I think I'm now within 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon

The question is whether Kevin Bacon is within 6 degrees of eeeevil. Wait. I'll get there.

It's been awhile since I've heard from my very good friend Danny, who's an actor. So I Google him up and, lo and behold, he's in a movie in current release, The War Within. What's amazing about this is that I actually saw a brief trailer for it on Slate or Salon a few weeks ago. I didn't notice Danny in it, partly because I wasn't paying that much attention, partly because trailers are cut so fast, but mostly because it's a movie about Muslim terrorists. Not to typecast, but Danny's Hispanic, so I don't necessarily expect him in Muslim roles. Yet he's been in 3 movies now, and played a Muslim in all 3. (He also played a doorman named Mohamed on Broadway). I can tell you that, back in school (long before 9/11), his fear was not being typecast as a Muslim....

The funniest thing, however, was discovering a writeup on The War Within on a homeschooling website. I think it may be a reprint from Front Page magazine (not going to link to David Horowitz's lunatics), but regardless, it's a pretty good rant to the effect that making movies in which terrorists are anything but cardboard cutout evil is wrong, exemplified by the following line: "Empathy. Sympathy. Whatever. It's a distinction without a difference, and this absurd psychobabble to justify rooting for terrorists is flat-out disgusting." I hope that Flamingo Sherri's kids know how to respond to questions marked wrong: "2+2=4, 2+2=5, it's a distinction without a difference, Mom."

Obviously, I haven't seen the movie; who knows if it's any good, or if it's "rooting for terrorists." But I can't help but feel favorable towards art that pisses off Horowitz and homeschoolers.