Posted on 01/15/2013 11:25:10 AM PST by Tanniker Smith
What is it about Hollywood, the media, and liberals in general, that causes them to misunderstand the word "brave"? Once upon a time, there were many brave liberals, who stood up to voice original dissenting opinions, whether valid or not, rational or not, in an effort to persuade any of the rigid minds about them to come to their cause. Some of them suffered setbacks to their careers and their lives because of it, but that did not deter them from speaking out further. And that was brave of them.
Nowadays, people stand up to regurgitate the same bullet points off memos, whose existence thay deny, to groups of like-minded people who applaud vociferously in front of cameras, which will dutifully replay these bits ad nauseum later on, mostly to other likeminded folks, but also to people who disagree and who are supposed to get all riled up (or all "wee-weed up" in the new parlance), but who will be incapable of responding in any meaningful way other than, say, a letter to the editor of some local newspaper.
The latest case would be Julianne Moore's award for playing Sarah Palin. A brave performance on her part, we're told. But how exactly is this brave? What reprisals might she suffer for this portrayal? What jobs will she lose? What boycotts will it launch? What files will be opened in what govenment offices?
And, most importantly, how is brave to much fun of someone who is disliked by the people giving you the award and the majority of the people in your business?
What would have been brave was to do an accurate portrayal of Palin. Not necessarily a sympathetic one, which would have been exceptionally brave in her business, but just a warts-and-all, tell-it-like-it-is performance would have ranked higher on that scale of virture than a hatchet job intended to mock and demean for an audience with an attention span of 140 characters.
Frankly, how is what Moore did any more brave than what Tina Fey already did on a weekly basis. On a show that she was no longer a cast member of. Including an episode hosted by Sarah Palin, herself. It was Fey who uttered the line most often associated with Palin: "I can see Russia from my house."
False declarations of bravery go back a long way. The first time I was riled up enough to speak my minds to friends about it was over a short-story anthology I read years ago (which had been written years before that). I had met the editor -- Hell, I once had dinner with the editor as part of a group of six people who were free at the same time, not that she remembered me. She was (and actually, "is") a nice person. I don't agree with her political views, but that doesn't prevent her from being a nice person. The problem was in one of her books.
After meeting her, realizing that I'd read (and enjoyed) a book she had co-written, I bought another book for her to sign at a convention, and afterward went trolling the library to find other things she'd done. I wasn't the target demographic of some of the material (some was young adult, some more for girls/women), but I found an anthology she'd edited with an interesting hook.
Some of stories were good, some were okay. Some were more humorous, some more serious, some more fantastical, but the setting didn't really affect the quality or whether I liked or loved it. I knew I wouldn't like every story, but the unifying theme was a good one.
And then in the middle of the book, I can to the "brave" story. There was an introduction about how "brave" the author had been to even propose this story. Apparently, not all that brave, because he got the go-ahead. And then the final product! Wow! How brave, again! Well, it wasn't rejected, so again, how brave are we talking? Was there even a possibility that it wouldn't get accepted and published from a political compatriot?
It was the only thing in the book that I absolutely hated. Maybe that was what was so brave -- there might be one conservative science-fiction/fantasy reader who might want to toss the book in a campfire so it least it would serve a brief, but useful purpose. That would, of course, lead to charges of book burning, but I'd be more concerned with (and offended by) the charge of destroying public library material.
I won't dignify the piece by calling it a "story". It was a political screed, from start to finish, written by a polemicist extraordianaire. My ability to finish it came from deciding (incorrectly, I'm sure) that the writer was an ultra-conservative and that the entire thing was satire, because only someone so rightwing (my though process went) could think that any liberals would believe that conservatives could think like this. In that light, it was almost hysterical, but in reality, the only thing hysterical was the author, along with the editor.
How bad was it? So bad that I couldn't recommend the book to anyone, despite the fact that I really liked the concept behind the anthology and several of the short stories. I hope the authors of those stories include them in their own collections at some point.
Coming back to the present day, what would I consider brave in Hollywood today? Someone coming out and saying that he holds conservative principles and that he -- or she! -- is proud of that fact, and not looking to hide or downplay that fact. Or someone under 50 was is openly religious or devotional, not just "spiritual", communing with all of nature and the elements, but in nothing specific. Why under 50? Because even in liberal California, some old-timers can be grandfathered in. In other words, they're just like someone's crazy, old grandfather, harmless, set in the ways, and likely to be dead soon anyway.
I thought my abject revulsion towards Hollywood could not grow any larger, but somehow, the contention that they refer to yet another of their neverending attacks/smears towards Palin, the universal punching-bag of the ruling-class elites, as constituting an act of “bravery”... is just so Orwellian beyond belief. To the point of being grotesque beyond words.
I suppose David Letterman equally shows incredible bravery and courage when he dares to make a Palin joke? Wow, how daring and courageous. Pin a medal on him. This is sheer insanity. These people are not bucking the ruling order... they are SERVING and doing the bidding of the ruling order, like lowly slaves and handmaidens. Brave? They are the lowest of cowards.
Real heroes don’t need scripts.
Hollywood wants to give the impression that conservatives are mean and powerful and that standing up to them takes “bravery.” It’s actually the opposite.
For some reason, it reminds me of when O.J. Simpson’s “dream team,” (Johnnie Cochran, etc.,) came into the courthouse every day surrounded by bodyguards. They wanted to give the impression that those who disagreed with them were mean and dangerous. That’s what I think Hollywood is doing when they call themselves “brave” for displeasing conservatives. “Look at me; I dared to stand up to those cruel, powerful conservatives! I’m so brave!” Meanwhile, the only thing that happens to them is getting awards and pats on the back from their peers.
I never watch any of the mutual admiration functions that Hollywood sponsors to inflate their egos. But I did see some news clips on Fox News about the Golden Globe affair. Am I the only one that noticed how many girly-men now occupy Hollywood. I remember when Hollywood was filled with former war heroes earning their living acting in wholesome movies that the entire family could watch. Movies that attested to the goodness and greatness of our country. Now you probably couldn’t find one of these girly-men that has even served in the military. Hollywood gets none of my money. I won’t pay to watch the trash that they now offer.
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