Posted on 10/28/2001 9:49:05 AM PST by logic101.net
HOLLYWOOD'S NEW RANT
10/28/01
Recently Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame did a speech about "patriotism's dark side". It is not unusual for Hollywood types to be totally devoid of any sort of logic, but this was so far out it needs to be commented on. Perhaps what really aggravates him is that an unnamed conservative talk show host in Houston "...got the ball rolling." (This might mean that this local talk show host has a bigger audience than Bill Mahar.) He complained that advertisers are pulling their adds from Politically Incorrect after Bill Maher's idiotic comments. But, don't these advertisers have a right to pull their ads? After all, it is their money and if they don't approve of the host's views they can stop sponsoring the show. Mr Sorkin does admit that viewers have a right to change the channel, but not the right of sponsors to change their advertising mix, or ABC's right to respond to reduced market share by canceling the show (a move being considered). Maybe he wants a law that states that whoever is advertising on a show now, must continue to advertise on it forever. Maybe we should include a clause that prevents any currently running show from being canceled. We can even go farther here; let's mandate that whatever shows a person watched before Sept 11 they must continue to watch until the end of time.
He also states, "What is important is dissent...." Sure, dissenters have every right to speak; but those who don't share that view have a right to speak out also! It seems that to Mr Sorkin's mind (or what passes for a mind) only the dissenters have a right to speak. Advertisers shouldn't be allowed to drop a program if it is offensive to them, or if veiwership drops. To do so is blacklisting. Blacklisting? He doesn't even know what that is! The blacklist in the 50's he refers to prevented private networks from offering certain people work via a government mandate; it wasn't about advertisers pulling their ads or networks deciding that a show is a lame duck and dropping it.
Perhaps Mr Sorkin should read the first amendment. He might be surprised to note that it applies to not only Hollywood types, but also to conservative talk show hosts, advertisers, network executives, and even the "little people".
MARK A SITY
http://www.logic101.net/
Dung on the virgin Mary..this is art.
Flag burning
Gays mandatory in the Boy scouts
Pictures of starving Afghans
Free speech not allowed
Dr.Laura
Body bags and pictures of the children killed on 9-11
Flags on fire trucks
David Horowitz ads in college newspapers
"God bless America" signs in schools
I started the list, post some more Freepers
Yup says it all!
Only if the show has a liberal bias. Support for those programs by advertisers is mandatory, kind of like a public service. If the program has other than a liberal bias, well, its fair game for dropping advertisers.
Where was this guy when the orange producers in FL were under pressure for advertising on Rushkie's program?
Maybe we should include a clause that prevents any currently running show from being canceled.
Only if the program features a liberal or has a liberal bias. Remember Ellen raised holy h*ll when she got the gate. It had to be "homophobia" (fear of man, or fear of sameness?) you see. Never mind that the show was lousy and the ratings stunk.
Of course, the above does not apply to non-liberal programming. That can (and should) be trashed at will. Liberals will never admit to the validity of a viewpoint other than their own.
You know what's even funnier? Sorkin had an episode of his own West Wing ridicule a Dr.Laura-type character. But I guess that's okay, as long as it doesn't happen to him.
"Cop Killer"
Anything said by Tom Alciere
Anything else that puts down cops
Anything said by John Rocker
Burning crosses on lawns
I watched one "Ellen" episode after the coming-out episode. The entire show was an endless litany of "I'm gay!" Can even most gay people stomach this stuff? Not that the show was anything more than a poor man's "Seinfeld" to begin with.
That sums it up. He's probably biting his nails to the quick over the possibility that West Wing, his (lapse into sarcasm alert) artistic, educational, superior, enlightened lifetime achievement, might be on the chopping block. He's heading it off at the pass by calling it blacklistingbefore it happens.
An intelligent white male conservative Christian father
A sane anti-abortion woman
A normal loving family
A woman, minority, or homosexual who is a villain simply by being evil (it is always society that made them do evil)
Poor man's Seinfeld, I like that. At least Seinfeld maintained a bit of an edge via its eclectic and goofy set of supporting characters. Ellen just couldn't manage that. Its range was very limited once the gay stuff became the central theme.
Now they are doing it all over again. They realize their views are teetering over the edge of respectability and credibility, and they are bringing out their desperate but quite effective "hail mary" play from their playbook. Anyone who criticizes hollywood is a Mcarthyite, and for some reason, people listen to them.
Look at all the damage they did in the 50s! The stakes are MUCH higher now, we have to stop them!
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