CMI on TV

Today, at my day time job at Radio America (where I am the mild-mannered Kent Clark), I learned that How I Met Your Mother has finally produced a spinoff: How I Met Your Dad.

Personally, I have mixed reactions to this news. On the one hand, despite a weak final season, I am a huge (think Popeye's biceps big) How I Met Your Mother fan. On the other hand, I think spinoffs, sequels, and prequels are just an excuse to be lazy and uncreative.

Of course, I did just go and see Thor 2 on opening weekend, so perhaps I shouldn't throw stones in my glass house...

Anyways, however you come down on the spinoff debate, How I Met Your Dad should be judged on its own merits....

In any dualistic philosophy, two competing powers exist - one evil and one good. Christianity has God and Satan, Chinese philosophy has yin and yang, and even ancient religions in Egypt and Persia had dualistic principles.

Dualism can be a comforting thing, knowing one force competes with the other. We can draw battle lines and make sense of what's happening in our lives. Removing one of those forces makes understanding life even easier.

Revenge seems hell-bent on doing away with any semblance of dualism and merely providing us with one example after another of humanity at its worst. When every character is devious, selfish and conniving, it makes it hard to root for anyone.

Should I praise Sara for telling Daniel that she won't be a homewrecker at...

Dr. Horn was introduced this season as ‘Revolution’s’ sadistic new villain, and the show’s writers had a predictable answer on why his character’s mindset is so completely warped. Why it’s because Dr. Horn was raised as a Christian, of course!

A series of flashbacks transport the audience back to 1994 where a young Dr. Horn’s mother is on her deathbed. Horn’s father prays steadfastly over his wife, encouraging his son to join him. When a disdainful Horn tells his father they should take his mother to a doctor, his father proclaims they cannot change God’s will. Fast forward a few days and we discover Horn’s mother has died, and Horn went to a doctor for medicine against his father’s wishes. His father finds the pills, and blames him for his mother’s death, while Horn blames his father’s medical inaction for the death of his mother.

There are two themes at work here: Horn was transformed into the twisted person he is now because of his Christian upbringing, and...

Who is General Ludd? Surely, I'm not the only one who immediately thought of the Atlas Shrugged reference: Who is John Galt?

I won't pretend I've read Atlas Shrugged by taking a stab at a deep comparison between Atlas Shrugged  and The Blacklist. But with only my precursory knowledge of Atlas Shrugged, something still stuck out to me.

Both questions come as a result of a cause devoted to overturning the economic zeitgeist. One seeks to destroy business that is seen as corrupt while the other seeks to build wealth by rejecting government meddling. Both philosophies are right to reject corruption and government meddling, but both philosophies do more harm than good.

Equality through...