Liberal Hollywood and where are all the Republicans and conservatives?
If you travel cross country in America -- Chicago to New Orleans, or Jacksonville to San Diego -- you'll discover a politically diverse country. You'll unearth everything from gun-toting, white supremacist conservatives to proud Marxist and anarchist professors. In between, there's the vast bulk of Democrat and Republican America, plus a few battle-weary independents.
It's fair to say that the United States is much more conservative than most European countries. Middle America, that huge part of the nation between liberal New England and left-wing California is unashamedly Christian and conservative.
In Main Street America there is a mistrust and hatred of socialism which is emotional rather than intellectual. Socialism is not really understood but is associated with a lack of morals, atheism, big government, high taxation, and lack of respect for the individual.
Sharon Stone, actress, feminist, and liberal
If you attempt to explain to an American that socialism, or more correctly social democracy consisting of a healthy private sector and a welfare state providing universal health care, has given Europeans prosperity, security, and stability, they will either not believe you, or more likely their eyes will glaze over and their guard will go up as soon as the word socialism
is mentioned.
If you are a guest in a conservative household, the easiest way to offend them and be kicked out is to refuse to say grace at the dining table. It happened to me once when I was visiting family friends in Blytheville, Arkansas.
At the dining table, the father of the house invited us to join hands and give thanks. I politely explained that the saying of grace was not part of my cultural tradition.
The father, a cross between Homer Simpson and Charlton Heston, gave me a cold stare and announced: In this house, everyone is required to say grace. If you don't like that, you can leave.
I rose from the table, packed my bags and headed for Hollywood.
Oddly for a European, the type of extreme conservatism considered backward and offensive in all but a few corners of Europe is mainstream in America. It is legitimate in the United States to believe that there is a male Christian God who favors America, rewards his followers and disciples with heaven, and condemns his critics and enemies to an eternity of hell. For most Americans, this is not myth or metaphor, it is fact.
I have been forced to endure painful visits with insanely right wing relatives in the United States. I have family in Arkansas and Oklahoma. They believe the earth was created in six days, that God kicked back and napped on the seventh, that Darwinism is a monstrous lie, that the death penalty is close to godliness, that abortion doctors should be given life imprisonment, that prayer should be compulsory in school, that gay people are headed straight to hell, that Obama is an agent of the devil, that the end times are near, and that the United States has the right to invade and occupy any country it wishes.
Father and daughter: Jon Voight, conservative, and Angelina Jolie, liberal
It is inconceivable in America for the president to be a self-confessed atheist. To Americans, atheism means you are a bad person. You lack a moral code. You invent your own rules of social behavior; you disregard tradition, and you mock the beliefs of the majority. Most Americans do not see atheism as a stand for science against superstition, for education against ignorance, and for the natural world against the supernatural. For them, atheism is evil and communist, period. It does not have to understood or explained. It's in the guts. It's felt.
A staunch conservative such as Sarah Palin is able to defend the idea that the universe is 10,000 years old without being laughed out of the house, off the stage, and into obscurity. In America, you are required to respect religious beliefs, however daft or potty they might seem.
Charlton Heston as Moses. Heston was a famed gun-lover and conservative
It is only when you come to Hollywood that you meet anything approaching a European range of views, where center-left is the middle ground and left wing views are mainstream. In Hollywod, right wing conservatism is considered stone age and nutty.
In Hollywood you meet tolerance for gay people, interest in events beyond America's borders, criticism of the President (especially conservative presidents) acceptance of alternative lifestyles and religious beliefs, boredom with organized religion, mistrust of American military ventures abroad, acceptance of the idea that climate change is mainly, or in part, caused by humans, belief in a woman's right to make decisions about her body, and belief that government has a role to play in the economy.
More Hollywood politics
Oliver Stone, director, liberal
Steven Spielberg, director, liberal
Robert de Niro, actor, liberal
Sharon Stone, actress, liberal
John Sayles, writer, actor, director, liberal
Tim Robbins, actor, director, liberal
Woody Harelson, actor, environmental activist, liberal
Ted Danson, actor, environmentalist, liberal
Whoopi Goldberg, actress, liberal
Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor, actor, liberal Republican
George Clooney, actor, liberal
Maggie Gyllenhaal, actress, liberal
In Hollywood you find an abundance of new age gurus, quacks, lifecoaches, aroma therapists, organic foodies, spiritual leaders, disciples of weird and wacky cults, off-grid living, silicone boobs in abundance, lifted faces and backsides, tucked tummies, Chiclet teeth, colon cleansing, rectal rinsing, group sex therapy, enlightenment
via non-prescription drugs, call girls, street girls, luxury tarts, gay group sex, wife swapping, witches, wiccans, high priestesses, low lifes, promiscuity, STDs and SUVs, love of the planet, worship of root vegetables, pet cemetaries, and anarcho syndicalism.
Against this background, the mainstream liberalism of Brad Pitt, Susan Sarandon, George Clooney, and Jessica Lange is charming, harmless and well-meaning. In any location or profession that thrives on creativity and free thinking, you are going to gather a large bunch of liberals, people who look outward rather than inward, people who wish to explore rather than stand at the barn door with a 12-gauge and guard the turnips.
It's understandable and logical that so much of Hollywood is outspokenly liberal. The movie industry has attracted some of the country's greatest creative talent, has given them free rein and lots of money. It has offered them a way out of small town, small-minded America. It's a place to which refugees from middle America congregate in their thousands, people who are tired of being bashed over the head by Bible, family, and values. It has become a safe haven for gay people, sensitive and bullied youngsters, aspiring writers, visionaries and visual artists.
Susan Sarandon, and long-time partner Tim Robbins, are part of Hollywood's liberal elite
The conservatives are still there, of course. They might not be as vocal as in Texas or Alabama, but they are there in military bases in San Diego, in mega-churches and private universities, even in the movie industry where they count beans, forge deals, move money and piles of paper. There are even a few conservative actors. Most famous of the lot was Moses himself, Charlton Heston. But there's also Jon Voight, Robert Duvall, and little Stephen Baldwin.
By Giles Devos, a Frenchman who travels all over the world providing news and images for OSL