DEAR HOLLYWOOD
I’ve addressed this like a kid’s letter to Santa hoping, just as those wishes usually find their way back to mom & dad, these observations make their way to parentage-central, meaning to the moguls, matriarchs, talents, movers/shakers behind the scenes. In fact, this goes beyond Hollywood to the entire entertainment industry, including films, tv, radio, music, concert groups & stage.
It’s about behavior, decorum, propriety, discretion, sensitivity and down right decency, and how in my opinion these social graces should inure to an entertainment celebrity.
I was going to address it Dear George, but in deference to these same considerations I felt I would be over-stepping my privilege, me being a mere private citizen and all, and not an entertainer.
To begin, I love movies. They’re one of my main sources of entertainment and nobody likes going to the movies more than I do.
They’ve been a part of my life for over 50yrs.
The stars seemed like demigods or something, certainly bigger than life > John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Kathryn Hepburn, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe etc. Now, Sean Penn, Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, Cher, Tom Hanks, R Downey Jr, George Clooney and so on. Huge talents in their own right, giving us brilliant entertainment over the years.
But Hollywood, here’s the thing: your movies are fine, it’s your politics I can’t stand! And don’t give me that Excuse me? stuff, like you don’t know what I’m talking about!
We all know you do, seeing the fanfare you’ve given this president, and the way you carried on with the Clintons and yes, the way you come across generally regarding all things democrat – there’s just no mistaking it. You’re in our face like a carnival barker for those guys, and don’t give a hoot for us guys. You know, us – the nasty republicans and conservatives making up the other half of your audience and the other half of this country!
Last time you laid red carpet for a republican was Reagan. He basked in some of it, but he was one of your’s with lots of friends in the business. So we can discount that.
So be honest. It’s a well established fact and common knowledge Hollywood types, including actors, actresses, directors, producers, writers, agents, cameramen, publicity types, movie critics, studio execs yada yada and anybody/everybody not mentioned but work- ing anywhere on the planet are outspoken liberals, socialists, re- distribute-the-wealth nutjobs . . . OK, make that do-gooders.
Too harsh? My apologies to anyone I’ve broadbrushed in with the left-wing crazies. I know some of you just act like them, to keep your jobs! Or, you’re low-profile brave and claim no formal ties or affiliations, but I bet you chip in double-sawbucks when they take a collection, and always push blue buttons in the voting booth.
Point – I’m first to agree we all have the right to think what we want, and to subscribe to any political philosophy. This is what makes America great. But 99.5% of us don’t have the bully pulpit of our own celebrity to bullhorn our view. We can’t use our talent/ success in one area to proselytize our feelings in another.
Point – I don’t care what this or that actor is, be it red, blue, green or purple. Just don’t rub my nose in it! I’m your friend, remember? I patronize your movies and spend lots of money. Don’t go out of your way to antagonize me! Let me read about it, hear it at a party, catch a snippet on the news. Spend enormous amounts of money if you want, supporting your beliefs. What you do privately is your business. But when you wear your celebrity halo in public you are not just another private citizen voicing an opinion. You are some- one with instant credibility, having tremendous sway over millions. That gives you an unfair advantage in the arena of public opinion. You’d do well to admit you have no special knowledge on how to run the country. Your’s is just an opinion, no better than our’s.
Point – in case you missed the first three, a person in the public’s eye should have a sense of propriety how to behave, how to use their popularity, especially with something as divisive and inflammatory as politics. Being a celebrity does not justify the exploitation of millions simply because they’re awestruck/mesmerized by your celebrity, believing what it says, even acting on its advice.
Point – all celebrity is not the same. We can respect and admire a great athlete, astronaut, musician or writer. Same with inventors, successful business leaders, doctors or scientists who achieve some notoriety in their chosen field. But none of these capture our imagination like movie stars acting out our fantasies, beguiling us with bigger-than-life images depicting over-dramatized and/or fictionalized heroics, bravery and sacrifice.
Watching stars over the years, people tend to fixate on their screen personas and reel life, instead of real life. They identify with the characters they play and, perhaps unconsciously, make them a personal role model. Again, not all of us get lost in this, but some do come to admire, even love, a personal favorite. It’s not far-fetched to expect they will respect and value what their favorite says.
The star could be irresponsible or of low-character, and it wouldn’t matter. Given this, what if it’s not just an innocent opinion, but a use of celebrity to push an agenda, persuading fans to follow their lead? This would be deceitful, right? And if done by a group of other unscrupulous celebrities, all rallying round the same cause it could torque/put a spin on a neutral body-politic, right?
Another possibility is the star is simply saying what he/she believes, right or wrong. It could be a totally innocent thing, the star not realizing how powerful and persuasive their opinion might be.
But I repeat, I only sense this possibility with major A-list stars. That’s why I admonish them to use judgment and self-restraint. This is not a prohibition or censorship, only a caution to try and use good judgment, self-effacement and civility when talking politics, and to stay alert and sensitive to opposing views.
Point – unhealthy reality: we have a biased mainstream media in collusion with Hollywood’s view, and like Hollywood it’s joined at the hip across this country with a monolithic viewpoint. It is not well disposed to judge or criticize one of it’s own. For some time now it has marched in lockstep, playing a monotonous tune, making no pretense at being fair or balanced. It is, in fact, disgustingly biased in favor of this president, democrats and liberalism.
Media > Hollywood > Left!
Point – another unhealthy reality: I just argued, Hollywood, how the media is your friend and enabler. You couldn’t get away with your antics if it was fair. I now charge another institution in the cultural landscape as also being another enabler: academia.
It’s well documented that in colleges and universities across the land many departments are over-populated by professors who are registered democrats; that is to say, liberals & progressives. This is true across all disciplines except the hard sciences, but particularly worrisome in the studies of government, political science, history and law. To a great extent, it’s also true in high schools/middle schools. I believe our last two generations were deliberately and incrementally propagandized toward a left-of-center ideology, with techniques and methods that took advantage of politically-neutral minds. This was accomplished using revisionistic lesson plans and politically correct materials.
I believe it is the case that the ranks making up academia embarked on a path of self-aggrandizement many years ago, realizing they needed to bolster support from outside their ranks. They needed wider-spread agreement and subsidy from non-academics and non-public sector workers. Most crucial, they wanted to create a progressive-intelligentsia conveyor-belt, snaking around & through government and the public sector, Wall Street and the private sec- tor, and back to academia. The plan: if you want a big prestigious job in any of these venues, you better be jostling along on the left’s conveyor belt.
The most egregious examples of this ideological self-indulgence
have been the Ivy League schools, from which most of our political leaders, captains of industry and academic elites have come.
By their effort these past 60yrs we now have a ruling class tilting left, and a worker/proletariat class also tending left.
The hapless middle/upper middle class who are the primary stewards of the economy, stoking the fires of commerce, also are being squeezed and attacked. Using divide and conquer tactics the left prods gays, women, blacks, browns, environmentalists and many others into confrontational postures with what has been our traditional, center-right status quo, the very underpinnings of our fabulously successful and unequalled American enterprise. If we lose our solidarity under this attack those underpinnings will begin to crumble, and America moves further left; way left.
Democrat >Academia >Government >Media >Hollywood > Left!
Point – celebrities used to keep their politics and religion private, out of the public’s eye. They wielded their influence, but knew it could backfire if abused or taken too far. They dealt with a more distant, pluralistic press, with differing political leanings & entertainment preferences. A celebrity knew some wouldn’t hesitate to criticize or even bring them down, if they acted stupid. Not so to- day. Celebrities who sing a party line can conduct themselves with impugnity, since they have sycophants and lackeys for critics.
Point – less is more. Years ago I saw the film Jerry Maguire and was annoyed by a short piece of dialogue demeaning new Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas. It was totally gratuitous, inserted to advertize the filmmaker’s opinion – and not to enhance the film! I remember thinking is this a subliminal attack to sway the masses, insofar as many people missed it or didn’t take it seriously.
I was annoyed, as opposed to disgusted/outraged, which I could well have been. But the filmmaker constrained himself and drew a line, keeping it humorous. I respected and tolerated that. But I re- member thinking/worrying how this psychological device was probably being used more than I knew, bombarding audiences with indoctrinating zingers every time we went to the movies. If true, this mind-control stuff was far worse than all their other in-your-face effronteries.
Point – when George Clooney {yep, Dear George} hosts a big fund-raiser for Obama and raises millions for his re-election, and many A-list stars attend, and the media fawns over the whole affair with its smarmy countenance, yet not one voice musters courage to suggest – Gee, isn’t this a rah-rah doo, isn’t it just; is this Hollywood’s only face? Isn’t it a bit unseemly for stars like Clooney and his pals to act out like this? Here we thought George was Hollywood’s reigning King of Hearts, and all this time he’s been the Left’s Poster Boy for all the bleeding hearts!
Were fair-minded reporters squirming in their seats, or do such journalists exist anymore? Where’s their sarcasm how this shindig was an over the top lovefest? Where’s token rhetoric about which Hollywood luminaries were missing? Is it because they’re conservatives? Are any big stars conservative? Medium stars? Little guys? Hellooo?
Scads of celebrities turn out for Obama and empty their wallets; scads of media nod their approval. I ask you, if you watch the news with equanimity, you’re a Clooney fan, you see Tom Hanks, Sean
Penn and the rest (see opening list/now) milling about, smiling as they write huge checks, and your newsguy/gal paints it all as wonderful, marvelous, very worthwhile (not just your news-guys, mind you > all of them!) – uh, do you think we’re being conned? Persuasive onslaught – check; unanimous point of view – check; theatre of the Absurd Left – check. Victimized voters – maybe?
For sure Susie-Soccer, Joe-Sports, Baby-on-Board moms & dads, young adults of unformulated opinion, leaning-democrat gays, blacks, browns, activist women, environmental radicals, globalists, academics, professor-types, unionists, government workers . . it’s a pretty good bet all these will imbibe the hoopla and move further left than they already are.
What about the rest of us, we plain, hard-working people, middle & upper middle class traditional Americans – not rich, just comfortable! We who make our own way, pay our bills, obey the law and honor the constitution; believe in family, community and country. We the quiet majority, the non-marchers and sitters, the non-entitlees, business & farm owners, professionals, we making up the economic back-bone of daily commerce. Hopefully, our ranks are not seduced by this glitz and glamour. We see it for what it is and bemoan Hollywood’s clumsiness and lack of class. We’ll never give in to > if it’s good enough for George, it’s good enough for me!
Point – Clooney and pals could have used a 2×4 to the back of our head, if they wanted. They aren’t subtle because they don’t need to be. They’re smug in their self-righteous celebrity; they’ve no sensitivity/respect for the opposing view; they’re leading the populist parade; they think they have the moral high-ground, with their humanism and compassion. Never mind if the systemic articulation of their ideas is doomed to failure; not their problem.
They have no sense of fairness and will move the line as far as necessary to get their way. They can do all this, because media is their friend. They do it because academia promotes their agenda in our colleges & schools, and current generations are highly predisposed if not openly receptive to their ideas, having walked down those aisles and through those reformational, revisionistic halls. You all do it because to you, Obama is just another democrat, and not the most divisive, inept, socialistic, unsuitable, anti-American president this country has ever known. You can’t/won’t see how he’s an anathema to our societal health and continued well-being.
Final Point – years ago I ate at Carl’s Jr. I really liked their stuff. Then they had Paris Hilton in a bikini wetting herself down while eating a hamburger . . and scared me away. Same thing with Calvin Klein, Abercrombie & Fitch, AARP and others. In my view, all are counter-culture, hyper-secular, anti-traditional, even anti-American > French-owned Target Stores for example, with their restricted airspace following 9/11 + ban on veteran panhandling.
All of these entities, companies and services fell into disfavor with me for one reason or another, and I don’t patronize them anymore.
I lost interest in the Olympics when they gave Tanya Harding a pass. I gave up on professional sports when they let announcers of ill-repute play-call, and athletes play after many warnings, infractions, outrageous personal behaviors, fines, even arrests and incarcerations. I’ve made up my mind not to patronize any of these.
Guess what Hollywood, and George? I’m no longer patronizing you. I’m reducing my movie-going habit, and restricting films starring you or your cronies. From now on, I’ll watch you on the small screen, make you a smaller-than-life influence, and make my own popcorn.
Like I said at the get-go, I love movies. You’re all great performers and I’ll look forward to your future projects. I just won’t be paying to see them. I’ll really miss that because like I said, I really love going to the movies.
But you see, as much as I love movies, I love my country more, a lot more. The work you do on screen is wonderful, but the work you do off screen is not. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion and to be democrat, progressive, communist, whatever. But you can’t knowingly/unknowingly work to undermine our political system and this great country, and that’s what you’re doing. You may not realize it, believing your way is the best. You believe egalitarian- ism, utopianism even that old disestablishmentarianism thing we marveled at in school, can work. I do not. I believe they are, and will be, the end of this great experiment called America.
You and your fellows would take this most excellent ship of state, laden/burden it with all your trappings of liberalism, and say all the while – now it’s a kinder, gentler, more noble vessel. I say you are mistaken! You injure it’s mechanism, disrupt it’s purpose, and halt it’s progress. I say you will sink it for sure.
Actors and artists aren’t the only ones with passions and beliefs. You just have more money, better debating skills, and that false credibility of celebrity thing. Here, my voice is equal to your’s. You have no advantage, other than the relative truth/falsity of your position compared with mine. Let the working examples of social- list societies down through history speak to the American model. Let any unbiased/disinterested 3rd party examine and compare the European models of today with America, and let them judge.
So there you go. You’re boycotted, along with AARP, Carl’s and the rest. Hopefully there are still enough actors around to crank out movies for me to enjoy on the big screen, stars more reasonable and discreet when broadcasting their politics.
Millions of voices must not be stifled, or have their opinions over-ridden roughshod, by the foghorn/bullhorn of irresponsible celebrity. I hope I’ve made that point clear. I also hope the collusive, incestuous monopoly of media, and the callous, pro-liberal, anti-American teachings of academia come to their day of reckoning soon, for neither serves us well.
I’m glad that’s off my chest. I hope this letter reaches many others besides you guys. Who knows, maybe I’m not the only one with this reaction to your unbridled license and nonsense? Maybe others will boycott too? I end on what I hope is a profound thought –
One small step for reasonableness, tradition & conservatism,
One urgent & necessary step for America!
I’ll sleep soundly now, knowing my money isn’t furthering your liberal agenda! By the way, Hollywood, if by some strange token I’ve struck a nerve – you might consider marching a few of your most unruly children out to the ‘ol woodshed. Give‘em what’s for, if you know what I mean, and get one in for me!
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