Film Review: Dinesh D'souza's America

**LAGC** · 10-28-2014, 07:17 PM

(Just came out on DVD at the Redbox today, had a free rental code so I thought: why not?)

It opens with a scene of the Revolutionary War -- what if George Washington had been brought down by a British sniper? What if the Civil War had torn this country into two or ten countries? What if Hitler got the atomic bomb first? What would the world look like if America did not exist?

The "meat" of the film centers around five "indictments" against America:

1) Theft of Land (Genocide), Victim: Native Americans
2) Theft of Mexican Territory, Victim: Mexico
3) Theft of Labor (Segregation and Racism), Victim: African Americans
4) Theft of Resources, Victim: The world
5) Theft of the American Dream (Capitalism), Victim: The American People

He then goes on to try to dismantle each of those criticisms, heckling historians and academics such as Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky for siding with the "victims" in each scenario, conveniently glossing over such unsavory facts such as how early settlers to the new world DID indeed introduce plague and disease against the Indians -- in some cases on purpose -- which paved the way for the white man to push the remaining natives way to the west, including contested land where Mount Rushmore currently resides. (Apparently the Feds offered the natives $1 billion in reparations, but the natives refused the "blood money" and still want their land back. Dinesh says it was "sold" fair and square, so tough luck.)

He made some interesting points on other issues, such as profiling the very first African American millionaire -- and a woman at that, who made her way selling hair care products for other black women back in the 19th century -- something unheard of back in Africa, perhaps. But I thought his argument was weak when addressing the Mexico issue, as the guy he interviewed, when asked said he'd rather Texas stay as part of America, not Mexico, "because of the cartels." Well, the cartels are only running roughshod over Mexico because of OUR War on Drugs. So that is actually one instance where perhaps Mexico WOULD have been better off had America not been there, which I think detracted from his overall argument.

I also took issue with his capitalism example. He pretended he owned a hamburger joint and sold hamburgers for $1.95 each. He argued that after labor costs, rent, insurance, advertising, etc. he only made 12 cents in profit per burger, which is probably true of most mom-and-pop small businesses -- small margin for profit, no argument there. He then pretended that the same woman customer, had she bought all the ingredients herself and made the exact same burger at home, it would have cost her $2.25 (just in groceries, not including all the extra prep and cooking time of preparing a meal at home versus eating out at a fast-food joint.) That's all well and good. Fast food is cheap, no argument there. But then he jumps straight to Apple iPhones, asking if Steve Jobs ripped people off. Well, the unspoken truth there is that the profit margin is MUCH, MUCH bigger than your little hypothetical mom-and-pop outfit, just like Bill Gates raping customers by overcharging so much for operating system and productivity suite software, which made them both billionaires from all the gross profits. (Sorry, Dinesh, you don't see that with struggling mom-and-pops.)

He did close with a pretty good interview with Rand Paul though, speaking against the surveillance state and other creeping authoritarian measures. (I'd be very curious to see what he has to say when the next Republican Administration maintains all those evil spying agencies, as he was mysteriously silent during all the abuses under Dubya Bush.)

Anyway, if you liked his 2016 movie you might enjoy this "sequel" as it were. I won't spoil the ending it by telling you who he blames for all this current malaise, although it's pretty predictable if you've read any of his books or writings. As for me, I'm kind of wishing I had rented Outlaw Prophet instead.