MercurE1
August 18th, 2002, 04:05 PM
I got this letter in my email box, and thought it kinda summed up how a lot of people feel
The following is abridged from a speech delivered at Hillsdale's
All-College
> Spring Convocation, held at the College Baptist Church, on April 4, 2002.
>
> Here in this quiet, peaceful corner of Michigan, you might not have a
sense
> of your importance in the world. I come from a community that has the
> opposite problem. Because it is so big and so powerful, so great and so
> well-known, it has an exaggerated view of its significance. That community
> is Hollywood. Not Hollywood, the town. Not much Show Business actually
goes
> on there. Most of the studios are spread around other Southern California
> communities, like Culver City or Burbank. But I mean Hollywood, the
> Entertainment Mecca -- which includes parts of Southern California and New
> York City, and, because news has become entertainment, some of Washington,
> D.C., as well.
> While I work in Hollywood, I live elsewhere. My family and I live in a
quiet
> suburb of Annapolis, Maryland. The kids go to school there. They live near
> their grandparents -- my in-laws -- and most of my neighbors care very
> little about overnight ratings, box office grosses and sweeps weeks. We
> don't hate L.A. In fact, we like it, and we spend a great deal of time
> there. But I happen to have a job that allows me a great deal of
> flexibility, and that gives me the luxury of living a real life in
addition
> to my fake one.
>
> You see, one of the dangers of my business is that it has the potential to
> fill you with a distorted view of life and of your importance in it. And
> it's understandable in a way. If you are part of a successful enterprise,
> people treat you very well. They send limos for you. They tiptoe around
you.
> They pretend that the most outlandish or inane things you might say are
> important and quotable. Drugs? Adultery? Alcoholism? Deviant behavior?
Don't
> worry. You go on Oprah-you cry-people call you heroic for being so
open-and
> your career soars to new heights.
>
> You're treated importantly, so you must be important. Suddenly your views
> are not just your own private opinions; they become part of the public
> record. They quote you on Entertainment Tonight and in People magazine.
You
> can endorse a candidate, fight for a cause, call people names -- it's
pretty
> heady stuff. The world waits breathlessly for your next pronouncement.
>
> Rosie O'Donnell -- a daytime talk show host -- goes public with her ---ual
> preference, and she is lauded as brave. What exactly is brave about that?
> First of all, who cares? And what's brave about getting the chance to be
> interviewed by ABC and landing on magazine covers? I characterize it as
> bravery-as-a-career-move.
>
> I don't mean to pick on Ms. O'Donnell, but it's just another example of
the
> self-importance that Show Business can bestow on you -- the idea that your
> ---ual preference matters to anyone other than your immediate family and
> your partner, or partners, seems rather silly to me.
>
> Speaking of silly, Alec Baldwin, an actor, recently compared the election
of
> George W. Bush to the terrorist attacks of last September. This is the
same
> Baldwin brother who promised to leave the country if Bush were elected.
> Sadly, he reneged on that one. Baldwin also went on Conan O'Brien's
> late-night show during the Clinton impeachment to say that Illinois
> Republican Congressman Henry Hyde should be shot -- along with his family.
>
> Do remarks like that get you chastised in Hollywood? Ostracized?
> Marginalized? No, it's Alec Baldwin. He's an actor. He's in Show Business.
> He's important.
>
> The silliness and outrageousness that emanates from Hollywood comes from
> non-performers as well. Ted Turner once mocked his employees who had ashes
> on their foreheads for Ash Wednesday as "Jesus Freaks." Mr. Turner, a
> self-proclaimed protector of human rights, apparently has his limits.
>
> Filmmaker Rob Reiner -- a cofounder of Castle Rock Entertainment -- is
> reportedly upset by what he sees in many films these days, and he plans to
> do something about it. In fact, he's so upset about this thing, anyone who
> wants to depict it in a Castle Rock film must meet with Reiner first in
> order to justify its inclusion.
>
> So what's got Rob so upset? Gratuitous violence? Casual ---? Disrespect
> toward Christianity? Bias against Big Business? Is that what he wants to
cut
> down or eliminate? No, of course not. That would be censorship. He wants
to
> get rid of smoking. There's too much smoking in movies.
>
> To quote Mr. Reiner, "Movies are basically advertising cigarettes to
kids."
> No knock on Rob. In fact, I agree with him. But why is smoking open to
> censorship and not these other issues? And what happened to Hollywood's
> argument that movies and TV shows don't cause bad behavior, they just
> reflect it? Or is it merely a health issue? But surely, health is involved
> when it comes to violence and casual ---. The answer is, there is no
answer.
> It's just Hollywood being Hollywood. It's monumental hypocrisy. Kids can't
> pick up bad habits from what they watch... oh, except for smoking.
>
> You see, if you complain about what you see as excesses on the screen, you
> are a book-burning prude who wants to tell everyone else how to live. You
> are a censor. You have no right. That is a right saved for the wise. They
> know better. They are important.
>
> It's the same kind of nonsense that brings celebrities to "Save the Earth"
> benefits in eight-mile-per-gallon limos. Or that allows them to make a
> public service announcement urging recycling -- filmed at their 20,000
> square foot homes. They can lecture to you and you should listen, even if
> they don't, because... well, because they're celebrities. They're from
> Hollywood, for goodness sake-and you live in Michigan!
>
> I could go on with a laundry list of silly and hypocritical things said
and
> done by some of my fellow Show Business luminaries, but the point here is
> not to make them look silly. They're perfectly capable of doing that
without
> my help. The larger point is the disconnect between the realities of this
> nation and its people, and the perceived realities of many in the
> entertainment community.
> I don't mean to sound too harsh -- or hypocritical. After all, I seem
> perfectly happy to have cashed my checks for the more than 30 years I've
> been in television. And I'm not exactly working on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I
> do make a living by selling vowels and spinning a giant multicolored
wheel!
> So who am I to be pointing fingers? Well, I'm just someone who wants to
feel
> prouder than he does -- as proud as he once was -- about what goes on in
his
> industry. And that's why I spend only part of my time around it. I need to
> step back occasionally. I think it does help me see the world more
clearly.
>
> And that's the irony of it all. Whether it is from my home in Maryland or
> from your classroom here in Hillsdale, you -- in a very real way -- are
more
> aware of what this nation and this world are about than the supposedly
> well-connected and in-tune people who inhabit our media culture.
>
> Former CBS News-man Bernard Goldberg has written a best- selling book
called
> Bias, in which he maintains that the real problem with the media is not a
> bias based on liberal vs. conservative or Republican vs. Democrat. It is a
> bias based on the sameness of worldview caused by social, intellectual,
> educational and professional inbreeding. These are folks who travel in the
> same circles, go to the same parties, talk to the same people, compare
their
> ideas to people with the same ideas, and develop a standard view on issues
> that makes any deviation from them seem somehow marginal, or even weird.
>
> They think they have diversity in their midst because they take pains to
> hire a representative mix of gender and race. But there is no diversity of
> thought. On the great social issues of our time, there is an alarmingly
> monolithic view held by what has become known as the "media elite." You
can
> bet that the New York Times is careful about how many women it hires, but
> you can also bet that it is not very careful that these women hold diverse
> views on issues they'll be writing about, such as the environment, gun
> control or abortion. My guess is that a pro-life view within the walls of
> the Times is a pretty rare one. And the same holds true on the
entertainment
> side. It is just assumed that "right thinking people" hold certain views.
If
> you don't... well there's the problem. How can you portray people fairly
in
> film or on TV if you think their attitudes are so foreign?
>
> How can you write about people fairly if they seem so out of touch with
what
> you are used to in your everyday life? That might help explain why
religion
> is rarely depicted as a natural part of life in the average sitcom or
drama
> series, despite the fact that tens of millions of Americans say that it is
> important to them.
>
> At a dinner party in Los Angeles recently, our hostess was about to say
some
> grudgingly kind words about President Bush and the way he was handling the
> War on Terror. She prefaced her remarks by saying, "Now I know everyone at
> this table voted for Al Gore, but ..." Well, she knew no such thing. She
> just presumed it. It's what "right-thinking" people did. This "false
> reality" is a phenomenon that permeates media circles.
>
> It's the phenomenon that caused Pauline Kael, former film critic for The
New
> Yorker, to remark after Richard Nixon's election sweep in 1972, "I can't
> believe it! I don't know a single person who voted for him." This was a
man
> who won in 49 out of 50 states, and she didn't know one person who voted
for
> him. And I don't think she was dealing in hyperbole. She simply had never
> met those people. She couldn't believe they really existed.
>
> It's the phenomenon that allows the media to "rediscover" patriotism and
> heroism in the wake of September 11, when those of you in Hillsdale, and
> millions of others in St. Louis, Cleveland, Salem, Phoenix, Cheyenne, and
a
> thousand other cities and small towns, know that those traits never went
> away.
>
> It's the phenomenon that explains Hollywood's disdain for Big Business.
You
> read about it in the newsmagazines and see it in the movies. Big Business
is
> bad. The people who run these businesses are heartless, often criminal,
> brutes. There is no regard for the little guy. Thousands are laid off
while
> the greedy business executives reap windfall profits. Never mind that some
> of the biggest and least-competitive businesses are in entertainment. They
> merge, they lay off thousands, while stock options accrue to the top
> executives. Top talent at networks and in movies get tens -- even
> hundreds -- of millions while so many of their co-workers, the little
people
> they care so much about, lose their jobs. They simply don't see the
> contradiction. They are above it.
>
> And, perhaps worst of all, it's the phenomenon that allows movie studios
and
> television networks to program with an utter disregard for your kids and
> your communities. It's not that they're evil people. They have kids and
they
> care about them. But they see no connection between what they do and the
> results of what they do. And, besides, you're not really families and
> communities. You're ratings, demographics and sales.
>
> You see, they are -- for the most part -- clueless. Clueless about this
> country and its people. Clueless about you. And they are afraid. They are
> afraid of the new technologies-afraid of the dwindling numbers of viewers
or
> readers or listeners... afraid for their very existence. So, don't you
see,
> they have to do what it takes to survive. They must survive. They are
> important. Who do you people out here -- the ones they fly over on their
way
> to the other Coast for meetings -- who do you think you are?
>
> Well, you are this country. You are its future. And I think that's a very
> good thing to be. The world can look mighty dark and forbidding at times.
> But how exciting to be in a position to help change all that. And you're
at
> the center of it. The center is not Los Angeles or New York. The power is
> not in Hollywood or Washington. The power is here.
> Oh, you may end up in one of those other locations, but look what you will
> bring with you. This place. Its ideals. Its strengths. Its traditions. You
> will have spent these formative years in a setting where ideas can be
> discussed and treated with respect. Where the great traditions of this
> nation and its cultural heritage have been passed on to you... and,
through
> you, will be passed on to countless others.
>
> No matter how you eventually make your living or where you live your life,
> your time here at Hillsdale helps assure that you will have a positive
> impact on your generation. That strikes me as an excellent start on your
> legacy.
>
> I will take a small part of Hillsdale with me when I leave. I envy the big
> part that each of you will carry throughout your lives. This resource --
> this power -- is reality. Not the media's version of it. And you possess
it.
> Use it wisely. Thank you.
The following is abridged from a speech delivered at Hillsdale's
All-College
> Spring Convocation, held at the College Baptist Church, on April 4, 2002.
>
> Here in this quiet, peaceful corner of Michigan, you might not have a
sense
> of your importance in the world. I come from a community that has the
> opposite problem. Because it is so big and so powerful, so great and so
> well-known, it has an exaggerated view of its significance. That community
> is Hollywood. Not Hollywood, the town. Not much Show Business actually
goes
> on there. Most of the studios are spread around other Southern California
> communities, like Culver City or Burbank. But I mean Hollywood, the
> Entertainment Mecca -- which includes parts of Southern California and New
> York City, and, because news has become entertainment, some of Washington,
> D.C., as well.
> While I work in Hollywood, I live elsewhere. My family and I live in a
quiet
> suburb of Annapolis, Maryland. The kids go to school there. They live near
> their grandparents -- my in-laws -- and most of my neighbors care very
> little about overnight ratings, box office grosses and sweeps weeks. We
> don't hate L.A. In fact, we like it, and we spend a great deal of time
> there. But I happen to have a job that allows me a great deal of
> flexibility, and that gives me the luxury of living a real life in
addition
> to my fake one.
>
> You see, one of the dangers of my business is that it has the potential to
> fill you with a distorted view of life and of your importance in it. And
> it's understandable in a way. If you are part of a successful enterprise,
> people treat you very well. They send limos for you. They tiptoe around
you.
> They pretend that the most outlandish or inane things you might say are
> important and quotable. Drugs? Adultery? Alcoholism? Deviant behavior?
Don't
> worry. You go on Oprah-you cry-people call you heroic for being so
open-and
> your career soars to new heights.
>
> You're treated importantly, so you must be important. Suddenly your views
> are not just your own private opinions; they become part of the public
> record. They quote you on Entertainment Tonight and in People magazine.
You
> can endorse a candidate, fight for a cause, call people names -- it's
pretty
> heady stuff. The world waits breathlessly for your next pronouncement.
>
> Rosie O'Donnell -- a daytime talk show host -- goes public with her ---ual
> preference, and she is lauded as brave. What exactly is brave about that?
> First of all, who cares? And what's brave about getting the chance to be
> interviewed by ABC and landing on magazine covers? I characterize it as
> bravery-as-a-career-move.
>
> I don't mean to pick on Ms. O'Donnell, but it's just another example of
the
> self-importance that Show Business can bestow on you -- the idea that your
> ---ual preference matters to anyone other than your immediate family and
> your partner, or partners, seems rather silly to me.
>
> Speaking of silly, Alec Baldwin, an actor, recently compared the election
of
> George W. Bush to the terrorist attacks of last September. This is the
same
> Baldwin brother who promised to leave the country if Bush were elected.
> Sadly, he reneged on that one. Baldwin also went on Conan O'Brien's
> late-night show during the Clinton impeachment to say that Illinois
> Republican Congressman Henry Hyde should be shot -- along with his family.
>
> Do remarks like that get you chastised in Hollywood? Ostracized?
> Marginalized? No, it's Alec Baldwin. He's an actor. He's in Show Business.
> He's important.
>
> The silliness and outrageousness that emanates from Hollywood comes from
> non-performers as well. Ted Turner once mocked his employees who had ashes
> on their foreheads for Ash Wednesday as "Jesus Freaks." Mr. Turner, a
> self-proclaimed protector of human rights, apparently has his limits.
>
> Filmmaker Rob Reiner -- a cofounder of Castle Rock Entertainment -- is
> reportedly upset by what he sees in many films these days, and he plans to
> do something about it. In fact, he's so upset about this thing, anyone who
> wants to depict it in a Castle Rock film must meet with Reiner first in
> order to justify its inclusion.
>
> So what's got Rob so upset? Gratuitous violence? Casual ---? Disrespect
> toward Christianity? Bias against Big Business? Is that what he wants to
cut
> down or eliminate? No, of course not. That would be censorship. He wants
to
> get rid of smoking. There's too much smoking in movies.
>
> To quote Mr. Reiner, "Movies are basically advertising cigarettes to
kids."
> No knock on Rob. In fact, I agree with him. But why is smoking open to
> censorship and not these other issues? And what happened to Hollywood's
> argument that movies and TV shows don't cause bad behavior, they just
> reflect it? Or is it merely a health issue? But surely, health is involved
> when it comes to violence and casual ---. The answer is, there is no
answer.
> It's just Hollywood being Hollywood. It's monumental hypocrisy. Kids can't
> pick up bad habits from what they watch... oh, except for smoking.
>
> You see, if you complain about what you see as excesses on the screen, you
> are a book-burning prude who wants to tell everyone else how to live. You
> are a censor. You have no right. That is a right saved for the wise. They
> know better. They are important.
>
> It's the same kind of nonsense that brings celebrities to "Save the Earth"
> benefits in eight-mile-per-gallon limos. Or that allows them to make a
> public service announcement urging recycling -- filmed at their 20,000
> square foot homes. They can lecture to you and you should listen, even if
> they don't, because... well, because they're celebrities. They're from
> Hollywood, for goodness sake-and you live in Michigan!
>
> I could go on with a laundry list of silly and hypocritical things said
and
> done by some of my fellow Show Business luminaries, but the point here is
> not to make them look silly. They're perfectly capable of doing that
without
> my help. The larger point is the disconnect between the realities of this
> nation and its people, and the perceived realities of many in the
> entertainment community.
> I don't mean to sound too harsh -- or hypocritical. After all, I seem
> perfectly happy to have cashed my checks for the more than 30 years I've
> been in television. And I'm not exactly working on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I
> do make a living by selling vowels and spinning a giant multicolored
wheel!
> So who am I to be pointing fingers? Well, I'm just someone who wants to
feel
> prouder than he does -- as proud as he once was -- about what goes on in
his
> industry. And that's why I spend only part of my time around it. I need to
> step back occasionally. I think it does help me see the world more
clearly.
>
> And that's the irony of it all. Whether it is from my home in Maryland or
> from your classroom here in Hillsdale, you -- in a very real way -- are
more
> aware of what this nation and this world are about than the supposedly
> well-connected and in-tune people who inhabit our media culture.
>
> Former CBS News-man Bernard Goldberg has written a best- selling book
called
> Bias, in which he maintains that the real problem with the media is not a
> bias based on liberal vs. conservative or Republican vs. Democrat. It is a
> bias based on the sameness of worldview caused by social, intellectual,
> educational and professional inbreeding. These are folks who travel in the
> same circles, go to the same parties, talk to the same people, compare
their
> ideas to people with the same ideas, and develop a standard view on issues
> that makes any deviation from them seem somehow marginal, or even weird.
>
> They think they have diversity in their midst because they take pains to
> hire a representative mix of gender and race. But there is no diversity of
> thought. On the great social issues of our time, there is an alarmingly
> monolithic view held by what has become known as the "media elite." You
can
> bet that the New York Times is careful about how many women it hires, but
> you can also bet that it is not very careful that these women hold diverse
> views on issues they'll be writing about, such as the environment, gun
> control or abortion. My guess is that a pro-life view within the walls of
> the Times is a pretty rare one. And the same holds true on the
entertainment
> side. It is just assumed that "right thinking people" hold certain views.
If
> you don't... well there's the problem. How can you portray people fairly
in
> film or on TV if you think their attitudes are so foreign?
>
> How can you write about people fairly if they seem so out of touch with
what
> you are used to in your everyday life? That might help explain why
religion
> is rarely depicted as a natural part of life in the average sitcom or
drama
> series, despite the fact that tens of millions of Americans say that it is
> important to them.
>
> At a dinner party in Los Angeles recently, our hostess was about to say
some
> grudgingly kind words about President Bush and the way he was handling the
> War on Terror. She prefaced her remarks by saying, "Now I know everyone at
> this table voted for Al Gore, but ..." Well, she knew no such thing. She
> just presumed it. It's what "right-thinking" people did. This "false
> reality" is a phenomenon that permeates media circles.
>
> It's the phenomenon that caused Pauline Kael, former film critic for The
New
> Yorker, to remark after Richard Nixon's election sweep in 1972, "I can't
> believe it! I don't know a single person who voted for him." This was a
man
> who won in 49 out of 50 states, and she didn't know one person who voted
for
> him. And I don't think she was dealing in hyperbole. She simply had never
> met those people. She couldn't believe they really existed.
>
> It's the phenomenon that allows the media to "rediscover" patriotism and
> heroism in the wake of September 11, when those of you in Hillsdale, and
> millions of others in St. Louis, Cleveland, Salem, Phoenix, Cheyenne, and
a
> thousand other cities and small towns, know that those traits never went
> away.
>
> It's the phenomenon that explains Hollywood's disdain for Big Business.
You
> read about it in the newsmagazines and see it in the movies. Big Business
is
> bad. The people who run these businesses are heartless, often criminal,
> brutes. There is no regard for the little guy. Thousands are laid off
while
> the greedy business executives reap windfall profits. Never mind that some
> of the biggest and least-competitive businesses are in entertainment. They
> merge, they lay off thousands, while stock options accrue to the top
> executives. Top talent at networks and in movies get tens -- even
> hundreds -- of millions while so many of their co-workers, the little
people
> they care so much about, lose their jobs. They simply don't see the
> contradiction. They are above it.
>
> And, perhaps worst of all, it's the phenomenon that allows movie studios
and
> television networks to program with an utter disregard for your kids and
> your communities. It's not that they're evil people. They have kids and
they
> care about them. But they see no connection between what they do and the
> results of what they do. And, besides, you're not really families and
> communities. You're ratings, demographics and sales.
>
> You see, they are -- for the most part -- clueless. Clueless about this
> country and its people. Clueless about you. And they are afraid. They are
> afraid of the new technologies-afraid of the dwindling numbers of viewers
or
> readers or listeners... afraid for their very existence. So, don't you
see,
> they have to do what it takes to survive. They must survive. They are
> important. Who do you people out here -- the ones they fly over on their
way
> to the other Coast for meetings -- who do you think you are?
>
> Well, you are this country. You are its future. And I think that's a very
> good thing to be. The world can look mighty dark and forbidding at times.
> But how exciting to be in a position to help change all that. And you're
at
> the center of it. The center is not Los Angeles or New York. The power is
> not in Hollywood or Washington. The power is here.
> Oh, you may end up in one of those other locations, but look what you will
> bring with you. This place. Its ideals. Its strengths. Its traditions. You
> will have spent these formative years in a setting where ideas can be
> discussed and treated with respect. Where the great traditions of this
> nation and its cultural heritage have been passed on to you... and,
through
> you, will be passed on to countless others.
>
> No matter how you eventually make your living or where you live your life,
> your time here at Hillsdale helps assure that you will have a positive
> impact on your generation. That strikes me as an excellent start on your
> legacy.
>
> I will take a small part of Hillsdale with me when I leave. I envy the big
> part that each of you will carry throughout your lives. This resource --
> this power -- is reality. Not the media's version of it. And you possess
it.
> Use it wisely. Thank you.