European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday March 232007 stars and stripes Pace 15 opinion Agenda driven documentaries harm genre by Meghan Daum in Case you Haven noticed documentaries Are hot no longer the Domain of univer sity film leagues and Vintage Unic jokes How Many lesbians does it take to screw in a Light bulb one to turn the bulb and 20 to make a documentary about it nonfiction films Are cheap to make and increasingly free of the esoteric artinese and sometimes outright pretentiousness that gave the genre its elitist reputation Al Gore and friends accepted the Oscar for an inconvenient truth which waltzed into the winners Circle As a Box office phenomenon and obvious shooing even though it want much More than a riveting powerpoint presen tation with Good lighting recently there have been rumblings from the scientific Community about Gores grasp of the details few doubt his premise yet scientists on both sides of the debate have suggested that some of his arguments As suggesting a direct cause effect Between global warming and hurricanes were exaggerated for the purposes of getting Peoples attention but who can blame him now that the documentary game is Tak ing on Many of the High stakes qualities of Hollywood it seems that Only the sexiest or most alarmist will survive yet the plea sures of documentaries at least in this elitist s opinion come from the Triumph of grit and substance Over flashy theatrics and though its naive to assume that any form of documentation other than say the phone Book is purely objective the Best nonfiction filmmakers have had a stake in letting their subjects speak for them selves and allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions even when they we rent sure what those conclusions were Michael a teds ongoing up series which began with a portrait of 14 English 7yearolds in 1964 called 7 up and checks in with them every seven years up was released in raises questions about the British class sys tem but refrains from shoving polemics Down our throats in the 1975 classic Grey gardens Al Bert and David Maysles focus on the bizarre and squalid lives of a Mother and daughter Jacqueline Kennedy aunt and first Cousin As it happens and with limited intervention Tell a Story about Isola Tion mental illness and the complexities of inherited wealth there Are Many More where those came from but aside from some noteworthy exceptions the Friedman grizzly Man and the to miniseries the staircase Corne to mind we rarely see such movies any More and not just because our ability to sit through Long scenes with no cutaways or animated graphics has been worn away by the legacy of Short attention Span Media we rarely see them be cause in Many cases the focus has shifted from the films subject matter to filmmakers agendas theres nothing intrinsically wrong with that this elitists Al time favorite Doc is the hilariously Navel gazing Sherman March which follows director Ross Mcelwee on a botched mis Sion to chronicle the fall of the confederacy but too Many of these directors dont know the differ ence Between hammering us with their opinions and laying out the evidence so that we can decide Call it the Michael Moore syn drome its hard not to like his films and Many of us do fahren Heit grossed nearly Mil lion in the us and yet you dont need to be a righting nut to see that he twists his material to suit his perspective from the loins of Moore sprang Morgan Spurlock of the Oscar nominated super size me who decided the Best Way to expose the malfeasance of the fast food Industry was to eat no where but at Mcdonalds for 30 Days and Monitor his health deterioration while we didst learn much from that movie that serious journalists haunt objectively re ported in far greater detail it proved to be Good for Spurlock he got his own documentary Tele vision show on the fax Channel 30 Days wherein he or occasionally someone else got immersed in an alien culture and lived to Tell the tale surviving on minimum wage serving time you get the picture find me a script al60re would like actually we dont get the Pic Ture in Spur locks work and in the work of Many contemporary documentarian we get a picture of the filmmakers Pov and not much else that because this crop of documentarian Doest seem to believe that shooting real life what happens without their sufficiently inter Esting along the Way a strange thing happens the filmmakers hip Perth Anthou preach Ness or in Gores Case  earnestness makes us inclined to pick fights with them before too Long we find ourselves arguing against dire predictions about Glo bal warming and eating big macs while were doing it Why be cause even though these movies Are labelled provocative there used to be another word for this style of film it also starts with the letter p that s not to say that the Truebe Liever embellishments in an in convenient truth deeply disc Jed it the movie but if Gore gets his own show on fax i May Start Cut Ting Down Trees on the other hand he could team up with Spur lock and spend 30 Days in the White House from there he could propagandize with impunity Meghan Daum is an essayist and novelist in los Angeles this column first appeared in the los Angeles times our founding fathers would applaud Gen Pace Perkins by Tony Perkins Marine corps Gen Peter Pace chairman of the joint chiefs of staff should be commended for speaking forthrightly against allowing homosexuals to serve in the military his views May have scandalized Gay rights activists and the Media elite but they reflect the convictions of those in the armed forces and a majority of the american pub Lic the military times reports that 59 percent of Active duty military subscriber respondents oppose Al lowing open homosexuals to serve in the military and less than a year ago a Gallup poll indicated that Over 50 percent of americans thought homosexuality was immoral contrary to the perception Given by some in the Media the dont ask dont Tell policy under president Clinton did not make even closeted homosexuality accept Able in the military the National defense authorization act of 1994 that Clinton signed states the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the High standards of morale Good order and discipline and unit cohesion that Are the essence of military capability in an interview sen Hillary Clinton said that no one should be excluded from the military because of who they Are but homosexuality is not an immutable characteristic like race it is a sexual behaviour that can be avoided and even changed she called for allowing homosexuals in the Mili tary and said that the uniform code of Mil itary Justice should decide what conduct is inappropriate or unbecoming sen Clinton appears unaware that Sod omy remains a crime under the uniform code of military Justice Section 925 Arti Cle which states that any person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished As a court martial May direct the prohibition of homosexual behaviour in the armed forces goes Back to the Earli est Days of our country the Continental Congress expected military leaders to be vigilant to discount Nance and suppress All dissolute immoral and disorderly practices at Valley forge in 1778 George Washington then commander of the Continental army approved the Swift dismissal of a Soldier for homosexual activity perhaps the Only weakness in paces re Marks was that he mentioned the immorality of homosexual behaviour without explain ing that such behaviour would directly undermine the effectiveness of the military As a fighting Force As a Marine corps vet eran i am aware of How Little privacy the troops have when they live sleep and Shower together in addition the potential for destructive personal relationships among sol Diers threatens a Basic principle of Mili tary life the need for unit cohesion some who favor homosexuals in the Mili tary argue for such a policy based on the recruiting needs of the services it is naive to think that out of the 2 percent of the Popula Tion that is homosexual or bisexual some data the Small number that might enlist would make up for that part of the remaining 98 percent who might be deterred from enlisting by such a policy homosexuals who genuinely wish to serve their country can and do find Many ways to do so As civilians americas armed forces exist however to fight and win wars not to conduct politically Cor rect social experiments Tony Perkins served in the us Marine corps and is president of the family research Council Fri describes itself on its web site As a group that shapes Public debate and formulates Public policy that values human life and upholds the institutions of marriage and the family prickly City to Vic u5 i by Scott Stantis Coon pc w 3 y plumps  006w to stick to in spots