Stranger in a strange land

If you haven't already clicked through to this story from Owlish Mutterings, do it now.  There's a Hollywood screenwriter who has come out of the closet, outing himself as a conservative, and Jewish, Republican.  And he still manages to find work.

It is, I kid you not, a badge of honor in Hollywood to hate America. These airheads who have amassed millions through the free market economy constantly spout nonsense about the need for a Scandinavian style socialist government. They don't even know that the Scandinavian countries are economic basket cases. I'm not making this up. They actually cruise Sunset Strip in their Bentleys and accuse Republicans of being greedy.

...The political divide in Hollywood is now being felt in the most important quarter: the war against Islamic terrorism. Basically, Hollywood denies that such a war exists.

...When I confront these people with the truth they look at me as if I am some visitor from some foreign planet.

Which I guess I am.

...the network executives, all proud Democrats, refuse to admit that Islamic terror exists. I was actually told in one meeting that "Jewish terrorists" in Israel are just as dangerous as Arab terrorists. I stared at the executives and felt my blood pressure rise. Jewish terrorists? What Jewish terrorists? What universe are these people living in? Are they just making this stuff up as they go along? Are they even aware that they are lying? Do they even care? Or do they truly believe the nonsense they spout? If they do, then I am truly frightened.

Further, I was lectured that I was anti-Islamic and my screenplay proved it because most of my Islamic characters were terrorists. I tried to calmly and rationally explain that it was Islamic terrorists who sawed off Daniel Pearl's head; Islamic terrorists who brought down the Twin Towers; Islamic terrorists who blew up the USS Cole; and Islamic terrorists who routinely butcher Israeli men, women and children.

"Israel is different," the Jewish producers self-righteously lectured me. "If not for the occupation, blah, blah, blah....Besides, we don't deal in stereotypes..."

Let that last statement sink in.  They don't deal in stereotypes.  This goes beyond just being blinded by ideology--these people don't even know how prejudiced they are.  A Democrat, by definition, cannot be prejudiced, anyway, any more than a black man can be a racist, right?

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been leaning very heavily on Hollywood the past few years and the film industry is, frankly, terrified. According to CAIR, not a single Muslim should ever be portrayed as a terrorist on film, reality be damned.

When I was in fourth grade (1965) one of the things they taught us about Communism--yes, they actually used to do that!--was that Communists used the concept of "truth" differently than we did.  Anything that promoted the cause of Communism was the "truth," and anything that did not do so was a "lie."  I interpreted that as a case of warped morality rather than self-deception--after all, everyone knows what the truth is, even if they don't acknowledge it, don't they?  The very concept of being so deluded as to not understand something as simple as the TRVTH (as Johnny Hart would say) was beyond my childish ken.

The far left in this country reached that point some time ago.  Yes, they have a few counterparts in the far right, indeed even in libertarianism.  They have a lot of counterparts in religious groups.  It's a common human failing that we believe many things for no rational reason whatever.  But for most of American history we didn't have to worry about such people being influential, much less in a position of authority.  They were, after all, on the fringe of thought, practically by definition.

This is no longer true.  And while I'm generally optimistic about such things, I occasionally find myself wondering how rational people can ever win. 

Until average Americans begin to learn to think, really think, we might not. 

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[owlish]

Yup, there's a reason the USSR's main newpaper was named Pravda [Truth]. And my mother took Russian in high school because she thought it was going to be spoken everywhere. Basically, don't bet against a free market and freedom.