Baggage check.

We watched District 9 over the long weekend. Wow. So many different thoughts and messages, but I'll focus on the one that truly resonated with me.

People will believe almost anything about a person--as long as it's bad.

At first I thought this was sad commentary on our world. Sure, but the world is made up of people. So, specifically, it's sad commentary on the people jumping on the bandwagon, pouring gasoline on the fire, exercising their lips with words like, "I always thought s/he was a little [fill in the blank]." 

[A]: How could that guy have done that with an alien? I thought I knew him!
[B]: Um...perchance you do know him, and the story about what he did with an alien is absolute rot.
[A]: Nah. The news media is reporting it--from government sources. Must be true.
[B]: Sigh.

I tell my kids all the time that the person who is critical or spreads gossip reveals much more about himself or herself than he or she ever does about the target. Same goes for people who jump on that gossip and eat it up. What are they telling us about themselves?

I thought District 9 was a good case study in many of the darker aspects of human nature. Fear of what's different may have been the most obvious. But I think personal fear--the insidious little monster that lives inside us and feeds on insecurity about our own character.... That's the one that I find most troubling of all.