21 Comments

1. jerry:

Roger:

An explanation for this phenomenon can be seen in an article in the American Spectator Online.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=7445

George Neumayr makes the argument that the modern academic shares the rejection of logic and reason with a significant portion of the underclass. I think a similar argument can be made about much of Hollywood. Tinseltown political culture is driven by emotions, not thought. Given that many performers combine illiteracy with celebrity income, the silence on Van Gogh should come as no surprise.

Nov 30, 2004 - 12:08 pm 2. The Fop:

“Sometimes this avoidance goes to great and comic lengths.”

I can’t think of a better example of this than what I call “bohemian imperialism”. I grew up in Miami during the 60’s and 70’s. At that time, South Beach was filled with elderly Jewish people on very fixed incomes. There used to be stories in the newspapers about how these people were forced to eat cat food, because that’s all they could afford.

Then along comes Ian Schrager of Studio 54 fame and bunch of other “hip” developers who turn South Beach into the new Soho. So what happened to all the old people? You think all the buff, “enlightened” gay guys roller blading down Ocean Drive in their “Act Up” t-shirts think about that? Do you that think when Bono from U2, that champion of the downtrodden, is partying with supermodels in his $5000 a night suite at the Delano Hotel he spends two seconds thinking about what happened to the old lady who was living in that same suite 12 years ago and probably paying $100 a month rent? Fat chance.

Ditto for all the hipsters living in Hoboken, the Lower East Side, etc. I remember when there was a whole big controversy about homeless people living in Tompkins Square Park in Alphabet City in Manhattan. All the lefties were saying “it’s such a same what’s happening to these poor people”. Go to Alphabet City today and it’s wall to wall tapas bars and Asian fusion restaurants, and all the lefties have stopped complaining.

But then when a “Gap” or “Starbucks” opens up, the lefties cry “they’re ruining OUR neighborhood”. These people are a bunch of vain hypocrites whose concern for the downtrodden does not extend beyond haughty conversations over arugula and goat cheese salads (with sundried tomatoes).

Nov 30, 2004 - 12:11 pm 3. Mikey:

I wouldn’t expected extreme egotists, such as the Hollywood crowd, to be well-informed about anything anywhere else that is not a reflection of Me! Me! Me!

Nov 30, 2004 - 12:16 pm 4. Jeff B.:

Sometimes this avoidance goes to great and comic lengths. I have a some personal stories about this but I will save them for my book.

Oh you. Such a trollop.

Hurry the heck up and finish it! I’m looking forward to it being one of the few truly essential “blog-driven” book buys. (The other that springs immediately to mind is Virginia Postrel’s The Future and its Enemies.)

Nov 30, 2004 - 12:23 pm 5. Knucklehead:

Geeze, Fop! Let’s not go all whacky about this.

…arugula and goat cheese salads (with sundried tomatoes).

There’s plenty of reasons to loathe the posing phoneys of the elite left, but arugal and goat cheese salad with sundried tomatoes (is it tomatos or tamatoes – don’t want any Dan Quayle moments here!) aren’t among them. That’s good stuff! I love goat cheese and arugala in salads and, given a choice, I don’t mind some sundried tomato[e]s in there either. (We’re talkin Greek or Austrian goat cheese here, right?)

Nov 30, 2004 - 12:36 pm 6. Lem:

“good old-fashioned ignorance” !?

“THE fact is that the Democratic Party, built on an old coalition of heavy-industry unions, the liberal middle-class and a majority of blacks and Jews, is failing to reproduce itself demographically.

This has been evident for a long time. It has also ceased to stand for anything much politically or idealistically – if the country is still without universal health care, for example, then what does that say about a party that controlled Congress, and the presidency, for so many years?

Most of all, in my opinion, the Democrats have failed to find a non-squeaky voice in which to speak about the real menace of religious bigotry, which faces us on the streets of London and Amsterdam as well as New York and Washington, and celebrates a cult of death on video.” – Hitchens

Click Lem for the entire Hitchen’s Mirror UK article

Nov 30, 2004 - 1:04 pm 7. Terrye:

I doubt if most of the Hollywood elite even knows what happened to Van Gogh.

And if they do, they are convinced he brought it on himself.

No john Waynes out there. There will be no movies about the battle for Fallujah from Hollywood, unless the hero is Zarqawi. shameful really.

Nov 30, 2004 - 1:23 pm 8. Gabriel Gonzalez:

I agree with the Bush hatred theory. Though I think that BDS is part of a larger social/political phenomenon.

Anyway, I suspect that the same forces that are keeping Hollywood away from the Van Gogh tragedy are those that are keeping a lot of stories off the front pages: pro-democracy movement in Iran, UNSCAM scandal, Darfur… What happened to “We are the World” ?

Gabriel Gonzalez

Nov 30, 2004 - 2:06 pm 9. The Fop:

To Knucklehead

Yes, I love arugula and goat cheese salads too. My point is that the old Jewish people who were driven out of South Beach, as well as the working class Hispanics and Blacks who were driven out of Hoboken, the Lower East Side, etc, have probably never had an arugula and goat cheese salad.

An appreciation of arugula and goat cheese salads is something that elite lefties, yuppies and urbane conservatives all have in common with each other. Lefties like to think of themselves as having nothing in common with yuppies and conservatives, but the truth is, they shop at many of the same stores and eat at many of the same restaurants and vacation at many of the same locales. Elite lefties occupy the same exact place as yuppies and conservatives on the totem pole of capitalism, but they’ll never admit.

Nov 30, 2004 - 2:30 pm 10. Kevin P:

Roger;

The reason the Film community ignores the murder of one of it’s own is because it would force them to face the awful truth- That the freedom of expression that they so cherish is under attack from a barbaric group of fascist criminals and that these groups will only be defeated by military force. They would rather hold candles and sing Imagine then face reality. If they agknowleged Van Gogh murder they would have to attack the source of this hate. This would mean they would have to dispose of the fantasy that all the worlds problems can be handled through talk and understanding.

In the recent Sunday addition of the LA Times they did a feature on the new project by film actor Wallace Shawn (I think I am spelling his name wrong) of ” My Dinner with Andre” fame. He says his inspired by Abu Graib to write about the sorry state of the current administration and our culture. After spewing the trite slander that the reason Bush-Cheney are such a destructive force is because they is because they are untraveled and have no sense of the world,as if the sheltered life of Manhattan and Paris is all you need to give you the proper view of how to handle foreign policy. The core of his argument is the wisdom he recieved as a young child. After asking his father how he should handle a schoolyard bully and whether he should defend himself his father suggested he should talk to him and convince him to stop picking on him. Oh, what wisdom! Thats all Bush needs to do, sit down and talk. This simplistic drivel is passed off as insight and wisdom. What Mr. Shawn doesn’t address is what to do after the bully or foreign government tells you he is going to continue to beat the crap out of you or try to kill you.This is what is being passed off as being a man of the world and they actually believe if you have a conversation with these fascist murderers they will stop. If we would only treat them with respect these butchers their hearts will soften and they will stop their activities. They still think the UN will do something about any of these evil forces even after they have shown that they will not lift a finger and they will leave these killers in power. They stick their heads in the sand and make reservations at the latest bistro and pretend that they have the answers if only anyone will listen. They live in a world of fantasy and refuse to face the reality of a harsh world.

Nov 30, 2004 - 3:19 pm 11. wxjames:

After a few conversations over the holiday about the war, the need for the war, what the future holds, and such, I’m convinced that Bush is 100% correct in bringing the war on terrorists to the streets of Falluja rather than Manhattan. Bush is further correct in helping the Iraqis to defeat the same terrorists. Bush is actually too good to be true. He is the right man for the job at the right time. However, wouldn’t it be decent of the rest of us to act as if we have an army in the field and show some support ?

This wahabbi situation is a world crisis. When will the rest of the world escape denial and focus on the problem ? I suppose it will happen, but only one freed soul at a time. Let’s hope it doesn’t spiral out of control in the mean time.

The left are like onlookers at a fire. They see that too few men are handling a hose. They watch and wait for the hose to begin overpowering the firemen holding it without a thought of lending a hand. Then after the fact, they say I knew that would happen. And, of course, we say ‘oh, how wise you are’ and praise them…..not. But, I do promise a punch in the face to any lefty who aids the enemy and then bothers to mention it. Maybe I should make that a full tilt ass kicking.

Come on left, get on the same page for once in your pathetic lives.

Nov 30, 2004 - 3:27 pm 12. goldsmith:

Is this the “Wheel of Fortune” Pat Sajak?

Nov 30, 2004 - 4:39 pm 13. Ben:

Human beings seem to have a need to believe in something greater than themselves. For some people, it is called religion, while for others it is a secular world-view. They then view everything that happens through the prism of this world-view, while conveniently ignoring facts that don’t fit into the template. Getting people to confront facts that would necessitate a new or modified world view is often next to impossible.

Another part of the problem is that the truth is too terrible for some people to face. By this calculation: (1) You can be safe, fat and happy while ignoring the world; or (2) you can confront that which is terrible and suffer pain and risk of injury or death. Many of the celebrity left appear to prefer option 1, while ridiculing those (e.g., Pat Tillman) who choose option 2.

Nov 30, 2004 - 5:58 pm 14. Roberts:

Not only is Pat Sajak of the “Wheel of Fortune” fame, but he also used to be director or President if memory serves of the Claremont Institute where he is still on the board of advisors. He’s a more thoughtful person than most might expect.

Nov 30, 2004 - 7:45 pm 15. Kyda Sylvester:

In his acceptance speech at the Oscars, Adrien Brody said that if working on The Pianist had taught him anything at all it was that war is never the answer (it was 2003 and the invasion of Iraq was soon to begin). The Pianist, based on a true story, is about a Polish Jew whose family perishes in the death camps and who survives the war (barely) by hiding in the rubble of Warsaw after escaping from a labor camp. But war is never the answer. Mr. Brody, by virtue of his performance and his acceptance speech, demonstrates that being sublimely talented is perfectly compatible with being as dumb as a stump. Hollywood in a nutshell.

Nov 30, 2004 - 7:47 pm 16. ahem:

Oh, come on, don’t be too hard on Wallace Shawn! He was so good in ‘The Princess Bride”.

And, beside, his endorsement of Kerry is worth its weight in gold:

“…for me it’s humiliating to vote for Kerry, because I don’t respect him; but I would — I will — it’s unpleasant, it’s like killing a big rat that is running around your apartment. It must be done. But you’re not proud of it. But you have to do it. So, we have to tell other people, I think, that, you know, we didn’t approve.”

(Interview with Democracy Now!, October 21, 2004)

Nov 30, 2004 - 8:26 pm 17. greeneyeshade:

for what it’s worth, wallace shawn (you did get his name right, kevin p) is the son of william shawn, the new yorker editor who printed works like ‘the greening of america’ and ‘the fate of the earth’ (remember?) that was an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree. wally did a good job as the voice of the dinosaur in the ‘toy story’ movies, though.

Dec 1, 2004 - 12:33 am 18. Lola:

Kyda Sylvester

In his acceptance speech at the Oscars, Adrien Brody said that if working on The Pianist had taught him anything at all it was that war is never the answer (it was 2003 and the invasion of Iraq was soon to begin).

Gee. Whiz. I guess it’s never occured to him that had the war continued, he might very well not be alive to make this movie for which he won the Oscar. It’s truly amazing how short-sighted people who are thought to be intelligent can be.

Dec 1, 2004 - 3:31 am 19. HA:

Roger,

Don’t discount the factor that empathy with the killer may play in this. Just as many Hollywood leftists empathize with Palestinian terrorists, they may empathize with Van Gogh’s killer.

In the leftist view, Arabs/Muslims are marginalized and oppressed in the dominant racist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, white, Christian European society. This is the “root cause” of Islamic terrorism in their view. Van Gogh is a may be a victim, but so was his killer. And maybe Van Gogh brought it on himself.

Dec 1, 2004 - 4:02 am 20. rastajenk:

Killing a big rat running around your apartment is a metaphor, or a mental-image-maker, that just doesn’t register with me, I’m quite happy to say. Even when I was a poor college student, I was able to avoid said living arrangements.

The Starbucks references continue to amaze and confuse me. I know it’s a frequent target of the anti-globies, and it gets lumped in with McDougal’s as icons of western civilization and its hegemony, but man, every time I go to one (and I go frequently, I’m a sucka for overly-priced lattes), it’s inhabited by nothing but limo libs and people wearing the uniforms of the counterculture; not to mention the pierced and tattooed young clones that work there. I guess it follows Dennis Prager’s suggestion that liberals see the world as haves vs. have-nots, and that once a have-not becomes a successful have, it can become a target, regardless of the method of success (see: Condi Rice.)

But then how does that explain Hollywood?

Dec 1, 2004 - 5:33 am 21. MikeH:

I think the main reason that the Hollywoodista’s aren’t very quick to condemn the islamo-fascists is simple fear. They know if they criticize the US Government, in the often bellicose ways that they do, it is not likely anyone will actually get around to stomping on them – regardless of their rants of “censorship” and “climate of fear.” However, if you criticize the islamo-fascists, like Mr. Van Gogh did, there is a real possibility that some jihadist might actually come for you. There’s a reason why Rushdie has to keep a low profile. For all their bluster, the hollywoodista’s are not about real courage. Look to our men and women in the service of their country for that.

Dec 1, 2004 - 9:48 am

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