The American Spectator : The Islands of Lost Boys

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The Islands of Lost Boys

By Lisa Fabrizio on 9.1.10 @ 6:06AM

Liberals lost in a foggy dreamland that can never be.

Most people live on a lonely island,
Lost in the middle of a foggy sea.
Most people long for another island,
One where they know they will like to be.

So begins the haunting tune from Rogers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, which sings of fulfilling one's inner hopes and dreams on a faraway island called "Bali Hai." In the 1958 movie version of the show, the beauty of the number is nearly ruined by the cloying colored filters used by director Josh Logan, which gave the disturbing impression that paradise might need embellishment.

But in a way, this is a tale of our own time and place. For there is a large segment of our population who live their lives -- and insist that the rest of us live ours -- in a kind of fairytale land where wishing will make it so. These folks live on their island constantly, and they so surround themselves with their fellow dreamers, that they are insulated from seeing the world as it really is.

In past ages, it was mostly starry-eyed young people who inhabited these utopian climes; those who have not yet been exposed to the real world with all its scabs. But most of the denizens today are Peter Pan-ian liberals who declared in the 1960s that they had no intention of growing up. And, as long as they are in power, they don't have to. They write the history books, they report the news as they would have it portrayed and they teach our kids that, as in Never-Never-Land, they don't need to fret about responsibility as long as there are evil, rich grownups to be taxed to care for them. And if life really isn't that way, it should be; and that's the point.

This is what enables them to act with such certainty in matters where their positions have either been proved wrong or are mere theories. That is why they can believe wholeheartedly that man can cause changes in the climate; that taxing the rich will stimulate the economy; that the way to foster equality between the races is to favor one over the other; or that the murder of unborn children is somehow liberating to women: because in the islands of their minds, that's the way it should be.

The people who populate this island culture have as their anthem, the song "Imagine," written by another lost boy who counsels them to believe in "no religion," "no country" and "no heaven." Given these high moral strictures, it's not difficult to see why they are having trouble in the grownup world, where the Captain Hooks have become distressingly more real in the last couple of years.

This is why not only the policies of George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan must be derided, but the men themselves turned into vicious monsters. Because these men have intruded on their fantasy that if they don't love and fight to defend their religion and country, others, like Communists or Islamists, won't either. Given the horrific reality of the lengths to which our enemies will go to annihilate us, it's not hard to see why the islanders have drawn some good people to their side. After all, who wouldn't want to live on Bali Hai? As the 2008 presidential election proved, many folks thought they'd like to dwell there; but as the last two years have graphically demonstrated, real life must intrude into every Never-Land or Camelot.

During Republican administrations, we are often told by our betters in the media that a Bush or a Reagan is "out of touch" with the American people, that they are so sequestered away behind closed doors and away for the common folk that they are unfit to lead the country. How infinitely much more true is this of those who live their entire lives on the islands of lost boys and girls?

This question will become even more vital the nearer we get to November; do we want representatives of the real world, or those who dwell in fantasy land? Of course in the world of fiction, there is another island which may provide a more helpful example of our current plight: remember, on Gilligan's Island -- where paradise was not all it seemed -- the supreme goal of the castaways was to go home.

About the Author

Lisa Fabrizio is a columnist who hails from Connecticut (mailbox@lisafab.com).

Letter to the Editor View all comments (37) | Leave a comment

Ret. Marine| 9.1.10 @ 6:25AM

This old devil dog agree's. I wish they would all go home and leave this country's hopes and dreams to the adults. That would be a good start.
I too live in a la la land fantasy, I keep wishing to see the most of them being carted off to a prison cell near them, the rule of law means just what it means, instead we have a bunch that adhere to the rule of men, or cowards, take your pick. I may get my wish. I can see Nov from my farm.

Sam Vaughn| 9.1.10 @ 11:55AM

And so it goes... the boomers who went to protests to be cool, lived off daddy's credit card, threw daddy under the bus for being square, smoked pot and contemplated "reality" never worked for a living and looking down on those who did, now wander the corridors of power. They're still living those dreams of opposition to "the man" and will wake one day to find they've become "the man", the tyrant's, the one's whose bigotry and soft-tyranny ruins other lives only to find that they too, like all tyrants, get thrown down...

Patrick| 9.1.10 @ 1:45PM

With all due respect, not all tyrants get thrown down in revolution, nor all tyrannies. Therefore, we must all be vigilant for our freedom.

Texas Mom| 9.1.10 @ 2:02PM

This completely explains why Prez O thinks he can just make pronouncements like 'I will close Gitmo etc.' and that it can and will happen because of his degree.

JohnK144| 9.1.10 @ 1:10PM

The more I see of America's enemies, such as yourself, the more I realize we have already won. Your own poisoned nature will destroy you, and nobody will care, or even notice.

Patrick| 9.1.10 @ 2:13PM

The ironic part is that you may well be correct, much to the horror of future generations.

America is not destined to endure forever, and the folly of the Left shall be immortalized next to that of other fallen nations.

Simply put, no matter how much you _want_ to make your navel gazing utopia into reality, it will only end in disaster.

It does not matter how much you control the system, or even if you establish one party rule, liberalism is an impossible and incoherent dream.

Peggy Stewart| 9.1.10 @ 1:12PM

Certainly, even YOU can do better than the above. It is very obvious from the way you express yourself that you know very little about good literature . Between the filth and homophobia on display one would conclude that you have never exposed yourself to anything finer than perhaps a comic book.

PS Have you ever honestly contemplated what a marine would think of you?

Alan Brooks| 9.1.10 @ 4:29PM

But libertarians are quixotic, too.
"Do as thou wilt" is as Utopian as anything.

Alan Brooks| 9.1.10 @ 4:31PM

"I too live in a la la land fantasy"

Ret. Marine shows his true colors.

Brian Mc| 9.1.10 @ 7:28AM

The "Trust in God" majority was on display 8/28 and the materialistic "Trust in Government" crowd sat up and wondered how they got caught napping, and are now circling the wagons. There is a smell of November in the air...!

Semper Fidelis, R.M. the tsunami of righteous indignation is swelling and gaining speed, a flooding baptism of votes will cleanse and hopefully deter the baptism of fire we are headed for if we don't see the change of direction we expect.

Appleby| 9.1.10 @ 7:43AM

I have been saying this since 1968.

There is a line in *Willy Wonka* that jars unpleasantly with the rest of the movie, that pretty well sums up what we hear from TheKids: Charlie says passionately to his mother that he SHOULD find a Golden Ticket *because I want it so much more!*

The idea that wanting something passionately is ipso facto the guarantee that you will receive it is the root cause of the insanity that will swamp the world when the adults who pay the bills either go Galt or retire. Get ready for it. Be somewhere safe where you can laugh.

Sheila| 9.1.10 @ 11:15AM

Yes, Appleby - and the Republicans who are already celebrating November's presumed victory can all sleep safely at night because they, too, "want it so much more" and that's all it will take to return America to constitutional foundations. Tribalism + democracy + stupidity = racist idiocracy. Decline and fall.

Patrick| 9.1.10 @ 2:17PM

The funny part is that you fail to see your own tribalism and folly.

Of course where this racist part of your equation comes from is beyond me, other than it is just another hate filled epithet that liberals throw around.

Appleby| 9.1.10 @ 3:26PM

RACIST?

Dr. King, call your Movement Stat!

Howard| 9.1.10 @ 8:05AM

Nice broad brush article stereotyping liberals. I don't necessarily disagree, but, it is preaching to the choir.

Louis Jenkins| 9.1.10 @ 8:31AM

"...Ronald Reagan must be derided, but the men themselves turned into vicious monsters..."

So let them scream and point to the monster behind the door. The door is holding back an idea that's time has once more arrived. Who will be the first to open that portice? In fact, it is slightly adjar already. Let's join hands and finish the job. Let the monster out! And watch the Lost Boys take flight. A good dose of reality.

Mike Rogers| 9.1.10 @ 9:51AM

We had Reagan, we had Thatcher, we thought we had consigned Communism to the ash heap of history, but the beast crawled out of its grave.
Can the grownups take charge and do the job properly this time? We can only hope (and work like hell) that it will be so.

Bush/Cheney destruction Co.| 9.1.10 @ 11:43AM

Elect us again. We will destroy all we left out last time we hand the wheel. Trouble is we ran off a cliff.

Steve A| 9.1.10 @ 1:13PM

Wow, what a deep thinker you are. Bush & Cheney derailed the economy because they let people keep 3-4% more of the $$ they earned. Give your Dad his laptop back & go back to the nintendo.

Your Daddy will spank you| 9.1.10 @ 5:21PM

I was putting seat belts in GMC trucks when you were in diapers sonny boy.
Why don't you get a job, and stop waiting for Mommy and daddy to croak. You already burned through Grandaddy's insurance.
You Gen Xers are all spoiled snot nosed slackers, and ditto whatever your caretakers say.
Man up boy, and get a job. Only a shut in, or a lazy annuity bum, sits around watching the fascist in FOX, listening to right wing sickos, and blogging on joke joints like this laugh.

Purple Lips| 9.1.10 @ 9:09AM

This endless childhood syndrome is evident in the sight 64 year old men with earrings and tats chasing women young enough to be thier grand daughters. Fortified with Viagra, bong juice, and Hendrix these aging Boomers try to re-live thier long forgotten youth. These are the people that brought us Credit Default Swaps, 9-11, and Obama.

daddio| 9.1.10 @ 10:59AM

This will end eventually. The cruel hand of Fate will pass judgement on their actions and this generation will be rightly forgotten.

Sam Vaughn| 9.1.10 @ 11:57AM

You're right.

Aelfgyva| 9.2.10 @ 1:52PM

"Their" not 'thier"

Bill| 9.2.10 @ 4:54PM

"Long-forgotten youth" is true; these folks think the 60s was fun. I guess they were too stoned to develop memories of what those times were really like.

Petronius| 9.1.10 @ 10:07AM

This column is a gross understatement. We were just treated to Jerry Springer's claim that Obama is "excellent." The only time I saw his show I had no clue that it would turn out to be as prophetic as it was disgusting. One chilly morning about 20 some years ago, I turned on the TV to catch the usual "33 after the hour, cloudy, and 39 degrees" during the break before going out. Instead, there's this ninny interviewing people wearing diapers and baby clothes on a national broadcast. And it wasn't just for shock value. They were demanding that the public at large accept them on their terms, just like all the other miscreants and pond life who bleed this country out. Let them all self destruct. But if the adults cannot regain control of our national culture, we are finished. Lisa is right about Peterpantheism. Should it's liberal believers beat us again, we will see what happens when they get a dose of Sharia. Stay tuned.

dw| 9.1.10 @ 11:09AM

"Boss, the plane, the plane!"

Ed| 9.1.10 @ 11:35AM

"We're following the leader,
the leader, the leader.

We're following the leader,
wherever he may go."

(From the Disney version of Peter Pan)

Bob| 9.1.10 @ 1:22PM

History appears to teach us that only severe pain, in whatever form, alters a society. The outcome, however, may be death by our own hand.

Steve A| 9.1.10 @ 2:53PM

Imagine if all of the Progressives & Leftists gathered on an island & put into practice all of their utopian pipe dream socialist programs & jailed or executed all political dissent & ran it with a visionary dictator who was not bogged down by politics or election results & could freely make these Progressive dreams a reality???? Would that not just be the ultimate success story? Full of love, peace & prosperity for all!! Oh yeah, they already tried that....it's called CUBA.

Tim*| 9.1.10 @ 3:58PM

George Bush Fell Off The Conservative Sled With TARP .
McCain Fell Off The Conservative Sled too many times to count and then Backed TARP .

The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates .

Rise Up !

Tony in Central PA| 9.1.10 @ 9:49PM

" If religion is the opiate of the Masses, then utopianism is the methamphetamine of the intellectuals ".
Not sure who coined this. Wish it were me.

Marc Jeric| 9.2.10 @ 2:33AM

After I escaped from that communist hell and after I waited 5 years to get a special refugee visa (thanks to Eisenhower and Kennedy), I arrived in California. Explaning my European engineering degree was complicated, and I had to start as a designer (BS degree here is called in Europe technician). And so to avoid those useless explanation I undertook 5 years of formal study at UCLA (while working full time, of course), finally ending up with the MS and PhD degrees - no more difficult explanations were necessary. At the campus I saw students protesting everything - the Vietnam war, the capitalism, for the rights of the poor and oppressed; a book exposition at the campus had collected works of Lenin in 3 thick volumes at one dollar each. I asked the student selling them if he knew who subsidized those books - he looked at me as if I was a lunatic. I grabbed those thick tomes and threw them on the grass, shouting: "Do you know how many people that mass killer executed? People like you as well?" The guy was flabbergasted and speechless; I then wisely went away before the campus police had a chance to arrest me. The only way those idiots could ever get smart is when they are thrown into a gulag for 20 years of forced labor. Today our marxist elite is studying the 160-year old Comunist Manifesto and consider themselves superior to us working stiffs. The normal ascendence to power of real communists is followed by 1) confiscation of all wealth and murder of all "capitalists and their stooges", and 2) mass murder of all those salon marxists now infesting our universities and Washington couloirs of power. These are called "idealistic fools, and therefore dangerous".

edgard| 9.2.10 @ 4:51AM

In Dutch we have a saying that sums it all op:
"WAT BATEN BOEK EN BRIL. ALS DEN UIL NIET ZIENEN WILT:
roughly meaning:
WHAT NEED IS THERE FOR BOOK AND GLASSES, IF THE OWL DOES NOT WANT TO LOOK"

Bill| 9.2.10 @ 4:04PM

Come on, now, you got to have a dream. If you don't have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true?

After November 2010, Pelosi, Reid, and Obie can join in a trio of "This Nearly Was Mine."

Bill| 9.2.10 @ 4:06PM

The campaign song for 2012 can be "Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair."

Bill| 9.2.10 @ 4:49PM

The Boomer generation, and all who followed, and, as far as that is concerned, the generations of the 1930s and 1940s, in the USA, had the information on what the USSR was doing to its people and to the satellite nations in its orbit. Anyone who wanted to know could know about the slaughter of the first 5-year plan, the "collectivization of the kulaks," the labor camps (in general), the show trials of the Great Terror. They might not have had reports of the true numbers, but no one who wanted to pay attention was misled that something vast and dark was going under Lenin and Stalin. The fellow travelers of the United States simply turned their backs on it, preferring to believe that somehow the USSR was the Workers' Paradise.

They are still that way, despite the years of revelation by Solzhenitsyn, the Venona Transcripts, and the many, many former Soviet and American historians (Haynes and Klehr, Vassiliev, Weinstein, Sudaplatov, Ginzberg, etc.) who have been willing to look unflinchingly in the Soviet beast's eye. They just want to denigrate the free market system and politics based on liberty instead of equality.