Logic Times
Hooray for Hollywood?
Commentary by Aslan, 3/3/06, 9:46pm. Comments (0)
"It is almost beyond comp- rehension how we could have been brought into this war based on lies and continue to lose so many lives, both American and Iraqi. It makes my skin crawl ... my heart break." Jane Fonda
"How far have we come from understanding what it is to kill one man, one woman, or one child, much less the 'collateral damage' of many hundreds of thousands. Your use of the words, 'this is a new kind of war' is often accompanied by an odd smile." Sean Penn
"We were clearly deceived by this administration and now we find ourselves fighting a war under false pretenses . . . Let us remember that UN weapons inspectors asked for more time to search Iraq for WMDs . . . Why would you invade a country if there was still a chance for peace?" Barbra Streisand
Conservatives – practical people and rational thinkers – generally do not like Hollywood, a place where people are lauded for escaping reality. Like an asylum where robed patients shuffle around manicured grounds talking to imaginary friends, Hollywood liberals are sealed within a fantasy world where they believe their opinions matter and that people are listening. They fail to realize that most rational people see them as mediocre entertainment on the silver screen and uproarious entertainment when they are trying to be serious.
Yet, while conservatives are amused at the stumbling attempts of Sean Penn and Barbra Streisand to comprehend matters well beyond their grasp, they understand that these political amateurs are consummate media professionals, capable of disseminating cleverly packaged witlessness to every nook and cranny of the country. This makes them dangerous. Why, conservatives moan, must we suffer these fools?
Not so quick. Conservatives have no one to blame but themselves.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15."
This is the wisdom of Ronald Reagan, the spiritual leader of the modern conservative movement, and an actor. That conservatives have drawn from Hollywood their greatest modern President has opened the door for other, ideologically diverse performers to try their hand at political opinion. The presence of such strong conservatives as Eastwood, Heston and Schwarzenegger has further interfered with Hollywood liberals being justly ridiculed and laughed off the political stage. It appears that hailing from Hollywood –at first glance, an egregious stain on any intellectual resume – does not after all disqualify an actor from perhaps having a valid, intelligent, point of view.
In the end, Hollywood takes on the form of society at large – some are bright and some are dim. One might argue that some are bright and most are dim, given the abysmal educational achievements of Hollywood’s leading men and women (Streisand, Fonda and Penn quoted above are unremarkable high school grads). However, whatever the intellectual credentials of Hollywood celebrities, they cannot be dismissed because they come from Hollywood. Fortunately, the can be dismissed because of what they say:
"I like America to some extent."
Copyright © 2006 Dan Hallagan. All Rights Reserved.