The Brightness

Recite, then, as much of The Koran 

as may be easy to you. 

God knoweth that there be some among you sick...

while others travel through the Earth 

in quest for the bounties of God. 

Others do battle in His cause. 

Recite, therefore, as much as may be easy. 

And observe the prayers. 

This will be best and richest in the recompense. 

Seek ye the forgiveness of God. 

Verily, God is forgiving, merciful... 

 

Greetings, Ali. 

My lord. - Sherif Ali. Lieutenant Lawrence, you have met Sherif Ali, I think. 

 

Yes, my lord. 

 

And now, Selim, 

"The Brightness." 

 

Selim :

"By the noonday brightness... 

and by The Night when it darkeneth 

Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee...

neither hath He been displeased. 

And surely The Future shall be better for Thee than The Past." 

Lawrence :

"And in The End shall Your Lord be bounteous to thee... 

...and Thou be satisfied." 

Sir? Yes, colonel.

I want a decision, sir. 

You want me to fall back on Yenbo. 

Well, you're not doing much good here, sir. 

I'm sorry to rub it in, sir, but we can't supply you here. 

You could supply us through Aqaba! 

Aqaba! If you can get ahold of Aqaba, we can supply you.

But you can't! 

You could. 

You mean, The Navy? 

The Turks have 12-inch guns at Aqaba, sir. 

Can you imagine what that means? 

Yes, I can imagine. 

Put that out of your mind, sir. 

The Navy's got other things to do. 

Oh, yes. 

Protecting the Suez Canal. 

The one essential sector of this front is and must be the canal. 

You can see that, sir, surely. 

I see that the canal is an essential British interest. 

It is of little consequence to us. 

I must ask you not to speak like that. 

British and Arab interests are one and the same. 

Possibly. 

Upon my word, sir, 

you're ungrateful. 

Fall back on Yenbo and we will give you equipment. 

Give you arms, advice, training, everything.

Guns? 

A modern rifle for every man. 

No. Guns. Artillery. 

Guns like the Turkish guns at Medina. 

Yes, give us guns and keep the training. 

Your men need training far more than guns, sir. 

English will teach Bedu to fight? 

We will teach them, Sherif Ali, 

to fight a modern mechanized army. 

Yes, Lieutenant? 

What do you think about Yenbo? 

I think it is far from Damascus. 

We'll have you in Damascus, sir. 

Never fear. 

Have you been in Damascus, Mr. Lawrence? 

Yes, My Lord. 

It is Beautiful, is it not? 

Very. 

That will do, Lawrence. 

Dreaming won't get you to Damascus, 

but discipline will. 

Look, Great Britain is a small country, 

much smaller than yours. 

Small population compared with some. 

It's small, but it is Great. 

And why? 

Because it has guns.

Because it has discipline. 

Because it has A Navy, 

because of this, 

The English go 

where They please,

and strike 

where They please. 

This makes them Great. 

Lawrence :

Right. 

Mr. Lawrence, that will do! 

Lawrence is not your military adviser. 

...But I would like to hear his opinion. 

Col. Brighton :

Damn it! Who do you 

take your orders from? 

Selim :

From Lord Feisal, 

in Feisal's tent. 

Sherif Ali :

Old Fool! 

Why turn from him to him?

 They are Master and Man. 

Lawrence :

My Lord, I Think... 

I think Your Book is right. 

The Desert is An Ocean 

in which no oar is dipped. 

On this ocean, 

the Bedu go where they please 

and strike where they please. 

This is the way the Bedu 

has always fought. 

You're famed through the world 

for fighting this way. 

And this is the way 

you should fight now. 

I don't know.... 

Lawrence :

I'm sorry, sir, but you're wrong. 

Fall back on Yenbo, 

The Arab Rising becomes one poor unit in the British army.

What is this to you? 

You're A Traitor. 

No, Colonel — 

He A Young Man, 

and Young Men are Passionate. 

They must Say their Say... 

But wiser people must decide….

I know you are right. 

Very well. 

When shall we move, 

the sooner the better. 

You'll lose another 50 men tonight. 

You tread heavily... 

But you Speak The Truth. 

I will give you 

My Answer tomorrow. 

And now... it is late. 

Colonel Brighton means to put my men under European officers, does he not? 

Lawrence :

In effect, my lord, yes. 

And I must do it — because The Turks 

have European guns. 

But I fear to do it... 

Upon my soul I do. 

The English have a great hunger for desolate places. 

I fear they hunger for Arabia. 

Lawrence :

Then you must deny it to them. 

You are An Englishman. 

Are you not loyal to England? 

Lawrence :

To England.

And to Other Things. 

To England and Arabia both? 

And is that possible? 

I Think you are another of these 

Desert-Loving English :

Doughty, 

Stanhope... 

Gordon of Khartoum. 

No Arab loves The Desert. 

We love Water and Green Trees. There is nothing in The Desert. 

And No Man needs nothing. 

Or is it that you think we are something you can play with... ...because we are a little people, a silly people...

Greedy, Barbarous and Cruel? 

Or do you know, Lieutenant, 

in the Arab City of Cordoba,

were two miles of lighting in the streets, when London was a village

Lawrence :

Yes, you were Great. 

Nine centuries ago. 

Lawrence :

Time to be Great again, 

My Lord. 

Which is why My Father 

made This War upon the Turks. 

My Father, Mr. Lawrence, 

not The English. 

But My Father is old, and I... 

I long for the vanished gardens 

of Cordoba...

However, before The Gardens 

must come The Fighting. 

To be Great again, it seems

We need The English, or... 

Lawrence :

Or..? 

What No Man 

can provide, 

Mr. Lawrence. 

We need a Miracle.

Desert Power

Prometheus best scene - David 8 plays basketball, so alone

 

Michael George Hartley... This is a nasty, dark little room. 

That's right. 

We are not happy in it. 

I am. It's better than a nasty, dark little trench. 

Then you're a big noble fellow. 

That's right. 

Here is William Potter with my newspaper. 

Here you are, Tosh. 

Thanks. Would you care for one of Corporal Hartley's cigarettes? 

 

Is it there? 

Of course. Headlines. But I bet it isn't mentioned in the Times. 

"Bedouin tribes attack Turkish stronghold." 

I bet that no one in this headquarters even knows it happened. Or would care if it did. Allow me to ignite your cigarette. 

Mr. Lawrence? Yes. 

Flimsy, sir. 

Thank you. 

You'll do that once too often. It's only Flesh and Blood. 

Michael George Hartley, you're A Philosopher. 

And you're balmy! It damn well hurts! 

Certainly, it hurts. 

What's The Trick, then? 

The Trick, William Potter, is not minding that It Hurts. 

By the way, if Captain Gibbon should enquire for me, tell him I've gone for a chat with the general. - He's balmy. - He's all right. Lawrence. Yes? You're supposed to be... Do you usually wear your cap in the mess? Always. You should be on duty. Where are you going? Mustn't talk shop, Freddie, not in the mess. I'm going for a powwow with the general. I'm not asking as your superior, but as the secretary of this mess. We don't want chaps in here who should be

 

ENEMY IMAGE

"It is from Schmitt that 

Samuel Huntington got his idea that 

An Enemy Image is absolutely necessary 

for the cohesion of any society. 

In reality, however, it is primarily an oligarchical society which 

requires an enemy image, 

because that society is based on 

an irrational principle 

of domination 

which cannot stand the scrutiny 

it would receive in peacetime. 

George Orwell understood this aspect well

when he suggested in 1984 that 

The Endless War among Oceania, 

Eurasia,and Eastasia was really 

A War waged by each of these states 

against its own population, 

 for the purpose of perpetuating 

a hierarchical society. 

The key concept dates back 

at least to Ibn Khaldun, 

the 13th century father of Sociology, 

who noted that The Arabs only 

stopped fighting each other when 

it was necessary to unite against 

An Outside Enemy.

from

CARL SCHMITT: POISON GAS ON GERMAN CITIES 

Leo Strauss was the product of three main intellectual and political influences. 

First among these was the proto-Nazi Friedrich Nietzsche, who was designated by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg as one of the four precursors of Hitlerism (the others were the operatic composer Richard Wagner, the anti-Semitic LaGarde, and the racist Houston Stewart Chamberlain). 

A second was the card-carrying Nazi Martin Heidegger, who praised Hitler in his inaugural speech as rector of the University of Freiburg. 

Finally, there is the card-carrying Nazi Carl Schmitt, the main legal theorist of the Third Reich. 

Schmitt’s ideas have directly contributed to the shattering of the US political consensus under the Bush regime. For Schmitt, politics comes down to the distinction between friend and foe. Starting from this extremely meager reduction of human motivation, he goes on to equate politics with warfare: if there is no warfare or conflict, then politics is dead, and life is no longer worth living. Schmitt therefore wants politics to be the monopoly of a strong state, and he does not like the idea that the state or the government could be influenced by the citizens. Schmitt’s thought is thus revealed as authoritarian, dictatorial, fascistic. It is from Schmitt that Samuel Huntington got his idea that an enemy image is absolutely necessary for the cohesion of any society. In reality, however, it is primarily an oligarchical society which requires an enemy image, because that society is based on an irrational principle of domination which cannot stand the scrutiny it would receive in peacetime. George Orwell understood this aspect well when he suggested in 1984 that the endless war among Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia was really a war waged by each of these states against its own population, for the purpose of perpetuating a hierarchical society. The key concept dates back at least to Ibn Khaldun, the 13th century father of sociology, who noted that the Arabs only stopped fighting each other when it was necessary to unite against an outside enemy. 

The card-carrying Nazi Schmitt was also a bitter opponent, not just of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, but of international law and international treaties in general. Like his neocon descendants of today, he was an ardent unilateralist. Here are some of Schmitt’s typical comments about international law: “We are talking again about basic rights, about the basic rights of peoples and of states, and especially about the basic rights of those states who have, mindful of their own race, gotten themselves into the proper domestic order. Such a state is the national socialist state, which has led the German people back to an awareness of itself and its race. We proceed from the most self-evident of all basic rights, the right to one’s own existence. This is an inalienable, eternal basic right, in which the right to self-determination, self-defense, and to the means of self-defense is included. . . . From our solid standpoint we can see through that world of legalistic argumentation and that huge apparatus of treaties and pacts, and assign this tower of Babel to its rightful place in the history of international law.” 

Schmitt was the author of Article 48 of the 1919 Constitution of the Weimar Republic, which was the clause that allowed the Reich President to declare an emergency or state of siege and thereafter rule by decree. Schmitt’s activity during the 1920s was largely devoted to agitating in favor of the dissolution or marginalization of the Reichstag (parliament) and the institution of a dictatorship of the President of the Reich. One of Schmitt’s favorite sayings was that sovereignty meant the ability to declare a state of emergency. If you can find what organ of government has the ability to call out the state of siege, suspend the legislature, and impose martial law, Schmitt reasoned, you have found the place where sovereignty is actually located. 

For Schmitt, the concept of emergency rule is a totally lawless realm; under it, the ruling authority can do literally anything it wants, without regard to law, separation of powers, constitutional freedoms, equity, or anything else. In one of his essays Schmitt approvingly quotes a speech by the Reich Justice Minister Schiffer to the Reichstag on March 3, 1920, in which Schiffer points out that under Article 48, the Reich President can attack “German cities with poison gas, if that is, in the concrete case, the necessary measure for the re-establishment of law and order.” (Schmitt, Die Diktatur, 201) Schmitt was adamant that the emergency provisions of the Weimar constitution were theoretically and practically unlimited, and could be used to justify the greatest imaginable atrocities. We see here a tradition of thought, alive in the Schmittian-Straussian neocons of today, which would have no trouble in accommodating a crime on the scope of 9/ 11. 

In July, 1932 the Nazis and their allies carried out a cold coup against the minority Social Democratic caretaker government in Prussia, the largest political subdivision of Germany. The pro-Nazi government in Prussia then became the springboard for Hitler’s seizure of power via a legal coup in January 1933. Carl Schmitt was the lawyer for the coup forces in the German supreme court in Leipzig. (The parallels of this action to the Schwarzenegger/ Warren Buffet oligarchical coup in California in 2003 are more than suggestive, since California is the largest US political subdivision in the same way that Prussia was in Germany.) Schmitt also provided legal services for Hitler’s seizure of power in January, 1933. 

Carl Schmitt wrote articles for the gutter-level anti-Semitic tabloid Der Stürmer, edited by Julius Streicher. In 1934, when Hitler massacred the brown-shirted SA leader Ernst Röhm and his faction for supporting a second revolution against the financiers, industrialists, and the army, Schmitt quickly emerged as one of Hitler’s most shameless apologists. In his scurrilous pamphlet, “Der Führer Schützt das Recht” (“ The Führer defends the law”), Schmitt endorsed the Byzantine theory according to which law is a successful act of strength by the stronger party against the weaker. Schmitt wrote that the primary task of the Führer was “to distinguish friend from enemy . . . The Führer takes the warnings of German history seriously. That gives him the right and the power to found a new state and a new order. . . . The Führer protects the law from the worst abuse, when he–in the moment of danger–through the power of his leadership as supreme judge, directly creates law. His role as supreme judge flows from his role as supreme leader. Anyone who wants to separate one of these from the other is trying to unhinge the state with the help of the justice system. . . . the Führer himself determines the content and scope of a crime.” (Schmitt 200) 

This opens the door to every arbitrary outrage under color of law. While these ideas, so dear to today’s ruling neocons, have been applied to Abu Ghraib, it is also clear that they are equally applicable to 9/ 11.

Kylo Ren is an Angry Bastard

"Mr. Corleone, all bastards are liars. 

Shakespeare wrote poems about it."

Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law

My services are bound. Wherefore should I

Stand in the plague of custom, and permit

The curiosity of nations to deprive me,

For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines

Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?

When my dimensions are as well compact,

My mind as generous, and my shape as true,

As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us

With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?

Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take

More composition and fierce quality

Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,

Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,

Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then,

Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:

Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund

As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate!

Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,

And my invention thrive, Edmund the base

Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:

Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

Sherif Ali :

Al-Lawrence — 
Truly, for some men nothing is written unless they write it.

Kylo Ren :

Not Al-Lawrence. 
Just Lawrence.

Sherif Ali :

AI-Lawrence is better.

Kylo Ren :

True.

Sherif Ali :

Your father too, just 'Mr. Lawrence'?

Kylo Ren :

My Father is Sir Thomas Chapman.

Sherif Ali :

Is that a Lord?

Kylo Ren :

A kind of Lord.

Sherif Ali :

Then when he dies, you too will be a Lord.

            

Kylo Ren :

No.

Sherif Ali :

Ah! You have an elder brother. 
But then, I do not understand this —

Your Father's Name is ‘Chapman’.

Kylo Ren :

He didn't marry My Mother.

         

Sherif Ali :

I see.

I'm sorry.

It seems to me, that you are free to choose your own name, then.

Kylo Ren :

 Yes, I suppose I am.

Sherif Ali :

Al-Lawrence is best.

CUT TO: Michael’s office. 

Joey Zasa is in with Michael.

ZASA

The Meucci Association has elected you, their Italian-American Man of the Year.

Zasa hands Michael the award. Michael reacts to its heavy weight.

MICHAEL

Meucci -- Who’s Meucci?

ZASA

He’s the Italian-American who invented the telephone. 

He did it one year before Alexander Graham Bell.

MICHAEL

Oh… And this is the reason you’ve come to my home on this day.

ZASA (to The Ant, in Italian)

[something like "go feed the fish"]

(then, to Michael)

I umm, got a stone in my shoe, Mr. Corleone. 

A two-bit punk who works for me. The one who, thinks he’s related to you. 

A bastard.

Michael looks over to Neri.

AL NERI

He’s here. Vincent Mancini. 

He’s at the party.

MICHAEL

Well bring him in.

ZASA

I think it’s good we talk.

Zasa offers Michael a cigarette. Michael refuses and asks Zasa to sit down.

(then)

I have a problem; and I want to find out if it is my problem, or your problem.

MICHAEL

Joe, your business is your business. 

I have no interests or percentage – I’m out…

ZASA

Good. Then it’s my problem.

Vincent enters with Connie.

CONNIE

Michael, you know Vincent Mancini -- 

Sonny’s boy.

VINCENT

How you doin’ Mr. Corleone?

MICHAEL

How you doing?

VINCENT

I’m doin’ good. How you doin’?

MICHAEL

Good.

VINCENT

Good party.

MICHAEL

Oh you like it?

VINCENT

Yeah, I had to sneak in.

MICHAEL

Well, you’re dressed for it.

Vincent looks embarrassed, Zasa looks disgusted.

MICHAEL

So, what’s the trouble between you and Mr. Joe Zasa?

VINCENT

There’s trouble. 

I’ll take care of it.

MICHAEL

That’s foolish of you.

VINCENT

Foolish of ME? 

It’s a little foolish of this guy, don’t you think? Right? RIGHT?

MICHAEL (to himself)

Temper like his father.

(then, to Vincent)

Vincent. Mr. Joe Zasa now owns what used to be the Corleone family business, in New York. 

Out of the kindness of his heart he gave you a job in his family. 

Contrary to my advice, you took the job.

I’d offered you something, better, in the legitimate world. 

You turned me down. 

Now, you both come to me with this bad blood. 

And what do you expect me to do? Am I a gangster?

VINCENT

No, you’re not a gangster….

CONNIE (interrupts)

That’s was Papa’s neighborhood, now it’s a sewer. 

Zasa runs it like a disgrace that’s what the women tell me.

MICHAEL

That’s The Past Connie.

ZASA

I earned that territory with my talent. 

Commission gave it to me, and you approved…

MICHAEL

Yes.

VINCENT

Uncle Michael, I came to the party here -- 

I’m not here to ask for any kind of help. 

I could just kill this bastard, he’s the one who needs the help.

MICHAEL

So kill him. 

What has all this have to do with me?

VINCENT

Well, he’s going around behind your back saying ‘Fuck Michael Corleone’ all time. 

That’s it, see, that’s one thing it has to do with you.

(then, to Zasa)

Right? Say it to his face, one time say it to his face, one time!

ZASA

Mr. Corleone, all bastards are liars. 

Shakespeare wrote poems about it.

VINCENT

What am I gonna do with this guy, Uncle Michael? -- 

WHAT AM I GONNA DO WITH THIS GUY?!

MICHAEL

Joey. If there’s some guy running around this city saying 

"Fuck Michael Corleone” —

What do we do, with a piece of shit like that? 

He’s a fucking dog, no?

ZASA (pauses, then)

Yes it’s True. 

If anyone would say such a thing, they would not be a friend. 

They would be a dog.

MICHAEL (to Vincent)

My interests don’t conflict with Mr. Joe Zasa’s…

VINCENT

Oh you don’t know how much your interests conflict with Mr. Joe Zasa’s, Uncle Michael.

CONNIE

Michael -- He needs your support, Michael.

VINCENT

Don’t let me work for this guy no more Uncle Michael, let me come work for you.

MICHAEL

For me?

VINCENT

Yeah.

MICHAEL

As what? Tough guy? 

I don’t need tough guys -- I need more lawyers.

Michael smiles at Joey who smiles back. Michael extend his arms to Joey in friendship.

MICHAEL (to Joey)

Since we have no conflicts, no debts, I accept your tribute. 

I wish you well.

Michael and Zasa embrace.

(then, to Vincent)

Vincent -- Make your peace with Mr. Joe Zasa. 

C’mon…

Vincent reluctantly goes to embrace Joey. As they do so, Joey mutters into Vincent’s ear.

ZASA (quietly to Vincent)

Bastardo.

Vincent retaliates by biting Zasa’s ear. 

The two are separated and ZASA is led bleeding and screaming from the room by The Ant.

MICHAEL

Oh, Jesus…

Vincent tries to explain himself as Connie leads him outside but Michael tells him to stay.

VINCENT (still explaining)

Uncle Michael, I told Connie it wasn’t the right time for this thing –

(then)

Uncle Michael, listen -- 

I know you’re into banks and Wall Street, but everyone knows you’re the final word, you’re like the Supreme Court.

All I want to do is protect you from these guys and your lawyers can’t do that.

MICHAEL

And you can?

VINCENT

Yeah, I can do that.

MICHAEL

And why should I be afraid of Joe Zasa?

VINCENT

Well, he knows you’re stopping him from rising up in the commission, Uncle Mike. 

I say we make him dead. 

You give me the order, I’ll take care of it.

MICHAEL

You’ll take care of it?

VINCENT

Yeah.

MICHAEL

Maybe you should, uhh, come with me for a few weeks. See what happens.

VINCENT

Okay.

MICHAEL

See if you learn. 

And, umm, we’ll talk about your future.

VINCENT

I won’t let you down.

Connie leads Vincent from the room.

CUT TO: 

The stairway where the family are getting a photo taken.

PHOTOGRAPHER

We’re just about ready .. no, it’s all right…

Vincent approaches his mother, Lucy Mancini.

LUCY

So what happened?

VINCENT

What happened? 

They put me in a room with Joey Zasa -- what’s gonna happen? 

I bit the guy’s ear off.

The photographer takes a photo. As he prepares for the next one, Michael fetches Vincent for the picture.

MICHAEL

Hold it…

(then, to Vincent)

Vincent –

VINCENT

Yeah?

MICHAEL

Take the picture with me – c’mon…

MARY (to Vincent)

Nice jacket.

The second picture is taken and the band strike up the familiar Godfather’s waltz as Enzo the baker wheels in a cake for Michael.