HomeHelp! I`m A Hollywood Republican! By Robert J. Avrech
I am a Hollywood screenwriter. I have written feature films, episodic television, movies for network and cable. An Emmy Award for the screenplay for my film “The Devil’s Arithmetic†sits over the fireplace in our living room. I have won numerous awards and I have, thank God, made a good living in Hollywood. For an Orthodox boy from Brooklyn raised during the 60’s and 70’s, when all my classmates were bred to be doctors, dentists and accountants, I was obsessed — unnaturally so — with the movies.
For a considerable period of time, I kept my level of Jewish observance a secret. I did not wear my yarmulke to Hollywood meetings. I understood, on the deepest level, that wearing your religion on your sleeve would be professional suicide. I understood that though Hollywood professed to be “open and tolerant,†when it came to religion — any religion, except for something harmless and fashionable like new-age Buddhism — Hollywood was as open as, well, the KKK.
In truth, most Hollywood people have been perfectly respectful of my Orthodoxy. In fact, several have gone out of their way to accommodate the shooting schedules of the films I’ve been involved with. Usually, these have been the Gentiles. The Jews are another story entirely.
This brings me to my second secret life.
I’m a Republican. A heretofore secret Hollywood Republican. I know men and women who are heavy drug addicts and they have no problem finding employment in Hollywood. I know men and women who are gambling addicts and they work pretty regularly. There’s even a director who was arrested for child molestation and yet was hired by Disney — yes, Disney — to helm a picture, and people defended this decision by saying even child molesters have a right to work. I would bet my bottom dollar that all these people are on the correct side of the political spectrum. They are liberal democrats.
Me, I’m a Republican. A conservative Republican. I believe passionately in free market capitalism. I believe in the Second Amendment, i.e., the right to bear arms (I even own several guns and go to the shooting range with friends from shul several times a month). I despise communism and fascism, and I believe there is a special place in hell for Islamic totalitarians and their Western apologists — probably 99.9 percent of Hollywood people.
Let’s be clear about one thing. Hollywood people are glamorous. But that’s about it. They are ill informed about jihad. They are ill informed about Islam. They are ill informed about Israel, the PA, Iraq, Afghanistan. They are ill informed about U.S. history, the Constitution, etc. The truth is, the movie people I’ve met are ignorant about most everything — save the weekend grosses of the top ten films. That they know like human computers.
Like most Brooklyn Jews, I was raised a Democrat, voted Democrat for years and years, and believed, absolutely, that Republicans were evil. That’s what we were taught from birth, right? Democrats are for the poor and the oppressed, and Republicans are for rich people and big corporations. Who questioned such sophisticated political analysis?
But as I grew older and watched the Democratic party turn into an alien entity run by vulgar race hustlers and anti-Semites cloaked as “mere†anti-Zionists — an alien entity that increasingly refused to confront, much less despise, communism — I realized that this was no longer the party that reflected my national or my Jewish aspirations.
The presidency of Jimmy Carter was the last straw. The man was truly ineffectual. I switched to the Republicans and never looked back.
Hollywood, once upon a time, was one of the most patriotic colonies on the planet. During World War II, Frank Capra made a series of propaganda films titled “Why We Fight.†Marlene Dietrich put herself through a most grueling schedule visiting and entertaining our troops and selling war bonds. Jimmy Stewart joined the Air Force. Numerous movie stars put their careers on hold to help the war effort. These men and women loved America and understood who the enemy was and why the enemy had to be not only defeated but obliterated from the face of the earth.
Look at Hollywood now. Sean Penn goes to Iraq and apologizes for American war crimes. Hollywood’s patron saint is Michael Moore, its liturgy his package of lies, the movie “Fahrenheit 9/11.†When this film had its Hollywood premiere, the red carpet was choked with stars just dying to make an anti-Bush statement. We’re talking about movie stars who know basically nothing about politics. To call them fools would be generous. I have spent time with too many of these people, and believe me, if you’re not talking about how beautiful or how talented they are, the conversation sort of just dies.
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.
Let’s not forget that at the 2004 Democratic National Convention Michael Moore was given a seat of honor next to — who else? — Jimmy Carter. And the speaker who received the longest standing ovation was none other than the Rev. Al Sharpton, America’s most visible race hustler since Jesse Jackson. It was as though the party had been taken over by the Three Stooges. And Hollywood loved it, showering the Dems with more money than ever.
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.
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Originally Posted by savvy
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