Progress | Kevin Barrett's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Progress’

Especially In A Fascist State

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged American Politics, Government, Liberty, Philosophy, President Thomas Jefferson, Progress, Quotes on May 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.

― Thomas Jefferson

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Click here (26 May) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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A Relative Of Mine, Named Moses, Wrote The Ten Commandments

Posted in General Comments, Movie Review, Movies, Reviews, tagged American Frontier, Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, Best Art Direction Oscar, Best Picture Oscar, Cimarron (1931) — movie review, Civic Responsibility, Dixie Lee, Estelle Taylor, General Comments, George E. Stone, Hollywood Epic, Irene Dunne, Jesse Rickey, Keystone Cops, Moderate Movie Recommendation, Movie Reviews, Mrs. Tracy Wyatt, Nance O’Neil, Native Americans, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889, Osage OK, Prejudice, Progress, Reviews, Richard Dix, Roscoe Ates, Sabra Cravat, Sol Levy, Spanish Words, Wesley Ruggles, Yancey Cravat on May 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

“Cimarron” (1931) — movie review
Today’s review is for the early Hollywood Western epic “Cimarron”, directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Richard Dix as Yancey Cravat, the larger-than-life frontier newspaperman, lawyer, gunman, and dreamer who can’t stay rooted in one place; Irene Dunne as Sabra Cravat, his devoted but increasingly independent wife who must hold the family together while Yancey chases adventure; Estelle Taylor as Dixie Lee, the misunderstood dance-hall girl whose presence stirs scandal and moral debate in the growing town; George E. Stone as Sol Levy, the small Jewish shopkeeper who endures prejudice while quietly becoming part of Osage’s everyday life; Nance O’Neil as Mrs. Tracy Wyatt, a symbol of the old social order trying to maintain propriety on the frontier; and Roscoe Ates as Jesse Rickey, the stuttering but loyal friend who adds touches of humor to the rough-and-tumble setting. Together, they populate a sweeping story about ambition, prejudice, progress, and the cost of chasing the American frontier.

Background: This was my first viewing of this film. “Cimarron” is one of those early black and white Best Picture winners I’ve never heard about let alone sat down to watch. Released in 1931, it won three Academy Awards — Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction — and received seven nominations overall, including Best Actor (Dix) and Best Actress (Dunne). Historically, it’s significant as one of the earliest large-scale Western epics, notable for its ambitious land-rush sequence and its attempt to cover several decades of American expansion. It was also one of the first talkies to tackle themes of racism, sexism, and social change — though, being a product of its time, it handles these issues unevenly. This film is mostly known as “that early Western that won Best Picture,” but I didn’t know much about the plot or characters going in. Now that I’ve seen it, I can understand why it was celebrated in its day, why it feels dated now, and why it’s been criticized as one of the worst Best Picture winners ever. (LoL… It’s not that bad.)

Plot: The story begins with the famous Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889, where thousands race to claim territory in the newly opened frontier. Yancey Cravat, charismatic and restless, fails to secure the land he wants but decides to settle in the boomtown of Osage. He brings his wife Sabra and their young son, and quickly becomes a central figure in the community — founding a newspaper, defending outcasts, and trying to bring law and order to the chaotic settlement. Yancey’s idealism often clashes with the town’s prejudices, particularly regarding Native Americans and women. Over the years, Yancey repeatedly leaves home to chase new adventures, leaving Sabra to run the newspaper, raise their children, and become a respected civic leader in her own right. The story spans decades, following the growth of Osage from a dusty frontier town to a modern city. Yancey’s absences, Sabra’s evolution, and the town’s transformation all build toward a final reckoning with Yancey’s legacy — heroic, flawed, and ultimately tragic.

So, is this movie any good? How’s the acting? The filming / FX? Any problems? And, did I enjoy the film? Short answers: Mostly; solid early-talkie performances; ambitious but uneven filming; several issues; mostly yes.

Any good? Mostly. “Cimarron” is a sweeping, ambitious film that tries to tell a big story about America’s frontier expansion. Some of it works very well – particularly the opening land-rush sequence, which is still impressive almost a century later. The film’s themes of progress, prejudice, and civic responsibility are handled with surprising earnestness for the early 1930s. But the pacing is uneven, and the episodic structure sometimes makes the story feel disjointed. Still, as an early Hollywood epic, it has moments of genuine power and historical interest.

Acting: Richard Dix gives a bold, theatrical performance as Yancey: very much in the early‑talkie style, with big gestures and booming delivery. It’s not subtle, but it fits the character’s larger-than-life persona. Irene Dunne is excellent as Sabra, bringing warmth, frustration, and eventual strength to a role that could have been one-note. Her performance is the emotional anchor of the film. Estelle Taylor adds depth to Dixie Lee, even though the script doesn’t give her much room. The supporting cast is a mix of broad character types and earnest performances typical of the era. Overall, the acting is solid for its time, though modern viewers may find some of it stiff.

Filming / FX: The film’s standout achievement is the land-rush sequence — chaotic, dangerous, and surprisingly dynamic for 1931. It ends up feeling very “Keystone Cops” frenetic (sped up). Horses, wagons, dust clouds, and hundreds of extras create a sense of scale that still holds up. The rest of the film is more conventional for early-day cinema: static camera setups, staged interiors, and early sound-era limitations. The production design is strong, especially in showing the town’s growth over decades. The cinematography is functional rather than artistic, but the ambition of the large scenes makes up for it. For an early talkie, it’s visually impressive in places.

Problems: Several. The pacing is uneven, with long stretches that feel slow or disconnected. Yancey’s repeated long-term disappearances strain credibility and make him a difficult character to root for. Some performances feel overly theatrical by modern standards. The film’s handling of race and gender is a mixed bag — at times extremely racist towards Jews, African-Americans and Indians while “trying” to be progressive in intention, they are dated (and frequently uncomfortable) in execution. The episodic structure makes the story feel more like a series of vignettes than a cohesive narrative. None of these issues ruin the film, but they do make it feel very much of its time (offensive by today’s standards).

Did I enjoy the film? Mostly. It’s interesting, historically important, and occasionally moving. Sabra’s character arc is the strongest part of the film, and the land-rush sequence alone is worth seeing. The film’s ambition is admirable, even when the execution falters. It’s not a movie I’d watch repeatedly, but I’m glad I saw it at least. And even though the film is highly fictionalized, I did learn a little bit about the history of Oklahoma. LoL. I also learned that the word “cimarron” comes from Spanish and means “wild” as in a wild horse or an adventurous person.

Final Recommendation: Moderate recommendation. “Cimarron” is an important early Hollywood epic — ambitious, earnest, and occasionally powerful. Its Academy Awards reflect both its technical achievements and its cultural impact at the time. While the film feels dated (and openly racist) in many ways, it remains a significant piece of cinema history, especially for fans of early Westerns or Best Picture list completists (is that a real word?). If you’re interested in the evolution of American film or the early days of the Academy Awards, this one is worth a look. Just go in expecting an early-1930s epic, not a modern Western.

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Click here (1 May) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Stay Open To Progress

Posted in Other Blogs, Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Direction, http://missfloetry.wordpress.com/, Long Trails, Optimism, Other Blogs, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes, Small Decisions, Smiling on May 11, 2025| 2 Comments »

It may not always feel like you’re making progress, but you are. Every time you decide to get up with a smile on your face, you’re making progress. Whenever you choose to keep going when all you want to do is give up, that’s progress. When you open your mind and consider things in a way that you never have before, you’re moving forward. The vast majority of progress isn’t made in big noticeable steps, but in the millions of small decisions you make on a daily basis that keep you moving in the right direction. So don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t seem like you’re getting anywhere. The long trail behind you shows just how far you’ve come.

The above quote was taken from a blog I used to follow… The quote is from (circa) 17 January 2018
The site was: missfloetry.wordpress.com
Unfortunately, the site has been deleted by the site owner. — kmab

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Click here (11 May) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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The Limits Of Tyrants

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Endurance, Frederick Douglass, Freedom, Oppression, Philosophy, Power, Progress, Quotes, Struggle, Tyrants on March 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the roar of its mighty waters.

The struggle may be a moral one or it may be a physical one, or it may both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will. Find out just what a people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

— Frederick Douglass

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Click here (10 March) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Humble Learning

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Humility, Learning, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes, Talmud, Tongue, Wisdom on October 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Teach your tongue to say I do not know and you will progress.

— Talmud

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Click here (3 October) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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In Less Than 70 Days…

Posted in History, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged 2022 Mid-Term Elections, Congress, Democrats, George Santayana, Memory, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes, Register And Vote, Remembering, Republicans, The Life Of Reason, The Past, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, U.S. Supreme Court on September 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

— George Santayana
From: “The Life of Reason“

[In less than 70 days, we (the U.S.) will be having our “mid-term” elections. This is typically a referendum on the sitting President and his / her policies. It sometimes results in a change in majority party in the House of Representatives, the Senate – or, less frequently, both. At the moment, both are “controlled” by the Democrats, but it is generally believed the Republicans will “flip” both come November. I believe this will almost certainly happen if Democrats fail to get off their “duffs” and vote – much as they failed to do in the Presidential election of 2016 – which resulted in the election of Trump to President, to Republican control of both sides of Congress (House and Senate) and, ultimately, to Republican control of the Supreme Court. (How has that worked out for us, folks?)

Elections have consequences! Register early. Confirm your registration. Talk to your friends and family. Ask them to register AND to vote. And you VOTE, too!! Elections are NOT won by the majority of the people. They are won by the majority who VOTE. Make your voice heard: VOTE! — kmab]

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Click here (8 September) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Someone Should Tell Senator Joe Manchin

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged American Politics, Arnold H. Glasow, Impossibility, Necessity, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes, Senator Joseph "Joe" Manchin on December 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Progress is what happens when impossibility yields to necessity.

— Arnold H. Glasow

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Click here (27 December) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Unmistakable Progress

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Anonymous, Mistakes, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes on June 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »

You are making progress if each mistake you make is a new one.

— Anonymous

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Click here (2 June) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Facing The Truth

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Life-long Mistakes, Opportunity, Paul Ford, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes, Technology, Truth, Why I (Still) Love Tech: In Defense of a Difficult Industry, Wired Magazine on April 14, 2020| 7 Comments »

I’ve made a mistake, a lifelong one, correlating advancements in technology with progress. Progress is the opening of doors and the leveling of opportunity, the augmentation of the whole human species and the protection of other species besides. Progress is cheerfully facing the truth, whether flooding coastlines or falling teen pregnancy rates, and thinking of ways to preserve the processes that work and mitigate the risks. Progress is seeing calmly, accepting, and thinking of others.

— Paul Ford
From his article: “*Why I (Still) Love Tech: In Defense of a Difficult Industry*“
Appearing in: Wired Magazine; dtd: May 2019

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Click here (14 April) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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To Fly

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Climbing, Dancing, Flying, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes, Running, Standing, Teaching, Walking on March 25, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This however is my teaching: he who wisheth one day to fly, must first learn standing and walking and running and climbing and dancing: one doth not fly into flying!

— Friedrich Nietzsche
From: “Thus Spoke Zarathustra“

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Click here (25 March) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Three Down, Three To Go

Posted in Education, Faith, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Anthony De Mello, Destruction, Jesuits, Learning, Philosophy, Politics, Progress, Quotes, Religion, Society Of Jesus, Wealth, Worship on October 31, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Much advance publicity was made for the address the Master would deliver on “The Destruction of the World” and a large crowd gathered at the monastery grounds to hear him. The address was over in less than a minute. All he said was: “These things will destroy the human race: politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, learning without silence, religion without fearlessness and worship without awareness.“

— Anthony de Mello, SJ

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Click here (31 October) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Even Tiny Progress

Posted in Diets, Health, Other Blogs, Quotes, tagged Celebrate Small Victories, Change, Diet, Fear, Food, Habits, http://greatist.com/, http://greatist.com/eat/whole30-beginners-guide, Jamie Webber, Melissa Hartwig, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes, Relationship To Food, Struggle, The Beginner's Guide to Whole30, Whole30 on September 21, 2018| 2 Comments »

The struggle is a normal, necessary part of the process. Changing your food is hard. Changing your habits is even harder. Changing your relationship with food is the hardest part of all. The process requires struggle — it’s how you know you’re growing — but don’t make it harder than it has to be! There is no such thing as the ‘perfect Whole30,’ so if your beef isn’t grass-fed or your travel meal doesn’t look exactly like our meal template, don’t sweat it. Your only job is to stick to the Whole30 rules for 30 days, and some days, you’ll have to let good enough be good enough. When you do struggle, remember why you took on the program in the first place, and don’t be overwhelmed by the big picture — just focus on the next day, or the next meal. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it, and high-five yourself for the victories you’re achieving every day you’re on the program, no matter how small. Even tiny progress is progress.

— Melissa Hartwig
Quoted by: Jamie Webber
In the on-line article: “The Beginner’s Guide to Whole30“
Specific link: http://greatist.com/eat/whole30-beginners-guide

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Click here (21 September) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Up For Progress

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Despair, Falling, Getting Up, Leo Tolstoy, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes on September 8, 2018| 2 Comments »

The only person who doesn’t fall is the one who doesn’t strive toward anything. Fall a thousand times and get up a thousand times and if you don’t despair, you will make progress.

— Leo Tolstoy

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Click here (8 September) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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No Progress, But Still Unreasonable

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged George Bernard Shaw, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes, Unreasonable Man on October 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

― George Bernard Shaw

[I like to think of myself as rational, if not entirely reasonable… Some might say it’s the other way around. — kmab]

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Click here (8 October) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Keep Moving Forward

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Martin Luther King Jr, Philosophy, Progress, Quotes on July 9, 2017| 2 Comments »

If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.

― Martin Luther King Jr.

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Click here (9 July) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.