1953 Julius Caesar live blog #9

Well, the crowd scenes are definitely more effective in a movie than in a play. You can only fit so many people on a stage, but when you see Brutus acting accountable before hundreds of Romans instead of just a few secondary actors, it's more powerful. And when hundreds of people are supporting Brutus as a hero, there's even more of that mob mentality (that Averill was talking about).

And here's where Brutus' motives are summed up nicely: "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more."

That mentality and patriotism must apply to more than just presidential assassinations, haha. I guess I've been talking about that because it's the most obvious. But when has a politician acted immorally but patriotically? When has someone done something bad, but for the good of the country?

The person that popped into my mind might surprise you: Gerald Ford. When he took office after Richard Nixon's resignation, he immediately pardoned Nixon.

Now, I've heard different reasons for doing this. It could have been Tricky Dick up to his old tricks again, and somehow made President Ford get him off scot-free. But also, I've heard that by pardoning Nixon, President Ford was trying to get the country past the scandal, past the cynicism. Maybe it was immoral to let a guilty man go free, but it was patriotic to unite the country, wipe the slate clean and move on.

Is that a stretch? What do you think?