Posted on 04/29/2005 1:42:24 AM PDT by goldstategop
Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal has an angelic face, an odd name – and not much else. (Her most memorable role to date was playing a masochist in the movie, "The Secretary.")
But Gyllenhaal knows how to get the attention of the Hollywood establishment: just bash America. Tell the world how conscience compels you to trash your country. Make vague allegations about the awful things America has done and how we brought terrorism on ourselves. All the while, congratulate yourself for your honesty and nobility in taking such a courageous stand.
The actress, who appears in "The Great New Wonderful Thing" (about coping in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack) recently told the all-news channel NY-1, "I think America has done reprehensible things and it’s responsible in some way" for our second Pearl Harbor.
And what were those "reprehensible things" America did that caused al-Qaeda to incinerate 3,000 of our fellow citizens, Maggie: showering billions in foreign aid on the Third World, saving humanity from the twin horrors of fascism and Communism, launching the information revolution, establishing models of representative government and civil liberties for the rest of the world to emulate?
Sept. 11, 2001, "was a terrible tragedy," Gyllenhaal confessed, "and of course it goes without saying that I grieve along with every other American for everyone who suffered and died in the catastrophe." ( Aside: The Hollywood crowd always prefaces its slander of America by telling us how much they sympathize with the 9/11 victims and how they absolutely refuse to spit on their graves.)
"But ( here it comes ) for those of us who were spared, it is also an occasion to be brave enough ( applause, please!) to ask some serious questions about America’s role in the world. Because it is always useful, as individuals or nations, to ask how we may have knowingly or unknowingly contributed to this conflict. Not to have the courage (more self-adulation ) to ask these questions is to betray the victims of 9/11."
And that the valiant Gyllenhaal will never do!
Besides massaging her scalp with a two-by-four, one longs for the opportunity to ask the heroic entertainer: Dear heart, what was it precisely that America did that would justify the massacre in Midtown Manhattan – supported the state of Israel from the neo-Nazis of the Muslim world…Helped to free Afghanistan from the Soviet yoke…Objected to slavery in the Sudan….Told the mullahs it wasn’t nice to treat women as chattel …Developed the mineral resources that have made a gang of Stone Age savages in a desert wealthy beyond their wildest dreams? What, what, what exactly?
The mumbled response Gyllenhaal probably would toss off – as she was escorted to her limousine, to be whisked away to dinner at a five-star restaurant – is that America is "arrogant," that we’re trying to "tell the rest of the world what to do," "that we (and not medieval Arab rulers) are responsible for festering poverty in the Middle East," and so on.
Consider the cogent analyses of the war on terrorism from other Bel-Air Bolsheviks.
George Clooney : "America’s policies frustrate me. You can’t beat your enemies anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people seeking revenge." Like the Japanese, who’ve avenged themselves on America for World War II by selling us cars and electronic gadgets.
Edward Norton : "It must be good to be in Germany and France, because I have completely forgotten what it’s like to be proud of your government." Yes the French and Germans must be beaming about everything their governments did to: A) Keep a monster in power in Iraq; B) Support suicide-bombers in the Palestinian Authority; and C) Arm the enlightened, progressive regimes in Damascus and Tehran.
Spike Lee : "America doesn’t have the moral right to tell the rest of the world what to do." Like telling the Sudanese government not to enslave black children, or telling the Rwandans not to engage in genocide, or telling the white South African government to open the doors of Nelson Mandela’s prison cell, Spike?
Harrison Ford : "I’m very disturbed about the direction American foreign policy is going in. I think something needs to be done to help alleviate the conditions which have created a disenfranchised and angry faction in the Middle East." Osama bin Laden as one of the wretched of the Earth? If only the 9/11 hijackers had comfortable, middle-class upbringings, college educations, and employment opportunities. Wait, come to think of it, they did!
Johnny Depp : "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth – that can bite you, aggressive." Atta boy, Johnny, lay the philosophical analysis on thick. Terrorists too are convinced that America is a "dumb puppy" (or rabid dog) that must be put down to protect innocent bystanders. Captain Jack Sparrow-brain agrees.
Dustin Hoffman : "For me, as an American, the most painful aspect of this is that I believe that the administration has taken the events of Sept. 11 and has manipulated the grief of the country, and I think that is reprehensible." Manipulated the nation’s grief how, Dustin? By getting us better airport security? By persuading us to root out the Taliban in Afghanistan, which gave al-Qaeda a safe haven? By toppling terrorist sugar-daddy Saddam? Maybe we should have just given them bad reviews.
Sean Penn : My all-time favorite for clarity and incisiveness was this from the Saddam Poster Boy. Pre-Iraq liberation, when asked what type of proof of WMDs he required, Penn cogently replied: "What is it they have?....What are the ramifications of what we do about it? For example, the same – those same enemies of the state of Iraq today who, on the other hand, are Arab brothers. [sic.] My friend – you know, the enemy of the enemy and that whole notion. [sic.] Who is going to give terrorists nuclear capability as a result of us going into Iraq in a certain way (sic.)? Who is going to (sic.)? All these things have to be considered. The best way for that, for my own opinion, I think, you know, given what the facts of – the only way that I’ll answer that, you know again, I do not stand here as a pacifist. [sic.] I would aspire to be a pacifist. I’m not. I doubt I ever will be." On the other hand, perhaps Penn was just practicing for his role as a mentally challenged man in "I Am Sam."
If the above weren’t enough, while spouting this crud, the Hollywood elite insists that we admire them for their courage and candor. Like Gyllenhaal is going to lose movie contracts for accusing America of acting despicably.
Has any one in the entertainment industry ever been penalized for offering aid and comfort to the enemy while Americans fight and die to secure their right to do so? Is Julia Roberts ("If you look up Republican in the dictionary, you’ll find it right after reptiles.") less popular at the box office? Did sales of Linda Ronstadt’s CDs plummet after she announced that Michael Moore is "a great American patriot"?
Other than Bill Maher having his late-night network loser, "Politically Incorrect," cancelled (he was immediately compensated with an HBO series) and a few crushed Dixie Chicks albums – Hollywood’s treason is risk-free, and often brings handsome rewards.
If today’s Hollywood crowd had been around in the opening days of World War II, we would have heard the following:
"How do we know Hitler has weapons of mass destruction?" "America has done some reprehensible things to Japan and is in some ways responsible for Pearl Harbor. Look at the Japanese Exclusion Act!" "You can’t beat the German army anymore." "America doesn’t have a moral right to tell the Japanese what to do with the Chinese and Filipinos." "We created this mess with World War I reparations." "Something must be done to help alleviate the conditions which have created a disenfranchised and angry faction in Europe and the Far East." "FDR has manipulated the nation’s grief over Pearl Harbor, and I think that is reprehensible." "I do not stand here as a pacifist. I would aspire to be a pacifist. I’m not. I doubt I ever will be." (Said while standing next to a portrait of Mussolini.) "We’re not in Kansas anymore, Tojo!" In the meantime, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere would stretch from Hawaii to the Himalayas, and Panzer divisions would be rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Greatest Generation had a phrase for the likes of Gyllenhaal, et. al.: fifth columnists. Let’s start treating the Hollywood America-haters for what they are: the enemy within, defeatists, subversives, fifth columnists: Axis Maggie and Lord Haw-Haw Hoffman.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I suppose that to people whose mainclaim to fame is based on how well they can pretend to be someone or something else, that courage for them, is also nothing but a pretense.
She is a cute, empty-headed actress who is spoon fed her opinions by others.
I once saw her in an extended interview. Attractive, but nobody home.
Great article and excellent find, goldstate.
Feder hits this one waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy out of Candlestick!!!
Penn should get off the drugs. Maggie should get some.
These folks will continue to go on and on until we defund them. How do we do that? Quit going to their movies. Just pan them at the boxoffice and it will be over.
How can it take "courage" to do what every other fish in the school is doing? I'll admit that it sometimes takes courage to deviate from the accepted norm (and sometimes it just takes a willingness to indulge an aberration). But it almost NEVER takes any guts to conform.
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
Martin Luther King Jr.
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