Well Jerk My Knee: Hollywood, Politics, the Cult of Celebrity, & Why Some People Should Just Shut Up...
And they're not being quiet about it. In fact, you can't shut them up on it. I wish you could, but you can't, because that wouldn't be nice. You've got Bruce Springsteen and other washed up rockers on their 'Vote for Change' tour, you've got Leonardo DiCaprio making speeches for Kerry, and various entertainment shows musing on Ben Affleck's future political career. (If his movie career keeps going the way it is, he's gonna need the work.)
And they're making political comments. Under the guise of 'getting out the vote' various celeb spokesmen are spreading the Kerry/Edwards/Soros gospel of rumour mongering about mythical drafts, and actress/model/intellectual giant Cameron Diaz declaring that 'rape will be legal' if people don't vote. (or vote Democrat to be specific)
It's almost enough to make you want to pass a law taking away the right to vote of anyone famous.
And the media seems to be buying into this. They treat every declaration made by these actors like they're pearls of wisdom from the great sages, and not the semi-digested mental pablum of people who couldn't order lunch without someone to script it out for them.
Aside from me, the man who knows all, the only other people who seem to see this are SOUTH PARK comedic hooligans Matt Stone and Trey Parker. In fact, they made celebrity lefties a major target of fun, and puppet related mayhem in their TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE movie.
I haven't seen the film yet, so I won't pass judgement on it, but I did catch the creators on 60 MINUTES, and since the interview didn't involve forged memos, I thought it was a pretty accurate depiction. In the interview they said that every dog thinks they're a wolf inside, and that every actor thinks they're some intellectual giant because they can repeat clever lines other people wrote for them. They also stated that the sight of Sean Penn playing buddy-buddy with Saddam Hussein and making bold declarations about world politics was pure comedy gold.
And they're right.
If it wasn't doing so much harm, it would be endlessly hillarious.
Sadly, celebrities have way more influence on how people think, thanks to our 24/7 cable news celeb worshipping culture. And if Kerry/Edwards/Soros wins, it'll be thanks to America's blind worship of celebrities.
But all is not lost.
Character actor and activist Ron Silver, for years an outspoken liberal, has become an articulate and tireless campaigner, not just for President Bush, but against the Michael Moore school of thought that is dominating his Hollywood colleagues. It'll probably get him blacklisted out of the industry, but he's doing it anyway.
Why?
Probably because he is one of the smartest actors working in Hollywood who won't go with the sort of knee-jerk 'America is the font of all evil' mindset that passes for intellectualism these days, just because it's fashionable. He's literate, knowledgeable in the fields of history and world affairs, and doesn't base all his knowledge on the ravings of MoveOn.org. He sees the threat that America, and the entire western world is facing, for what it is. And that even though he and Bush might disagree on a lot of issues, they do agree that America is not inherently evil or even imperialist, and that if there is to be peace in the future it will have to be forged by America.
Sadly, folks like him are rare in Hollywood.
At least prettyboy actor Brad Pitt has some good sense. When asked for a political opinion he said:
"Why are you asking me, I'm a grown man who wears make-up for a living."
Preach on Brother Brad.
Maybe you'll eventually knock some sense into your colleagues.
++++
UPDATE: Like the pod people in THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS the Kerry/Edwards/Soros campaign has snagged poor Brad. I saw him make an appearance for the Kerry campaign at his old alma-mater. They must have sucked out what little common sense he had and replaced it with a copy of Noam Chomsky's latest diatribe.
Poor bastard.
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