Clueless Lefty Defends Hollywood Elite

USA Today recently carried an editorial by culture-poisoner Steven Levitan (responsible for writing such atrocities as Greg the Bunny, which combined cute puppets and raunchy humor in prime time) under the title Hollywood "Elite": We’re Not Villains.

As if!

Here’s some excerpt with responses:

Even though I’ve been a member of the "Liberal Hollywood Elite" for 15 years, I have never been invited to an orgy.

Presumably because you’re married.

Instead, I get invited to roughly three dozen charity events a year.

And how many of these involve abortion, homosexual "rights," and the Democratic Party?

Why, then, do so many conservatives hold us in the same esteem as the
proprietor of the local porn shop?

Porn? On the Hollywood view, what’s wrong with porn? Sure, out in the red states we disapprove of it, but what on earth do you in the snakepit see as wrong with it? Articulate a rational, Hollywood case against porn for me, please. (N.B., "It in some way diminishes boxoffice proceeds" doesn’t count.)

Are our morals and values so
different from the rest of America?

Yep. See former point.

I believe "Hollywood" is more like
middle America than many people imagine.

If by that you mean that people in Hollywood don’t have horns, I’m prepared to concede the point.

This was a typical weekend for us: Saturday, we went to our kids’
soccer games (one loss, one tie). Saturday night we took the kids to
see a movie (The Incredibles). Sunday, we went to a child’s birthday party. Sunday night, we had dinner at home.

You may have noticed there was no mention of church or Temple.

Now that you mention it . . . There’s one point of difference from Middle America.

I was raised Jewish, my wife was raised Catholic. Though we respect
each other’s heritage, and while many of our friends are deeply
religious, we have chosen to focus on our similarities, not our
differences.

In other words, by ceasing to practice any faith, you’re both a couple of sell-outs on the most single important subject in life and are trying to mask that fact to yourselves with pious-sounding pleasantries.

We teach our children compassion, charity,
honesty and the benefits of hard work. We teach them to help those who
aren’t as lucky as they are. I am confident that they will go into the
world with good morals and strong family values.

Not if you’re also filling their heads with family-undermining values on abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia. Let’s see how you feel about those values when you’re on your deathbed and your kids are itching to pull the plug lest you consume more of their inheritance with medical bills.

Friends in the Midwest often ask me what it’s
like to raise a family in Los Angeles. I say it’s just like where they
are, but warmer and with more traffic. I also tell them people here
seem a bit more tolerant of those who are different.

So . . . you’re showing your superior tolerance of others by making an unflattering remark about Midwesterners?

My wife and I are friends with several gay
couples, many of whom have been together for 20-plus years.

And this is supposed to convince me that you’re not morally warped and that you’re setting a good example for your children?

I have no problem befriending individuals who struggle with homosexual temptations. In fact, that’s praiseworthy. They lead a hard life, and they need support. But to befriend with no note of disappoval openly gay "couples" is to affirm them in an objectively disordered lifestyle.

While I can
joke that that’s a rare accomplishment even for heterosexual couples
here, in fact, many people have been together that long.

About fifty or sixty.

What puzzles
me, though, is why Britney Spears can get drunk and then married for 55
hours in Vegas and have more rights than a successful, loving gay
couple who have been together for a quarter century.

As if this snark-ument is supposed to convince anybody! One, Britney Spears’ "marriage" has ANNULMENT written all over it. Two, Vegas marriage laws are atrocious anyway (hardly representative of "family values"). Three, one can’t judge the legal status of a marriage at the time it is contracted by a fact that isn’t known at the time (i.e., how long it will last). And four, at least Britney wasn’t (to our knowledge) grossly violating the laws of biology.

Expecting universal agreement at a dinner party
just before the election, I voiced this view [i.e., that Kerry was to be voted for] rather passionately, only
to learn that half of the room was voting for President Bush. Huh? In
liberal Hollywood?

So . . . you’re acknowledging that you did expect Hollywood to be out of step with where the election showed most Americans to be?

Also, with a sampling size this small, I’d put more faith in the exit polls that showed Kerry winning on election day. Just how blue was your county on November 2?

But what about the accusation that Hollywood is
trying to advance its liberal agenda? Well, the fact is, while the
creative community admittedly leans left,

A notable admission!

Hollywood has become a
corporate town. Middle America may only see celebrities, but the real
power here lies with the heads of studios and networks. In the old
days, studio and network presidents answered to no one. Today, they
report to corporate boards and shareholders — not exactly a bunch of
lefties.

Which is why y’all don’t try to foist on America a constant diet of Fahrenheit 9/11s and Last Temptations of Christ.

Sorry, Medved has already ably documented the fact that Hollywood sinks huge amounts of money in unprofitable loser movies that can be explained only by cultural bias.

The point is, this town can’t be summed up with
one ideology. To label and dismiss us, to vilify us, is to wrongly
assume that politically there exists an "us." In fact, we are just a
group of very different people, most of us trying to raise our
families, joined by the desire to grab an audience.

You’ve already admitted that there are several "us"es in Hollywood. While one can dispute the leanings of the boardmembers and the studio heads who approve the filth with which you–and by that I mean you personally–have filled screens, you have already admitted that "the creative community admittedly leans left." Since it is the creative community (not the studio heads) that rush out into the press to advocate evil causes and candidates, you have little cause to complain about the impression of Hollywood that they generate for Midwesterners. If it helps you, parse criticisms of the "Hollywood elite" as criticisms of "the creative community."

It pains me that our nation is so divided.

Somewhere, I hear violins playing.

So,
during the next four years, I’m going to try to better understand the
so-called Christian Right that views Hollywood as the enemy.

Good! Try taking this blog entry as a starting point!

Much like
in my marriage, I’m going to focus on our similarities, because I
believe, from the bottom of my heart, that if we try, we can find
common ground.

No. This is precisely wrong. The problem is not failure to appreciate our similarities; it is the reality of our differences. You (presumably) believe that baby-killing via abortion should be allowed. I do not. As long as you hold the opinion that you do, our differences are irreconcilable, and no amount of "focusing on our similarities" will smooth things over.

Either you switch on the subject of baby-killing . . . or you’re the enemy.

The fact that we are similar in that we both lack horns counts for precisely nothing as long as you support the legalized murder of more than a million kids a year.

As far as I’m concerned, you’re not just from a different planet. You’re from a different universe–where the murder of the most defenseless members of society is wrapped in a cloak of false compassion.

God, I sound like such a liberal.

Yes.

Yes, you do.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." View all posts by Jimmy Akin