I don’t normally include profanity in my own postings, although there is sometimes some basic profanity in the comments. And I’m ok with that as long as it’s a relevant expression of feeling and not flagrant meaningless obscenity or name-calling. With that said, I hope you will excuse what I am about to post, which is actually a comment that I recently received, and not my words at all.
I suppose I need to provide a little background. Back in 2003, I enrolled in a basic writing class at West Chester University as part of my program of “taking random classes and learning things without an intention of earning a degree”. West Chester is a state school; your basic step above a community college. The writing program was very basic, and although the teacher was proficient, he expected a proportional amount of effort from a 100-level class at what amounts to a continuation of high school.
One of our assignments included choosing a character from the movie American History X, and profiling him in writing. It was to be a longer piece; a follow-up to a shorter assignment from earlier in the semester. Please note - If you read these posts, note that they were added to the site before I started using WordPress, and the automated reformatting from the old system may have produced errors. Also, as with anything I write on Asymptomatic in general, I didn’t really proof the “post” part of these, whereas the written piece itself should be in a relatively error-free form.
The salient point here, the one that is lost in the case of the comment to which I spoke earlier, is the one where this is “part 2″ of my exploration of American History X. This post does not represent an indication of a sequel to the original movie. That said, I present the comment that I recently recieved on the “part 2″ post, which I am posting again here rather than allowing it through moderation:
i only don’t know why edward norton dont goes it part in american history x part 2 because the end, when danny killed by that fucking nigger he know, a couple seconds before danny was kiled , he know that something was not alright, and just when danny killed , he came, run to his brother and screaming no no no nooo, but then the only thing wat you see was,crying people and then you see danny’s head and you hear him think: life is to short to be pist of all the time, but i like want to know what derek go to do but you dont see what he is gonna do. maybe he do nothing about it. but i know (and i’m a skinhead to) that if my brother was killed by a nigger i killed al the nigger’s that i see and if i go to jail and get life it doesnt mather that i get life but i killed al the black persons that i see walking on the streets!! another ask now….. when is part 2 comming out??
Before I make any comment on this particular contribution, I should note that I receive this type of thing in a steady stream, but I usually just delete them.
I’m not sure that this particular comment even riles me to the point where I feel I must respond, but I think that now is as good a time as any to clear the record - again - in case there is any question.
There is no sequel to American History X.
There is no movie where Derek gets upset at the blacks in the school for killing his brother - it would be incongruous to the character that he had become and sidesteps the entire premise and meaning of the film.
What I mean to say here is that you’ve completely missed the intention of the movie. Killing is specifically not something that Derek would do at this point, and you can infer that from the construction built by every line uttered in the movie. The cycle can’t end unless Derek stops it, even if his loss is something as painful to him as his own brother. If Derek doesn’t stop the cycle, then does the movie even have a point other than depicting various racially-driven physical confrontations?
What makes me sad is that this movie is probably assigned to kids that have racial prejudices as an assignment to help address those racist tendencies. I imagine a whole scenario where they watch the movie in detention, and their teacher insists that they write an essay in response to the movie about why racism is wrong. Completely unable to fathom how racism is wrong, they do some internet search for “American History X part 2” hoping to find something that justifies their feelings that things shouldn’t have ended where they did.
Whether they read my essay or not - and I imagine that some of them even plagiarize my essay to fullfil the requirements of their punishment - the same blind lack of understanding exists. It’s a weird case where nobody is ever going to be able to show these people that racism is wrong. If they have seen this powerful movie, and they’re still disposed to look for ways Derek gets revenge in a sequel, then there is really no redemption for them.
Knowing that people like this exist makes me uneasy. The idea that people exist whose ideals I can’t even rationalize is akin to my feelings about terrorist Islamic extremists. Sure, it bothers me that people can think that way, but it bothers me even more that I can’t even rationalize their thinking; that I can’t put myself into their mindset and explain why they think that.
I’m not sure what more I should add. I feel suddenly very sad. Sad for this commenter, for a number of reasons including anything ranging from his inability to fathom the unfortunate issues of racism to his poor spelling and incomprehensible grammar. Sad for the environment that allows these types of beliefs to thrive and the education available that doesn’t seem to be preventing these unhealthy beliefs from growing. Sad that the movie did not have the intended impact in that viewer. Sad that my comments are destined to fester with this cancer because of something I wrote three years ago that people mistook for something it is not.
It disturbs me.
