaned boy from India, and
  • Bandit–Johnny’s irrepressible, comic-relief dog.

Man, Johnny Quest was cool! The series was drawn on a limited, 1964 TV animation budget, so it used limited animation techniques in order to avoid breaking the budget, but it used the animation in creative and striking ways that make it far more interesting to look at than typical TV animation. It features the intriguing, stylistic designs of animator Alex Toth (who also designed Space Ghost and other classic animation series of the period) and detailed backgrounds that are covered with detail. The series’ premise takes the characters to exotic locations around the globe and confronts them with powerful, sometimes supernatural threats–further adding to the visual dynamism of the series.

Also outstanding is the writing. The scripts are intelligent and (despite the fantastic premise of the series) far more realistic than most animated series. Some of the stuff in the scripts would never make it onto Saturday morning TV today. Consider:

In one episode, Johnny, Hadji, and Race are in a South American jungle when they counter a panther who is about to kill a native man. Race has only a second to act, so to save the man he SHOOTS THE PANTHER. Notice that I didn’t say “stuns the panther with a sonic disruptor pistol.” He SHOOTS IT WITH A RIFLE. Then, rather than letting the boys approach the native, who has the panther laying at his feet, Race tells them to stay where they are and then he SHOOTS THE PANTHER AGAIN to make SURE it’s dead. (Remember: There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal.)

Yes! That’s what you’re SUPPOSED to do in that situation! Save human life and keep it safe, even if it means killing an animal–a valuable lesson in life (one that everybody used to learn) that you’d NEVER see on a modern, politically correct, eco-friendly, Captain Planet-y cartoon.

What a breath of fresh air a show like Johnny Quest is after years of agenda-driven pablum in animated form. It’s striking, intelligent, focused–and even delightfully scary at times for a boy of a certain age. It stresses virtues like loyalty, determination, inventiveness, and facing one’s fears–and it does so without preaching at the audience. The heroes display these virtues naturally while the series stays focused on the STORY instead of wallowing in introspection and self-doubt before finally summoning up the courage to do the right thing.

The current DVD set includes ALL the original Johnny Quest episodes (despite the misleading “Complete First Season” label; the manufacturer apparently is treating a 1986 sequel series as the “second season”), so when you buy this you’ll be getting all the favorite episodes you remember from childhood.

Whether you want to revive memories of Johnny Quest from your own childhood, want to share it with your own, appropriately-aged children, or appreciate it for the first time, hop on board the hovercraft and watch Johnny and the gang face a truckload of evil scientists, enemy agents, and wicked cool monsters.

BUY IT!