Yesterday, while working out at the gym like a good boy, I witnessed this same interview between Harry Belafonte and Wolf Blitzer on the screen above my treadmill. Like so many of my generation, I grew up on Belafonte and loved him. And, an extraordinarily handsome man, he looks amazing at seventy-eight. But I can’t say I was surprised by his idiotic blather comparing Homeland Security to the Gestapo. Alas, we’ve been hearing a lot of that kind of nonsense from Harry over the years, which, I wouldn’t doubt, only hurts the causes he thinks he’s espousing much more than he helps them. It’s all a pathetic game. I blame the press in this [What again?-ed. Yes, again] more than I blame Dotty Harry. Why should this septuagenarian going on octogenarian be more interesting than any other? Because he sang “Day-O”? Now that’s a qualification.
Roger L. Simon
Blacklisting Myself Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror
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5 Comments
1. Sandy P:–Homeland Security to the Gestapo.–
Pubbies weren’t the ones who wanted the TSA to be federalized/unionized.
We wanted private companies.
Jan 24, 2006 - 9:01 am 2. Plainslow:He needs to take some lessons from Bono, about how to get things done.
Jan 24, 2006 - 9:17 am 3. David Thomson:God must love Karl Rove. Fools like Harry Belafonte make his life so much easier. Hillary Clinton was caught between a rock and a hard place by the famous singerís antics. This is another reason why Iím convinced that Senator Clinton has little chance of being elected president. Someone like Belafonte can always be counted on to embarrass her campaign. This is less likely to happen to her Republican opponent. What about an idiot like Pat Robertson? Yes, he will say something stupid—but quickly apologize and shut up. Belafonte simply keeps going.
Jan 24, 2006 - 9:57 am 4. jedrury:It must have been a slow news day for Wolf
Imagine his poor producer searching around for a
celeb on a slow news day and Wolf barking in his ear “who do we have …. who the f***, do we have? I only have an hour!!!”
“Wolf, calm down, calm down, we can always do Harry, his publicist called four days ago.
Jan 24, 2006 - 11:54 am 5. DanM:It’s either Harry or Mike Farrell or Tim Robbins, Michael Moore is too hot, and,
Pat Leahy took his usual does of Sominex is
on the floor of the Senate speaking as usual!!!”
jedrury,
I believe you may be forwarding Roger’s point. When there is no news….they create it (or promote it). Squeaky wheels and all that…
It doesn’t bode well for trust, but it does get some instantaneous viewers and talk. This translates into some curious on-lookers and therefore some ratings increases. As mature product people know, the way to increase sales of old stock is to make it “new” again by generating industry talk. It doesn’t really matter if the talk is true, just that there IS talk to generate interest. In an age of “page-hits” it doesn’t surprise me that the MSM has resorted to the quick-hit method to generate sales.
This method of generating talk does absolutely nothing for generating trust, just sales. Trust has been put aside as a poor business decision.
Jan 24, 2006 - 12:16 pm