What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

The Irresistible Force paradox is a cliché nearly driven into the ground by sports broadcasters and pop culture (e.g. The Dark Knight), and one that rests on terms which scientists have disproved. Yet, to my surprise, it was the question that best summed up my garbled, incoherent thoughts tonight on change and What I Think is Wrong with the World.

Even though scientists tell us that no object is truly immovable, it seems to me that there are walls in this world that cannot be breached: walls of misinformation, sloppy thinking, and stupidity. It’s hard to be concrete and specific here, since I mean to encompass nearly everything I think is wrong with the world in these so-called walls—I am being intentionally general in this post.

But to give the examples currently on my mind: I don’t have much patience for arguments in which either “side” simply repeats the same (wrong) points over and over again, like the current debate over the proposed mosque in Lower Manhattan (I will not enter into nitpicking over whether or not we can call it the “Ground Zero mosque”). I think that the question of whether or not Obama is a Muslim can be answered simply and easily, and that should be the end of that. Racism and anti-immigrant legislation and refugee camps: our bizarre relation to the Other has fascinated me for years. These are more difficult issues, but at the same time, the basic fact of the equal humanity of all people just should not even be disputed… And yet there’s a frustrating (from my perspective) refusal to change, a refusal to think critically, a refusal to see anything other than what one wants to see.

In my opinion, these are the walls we need to break down to make any sort of difference—in anything. This narrowmindedness is the world’s immovable object, and those who would like to see change need to become an unstoppable force to have even a chance. I’m currently skeptical that we are such a force.

**Spoiler alert: I kind of give away the end of Gallipoli, but you pretty much know what’s going to happen anyways...

Tonight I watched the movie Gallipoli, which was one of the most beautiful movies I’ve seen in a while. Nevertheless, the mind-boggling stupidity of the British military strategy and its needless cruelty is painful to watch. The kid, an Australian soldier who sprints at record speeds and whose beaming smile lights up the screen throughout the movie, could not be a clearer representation of an unstoppable force. He represents the joy and innocence of life—wonderful, bursting-at-the-seams life--and his life crashes against the determined immovability of the British commander.

It’s easy to come away with the impression that the immovable object shatters and dissipates the unstoppable force. Life is not so unstoppable, and that is the tragedy of putting these impenetrable walls in front of it. Indeed, this was my frustrated train of thought after watching the movie: if we, those who want to right wrongs, aren’t even an unstoppable force, how on earth can we even budge the immovable stupidity?

But I’ll try to convince myself of a more positive message, even if I don’t quite believe in it wholeheartedly. What stays with the viewer at the end of the movie is the kid and the unwavering, euphoric energy of life. I love that the movie ends with a jolt: not only do we skip over-sentimental grieving scenes, the world and the characters of the movie stay with us. We can’t simply rush back into our own world, where everything (or almost everything) is comfortable and easy and safe, because we are still in that other world, waiting for the conclusion we would typically expect from a Hollywood movie. When the movie ended I needed to be alone, to get away from my family and shut myself up in my head, because I was still in that world and not ready to be pulled back into this one so quickly.

Maybe what happens when an irresistible force meets an unstoppable object is that it ricochets, and spreads: we viewers absorb some of that kid’s force for our personal battles against stubborn misinformation and logical fallacies. In the grander scheme of things, I hope that life isn’t just a cyclical encounter of two impossible terms of a logic problem, but that life, and change, move inexorably onwards.

A new blog

I feel a little silly, or arrogant, writing just to share my thoughts with the internets. But I really enjoyed blogging while I was travelling and I don't want to go back to my old livejournal (though I will always have a special place for lj in my heart), and besides, someday Britt won't be constantly available to listen to my rants about my own indecisiveness, or grade inflation, or other people's selfishness and grammar mistakes. So I've been thinking for a while that I need a place to put stuff that doesn't go in other places, and that's here.