Josh Sully (Avatar) is the American Taliban

Dear all y'all -

I'm behind the times: I just got back from my first viewing of Avatar. One syllable: rock.

Firstly, it must be said that this film doth penetrate (er... penetrateth?) deep the heart of Chicken Freighter with its main theme of nature versus machinery. But, lets face it, I don't want to take the time to write about that, and you, Websurfer0xF2A910EE, obviously aren't going to have more than 47 seconds to read a blog entry.

So on to my Hauptanlegen: Josh Sully is clearly a representation of the American Taliban, John Walker Lindh. Heres why...

1. Both get wooed to the 'other side' of American skirmishes. Standard 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter' kind of stuff.

2. Mr.Sully could essentially be charged the same things that Mr.Lindh is in prison for, among others:

• Conspiracy to murder US citizens or US nationals
• Conspiracy to provide material support and resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations
• Providing material support and resources to terrorist organizations
• Using and carrying firearms and destructive devices during crimes of violence

3. Both transform themselves and don the garb of their new way

4. Close but no cigar: if Mr. Lindh would have been in Iraq, it woulda been a dead giveaway with the whole American war to secure raw materials thing.








Can you come up with any other similarities, dear Reader?

OK, so heres a big difference: John Lindh goes in for the fanatical islamist regime and Jake Sully for a peaceful, albeit by necessity war-like naturalist one. Damn, that seemed like a big difference before I wrote it down.

I don't sympathize with John Lindh based on what I've seen in the press - fundamentalists wing-nuts of any persuasion are not good for the world. But I couldn't help but wonder, if John Lindh would have rallied the tribes and expelled American forces from Afghani soil, would the story of Avatar not basically be the historical recollection of the then-reigning Taliban?

Or maybe I better just hit the hay...