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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > March > 08 > Entry
A funny Martin Sheen moment
While answering questions from students at Chaminade-Julienne High School Wednesday, actor Martin Sheen said one of his happiest moments was the first time he got arrested during a political protest. It wasn’t the first time he’d been arrested, he said, but it was the first time he was happy about it.
He said the arrest took place nearly 20 years ago in New York, where he was part of a group protesting Star Wars.
I took a look around at the high school juniors and seniors. Star Wars? The looked at each other in disbelief. How could anyone be against one of the greatest movie franchises of all time?
No, no, kids. Not THAT Star Wars.
Remember, the seniors and juniors in the audience were born in 1988 and 1989! They are a little too young to remember the Reagan-era billions the military spent chasing a science fiction dream — the Strategic Defense Initiative, a space-based laser system to shoot down nuclear missles.
Nickname: Star Wars.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: Private Schools
Comments
By Rick
March 12, 2006 8:17 PM | Link to this
Alan, no, it is not star wars. It takes billions of dollars and decades to develop a break-through weapon system, e.g., the F-22. Star wars was a significant, but not the only, factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviets were spending 50% of their GNP on defense and the addition of star wars was something they could not counter. And now we are starting to see all that effort coming to fruition.By Karen
March 12, 2006 1:31 PM | Link to this
Stupid media or stupid public…well, there are three of us posting here saying that we were reading all that stuff that isn’t there anymore. And stupid public or not, the media has a responsibility to provide the information.By Mary
March 10, 2006 7:56 AM | Link to this
We seem to have two different threads here - Star Wars and media depth. I agree with Alan, we should have set higher prioities for alternative fuels years ago, as I think President Jimmy Carter tried to do, but was not reelected. The attention span of the public was to simply ridicule him as a peanut farmer. There are problems with the depth of the media and the depth of the public. Which came first - stupid media or stupid public? I am amazed at how many sports writers the Dayton Daily seems to have but not many education and other writers. Does this reflect the priorities of the public or the priroities of the newspaper?By Molly
March 9, 2006 1:11 PM | Link to this
I too am insulted by DDN’s perception of my short attention span. Having the opportunity to hear the three person panel after the prayer service, I am fully aware of the testimonies of the three speakers and the inspiration they had to offer to the junior and senior classes of Chaminade-Julienne High School.By wheels
March 9, 2006 12:28 PM | Link to this
I agree with Karen. Lately, whenever I read a DDN article, I am left feeling that I have only gotten half (or less) of the information. At first, I would turn pages looking for the rest of the story, but I’ve realized that there is no more. What is going on? I e-mailed a speak up addressing this problem, but it never got printed. I guess the DDN doesn’t care what it’s readers are thinking.By Karen
March 9, 2006 11:55 AM | Link to this
I was at parts of the events at CJ yesterday. While Scott’s article on the front of the Local section did a very good job of capturing the essence of the day, I am frustrated by how little the paper actually printed about the event. I’ve noticed that articles have gotten much shorter lately. Seeing how much was left unsaid about yesterday, I am wondering how much of the rest of the news isn’t getting printed.By Alan
March 9, 2006 11:00 AM | Link to this
Let’s clear a few things up. First, if as Rick says untold billions spent on SDI research over 20 years has yielded nothing more than a few destroyed missles that only proves what a collosal waste of money the whole thing was. The basic idea is flawed. Even if you blow up a nuclear missle in the air some of the warheads are still going to fall to earth, causing death, destruction and enviornmental damage. This idea was never going to work. It truly is science fiction. Second, SDI spending did not cause the Soviet Union to fall. This is a fallacy. Many factors came into play but the primary factor was that the political and economic model of Soviet communism was unsustainable. It was going to eventually fail, with or without Ronald Reagan’s wasteful spending on military systems that would never work. Just think of all the good that could have been done with the billions spent on SDI. Maybe we could have an alternative fuel by now that would make oil irrelevent.By Barry
March 9, 2006 10:39 AM | Link to this
Those billions spent on the military during the Reagan era is why the cold war is over and we won. Not to mention all the cool tech we have because of the military developed it. When you cut the defense budget we all lose The greatest developers of technology are the military, porn, the space program, medicine, and the gaming geeks. The theocrats out there would have us get rid of all but the most basic level of medicine.By Rick
March 9, 2006 7:33 AM | Link to this
Oh, Scott, you are letting your politics show. Star wars was and is not “science fiction. “It has proceeded apace and has been in the testing phase, shooting down missiles. Not all the tests have been successful, but it has shot down missiles.