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Why is Hollywood Rehabilitating Totalitarianism?
Townhall.com ^ | July 27, 2010 | Nick Rizzuto

Posted on 07/27/2010 10:57:55 AM PDT by Kaslin

Politically speaking, Hollywood has begun venturing into dangerous waters. While support for brutal dictators might not be a new phenomenon in a Hollywood, that support no longer seems to be limited to a handful of stars flirting with radical politics and causes. There now appears to be a clear pattern of Hollywood acceptance of Totalitarianism as a legitimate brand of governance.

The case of the popularity of Hugo Chavez is a clear example of Hollywood’s veneration of leaders who wield nearly dictatorial power over the governed. Despite the fact that Chavez makes a habit of trampling on individual rights, A-list Hollywood stars continue to cheerlead him, going so far as to repeat talking points upon their return from Venezuela. Not even Chavez’ contempt for free speech, something you would think might be a sore point with Hollywood, can budge them from their belief that Chavez is a wonderful leader. To suggest otherwise, as Sean Penn famously suggested, should be reason enough to be jailed.

Perhaps Hollywood celebrities should be forgiven for their political transgression in the case of Hugo Chavez. After all, Chavez has at least maintained the façade of a democratic process in Venezuela, and perhaps the gullible glitterati are just being made suckers of. While this might explain away their idolization of Chavez, the same explanation would not apply to their love for his fellow Marxist dictator, Fidel Castro. Up until recently, Castro could not be called anything but the genuine article when it came to the wielding of absolute authority in Cuba. His ruthless persecution of political dissidents is well known, as is his use of secret police, the institutional racism of afro-Cubans, and his repression of religious freedom. But even this fails to penetrate the Hollywood mythology of the noble revolutionary Fidel.

There can be only one explanation of for such hard headed support of such leaders in the face of overwhelming evidence that they engage in the excesses of dictatorship; Hollywood approves.

While Hollywood might elevate totalitarian style of leadership in other nations and approve of their methods overseas, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that Hollywood desires to see it on American soil; at least it wouldn’t if some had not explicitly called for it. Director Woody Allen recently suggested that "it would be good…if [President Barack Obama] could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly." Allen’s statement is a good example of how the Hollywood political culture is completely lacking in principle, as those words could only be uttered by an individual who has no appreciation for or grounding in the classical liberal political tradition. Allen’s apparent comfort in saying such a thing leaves little doubt that this kind of ignorance now permeates Hollywood.

Recent news that Oliver Stone will be releasing a film in which two of history’s greatest monsters, Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin, will be presented “in context” should be a cause for concern for Americans. While placing historical figures in proper context should be something that we all welcome, Stone’s insistence that Hitler is misunderstood because of a Jewish conspiracy to keep history foggy sounds more like propaganda than anything Hollywood has ever produced. Indeed, Stone’s comments sound more like something from the pages of The Protocols of the Enders of Zion, a long debunked anti-Semitic forgery, than they do the words of someone who’s genuinely interested in uncovering historical truth. Fittingly, Stone follows in the footsteps of Hitler, Stalin, and numerous other dictators who conveniently blame shadowy Jewish Cabals for anything and everything.

All this raises the question: what would be the motivation to soften American attitudes toward totalitarians? Is Hollywood preparing to mount a campaign to invest dictatorial powers in the president? While some of them might secretly fantasize about such a thing, it is highly unlikely. There is something to be said, however, for the idea that Hollywood’s amorous relationship with dictatorship emerges from the fact that they have and continues to support the centralization of political power into fewer and fewer hands. To the detriment of such an agenda Americans are rightfully, and perhaps even uniquely, covetous of their rights. Being so, they are very wary of politicians who sell paradise in return for, say, a small portion of their freedoms. If the Hollywood left can affect even a slight softening of views toward genuine totalitarianism, the surrendering of certain rights, including the economic rights that tend to evaporate under the progressive agenda, might begin to appear trivial in comparison.

Whether or not the Tinseltown elite are making a concerted and coordinated effort to rehabilitate the totalitarian is debatable, what isn't is that Hollywood has clearly lost its political bearings. They are out of touch with the majority of Americans, and indeed take for granted the principles of liberty on which the nation is founded.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: hollywood; leftganda; oliverstone; totalitarianism
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1 posted on 07/27/2010 10:57:56 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

They think they will be in control.


2 posted on 07/27/2010 11:00:07 AM PDT by sionnsar (IranAzadi|5yst3m 0wn3d-it's N0t Y0ur5:SONY|TV--it's NOT news you can trust)
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To: Kaslin

They want to be the “In Control” crowd..............


3 posted on 07/27/2010 11:02:03 AM PDT by Red Badger (No, Obama's not the Antichrist. But he does have him in his MY FAVES.............)
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To: Kaslin

Because Hollywierd is evil.


4 posted on 07/27/2010 11:04:36 AM PDT by BenLurkin (Will must be the harder, courage the bolder, spirit must be the more, as our might lessens.)
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To: Kaslin

Senator McCarthy was right about Hollywood in the 50’s.

Hollywood actors are a bunch of communist supporting elitist who are too naive to understand that they are playing the role of ‘useful idiot’ in the Marxist movie of the week.


5 posted on 07/27/2010 11:06:01 AM PDT by Le Chien Rouge
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To: Kaslin

They like fantasizing about slavery, because they imagine themselves holding the whip.


6 posted on 07/27/2010 11:07:28 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker (Freepin' Jew Boy)
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To: Le Chien Rouge

You’ve got that right


7 posted on 07/27/2010 11:10:40 AM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: NativeNewYorker

Hollywood idiots do not have healthy respect for the political process. They want favored liberal causes such as homosexual marriage and cap and trade imposed by judicial fiat, and even by foreign courts, upon us.

People who memorize and parrot back words written by others for a living, do not have a rational thought process of their own.

Then we find out that Hollywood idiots such as Sarah Silverman, who completely lambasted the institution of marriage in one of her screeds, due to homosexual marriage not yet available nationwide, has had emotional problems and has been on medication for same.

And we’re supposed to listen to Hollywood idiots who don’t have all their faculties up there????


8 posted on 07/27/2010 11:12:38 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Kaslin
Why is Hollywood Rehabilitating Totalitarianism?

Lessee, you have a bunch of VERY rich folks who make their living saying words that someone else has written for them and following actions they are told to follow by a "director" and you have to ASK!!???

Until these folks figure out WHY they are very wealthy and living privileged lifestyles being human puppets, they will NEVER understand the free marketplace. I'm doing MY part by not going to any of their concerts or movies or other junk.

9 posted on 07/27/2010 11:17:27 AM PDT by DustyMoment
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To: Kaslin
Indeed, Stone’s comments sound more like something from the pages of The Protocols of the Enders of Zion, a long debunked anti-Semitic forgery,

Protocols of the Enders of Zion? Is that Orson Scott Card's latest book?

Seriously, I think many from Hollywood would love to film "Triumph of the O" like so many modern day Leni Riefenstahls.

10 posted on 07/27/2010 11:17:54 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Gun control was originally to protect Klansmen from their victims. The basic reason hasn't changed.)
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To: Kaslin
Look at this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_blacklist#Persons_first_blacklisted_between_January_1948_and_June_1950

Hollywierd and the “Entertainment” Industry always has been inundated by lefties!

11 posted on 07/27/2010 11:21:11 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
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To: Kaslin

What a stupid question the title is.

It’s for the same reason they want to mainstream porn for kids.

To bring down western civilization


12 posted on 07/27/2010 11:24:32 AM PDT by GeronL (http://libertyfic.proboards.com <--- My Fiction/ Science Fiction Board)
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To: US Navy Vet

Looky Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Geer

“Grandpa Walton(TV’s The Waltons)(A card carrying COMMIE)!

AND

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Penn

Leo Penn(Sean Penn’s Daddy)!


13 posted on 07/27/2010 11:24:32 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
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To: Kaslin
Ollie's a long way from A-list these days but the point is perfectly sound. We've all become so accustomed to "but Mussolini made the trains run on time" as ironic mockery that we forget the very large number of people for whom it seemed to be a perfectly valid defense.

Actors sympathetic to the Reich were full-fledged members of the ruling class, much more so than in Soviet Russia. The Nazis loved the show, the panoply, the grandiosity. Snappy uniforms, rousing songs, blood-curdling speeches, torchlight parades, and an absolution from moral or legal sanction for violence against the opposition. And oh, my, how they loved their celebrity!

It's good to be on the winning side in a comic-opera kingdom, great to be an actor when it's all a grand play with no real-world consequences. Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, and Jimmy Stewart could only shake their heads in disbelief.

14 posted on 07/27/2010 11:30:05 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: US Navy Vet

Why did wiki whitewash his sexuality?

He was long-rumored to have had a homosexual relationship with a poet/writer of that era.


15 posted on 07/27/2010 11:40:11 AM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: SJSAMPLE

Which one?


16 posted on 07/27/2010 11:41:37 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
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To: US Navy Vet

Will Geer.
Wiki used to make a specific reference to the relationship, but the name of his butt-buddy escapes me. I wonder why the removed it?


17 posted on 07/27/2010 11:43:17 AM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: Kaslin

They are desensitizing us.

Hollywood is in on the propoganda. Has been for for decades.

They know our society is rife with stupid and follows celebrities and the entertainment industry more than they follow current events.


18 posted on 07/27/2010 11:44:29 AM PDT by JenB987 (I'm still an American and 'til they take that away from me there's no day ruined. - El Rushbo)
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To: Billthedrill

Indeed


19 posted on 07/27/2010 11:44:58 AM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: US Navy Vet

All wiki leaves is this:
“In his autobiography, fellow organizer and gay rights pioneer Harry Hay described Geer’s activism and outlined their relationship while organizing for the strike.”

IMDB shows that he was a boyfriend of Harry Hay, so this must be the guy.


20 posted on 07/27/2010 11:45:57 AM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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