I used to love going to movies. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, when I had time on my hands, I’d go to a theater two or three times a week – and if I could get a “double bill” or a “TRIPLE bill” (yeah, that used to be a thing) I was ecstatic. There were so many great movies made in Hollywood and even the not so great, low budget pics were fun and entertaining.

And the stars – real stars – John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Charlton Heston, Sydney Poitier, Raquel Welsh, Faye Dunaway, Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Pryor, Bette Davis, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, Pam Grier, Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger and so many more – a mixed bag of talent, for sure, but always worth watching. And the movies I couldn’t see at the theater I could eventually watch on TV since every network and local affiliate played movies right in Prime Time – old movies after midnight and lower budget films on the weekends. There was always something good to see.

And TV itself was incredible – one great show after another – comedy, drama, mystery, sci-fi, action – it was TV designed to ENTERTAIN, to bring joy and excitement to the lives of working-class people. There was always something interesting to watch when you got home from your job or school, even when there were only 10 or 12 channels available. It was TV for regular people, people who did “most of the working and paying and living and dying” in the world as George Bailey says in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

“TV shows have become infomercials for socialism”

I don’t know who TV is made for, these days, but it sure isn’t for people like me. The fun is gone. TV shows have become infomercials for socialism. The producers force us to hear the vapid, inane social and political views of every celebrity on screen. Not just actors (which is bad enough) but directors, writers, singers, comics and talk show hosts. I’ve stopped watching it – cancelled all my channels – I don’t need it.

Look, I’m sure Alyssa Milano and Stephen Colbert are geniuses or whatever, but if I want to know their liberal globalist rhetoric, I’ll just read Karl Marx. Celebrities live in some weird bubble generated by their excess income, substance abuse and mental health issues. They certainly have the right to spout off like lunatics if they want to – the media provides them with a platform for their nonsense – but, so far, they don’t have more rights than the average trades person.  In fact, I’d value the trades person’s opinion more because of the real-life experience that informs it. There’s a great old movie called “Sullivan’s Travels” made in 1941 that has a message for today’s idiot celebrities if they could break out of their narcissistic haze long enough to watch it. The trouble is celebrities are often trapped in their own warped ideologies and most media hacks long to be celebrities, themselves. They don’t want to interview the actual, real-life working-class people, they prefer to push the utterances of “the beautiful people” no matter how ugly, vulgar and insipid they are. And now because of technological innovations and the explosion of social media, the “legacy media” can repeat and comment on a seemingly infinite amount of self-righteous lunacy spouted by far too many of todays “celebrity elites.”

“I don’t recall any old-time movie or television star ever saying that if I didn’t support their bizarre political views, they didn’t want me as a fan or viewer”

I grew up in the 20th century and there was a whole lot of stuff going on in those days that needed attention. And movie stars took political stances all the time – as they rightfully should. They just didn’t go around branding themselves as “Social Justice Warriors” (OK maybe a few of them like “Hanoi Jane” did). I don’t recall any old-time movie or television star ever saying that if I didn’t support their bizarre political views, they didn’t want me as a fan or viewer. I don’t even know the political views of most of the old-time movie stars (although, some, of course, on both the Left and the Right, were obvious) and whatever their views were, whether I agreed with them or not, didn’t seem to spoil the entertainment value of their movies, at least, not for me. All I cared about was whether the production was interesting and enjoyable. Movies back then were somehow capable of being thought provoking without beating me over the head with their virtue signaling and political dog whistles.

Maybe it was just the writing and directing that was better back then – or the understanding that show business is a BUSINESS and alienating whole classes of potential customers is a mistake. Look at how terrible pretty much every remake, reboot, or reimagining of an old classic movie has turned out. Mostly because instead of just telling a story, the scripts have to be crammed full of every kind of politically correct message and trope. It’s nonsense and crap – yet I’m told in no uncertain terms that if I don’t like the new “improved” version I must be a racist, sexist, xenophobic monster that should be forced out of politically correct society.

Well, the new breed of celebrity – the Social Justice Warriors, the virtue signalers, the outraged “artistes” with their touch of pedophilia – have made themselves very clear. Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Michael Moore, Ashley Judd, Rob Reiner, Bette Midler, Brad Paisley, Bruce Springsteen, Seth Rogan, Seth McFarlane, Debra Messing, John Leguizamo, Jennifer Lawrence, Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Carrey, Madonna, Amy Schumer, Jonny Depp, Alec Baldwin and so many, many other movie actors, TV actors, recording artists, writers, directors, producers and “personalities” have stated in no uncertain terms that they do not want anyone who does not 100% agree with their view of the world as fans or viewers. And they insist that all their new productions will aggressively conform to their ideology despite what the rest of the world thinks. Like every stereotypical degenerate, it’s their way or the highway. Case closed.

To be honest with you, I can’t think of too many great movies or TV shows made in the 21st century – at least not the new Hollywood style movies. There have been a few – mostly independent productions – but I certainly don’t expect many “classics” to be made in the next 10 or 20 years. We’re not likely to see anything of the caliber of “Lawrence of Arabia” or 1959’s “Ben-Hur” again (although Mel Gibson makes an occasional epic worth watching). And since the celebrities only want neo-Marxist, Globalist, ultra liberal, deviant, atheist fans, they can go on without me. Keep your new Disney Studios, Netflix, HBO and the rest – I’ll be fine re-watching my DVDs of Bob Hope, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Charlton Heston, Vincent Price, Abbot and Costello, Deanna Durbin, Fred Astaire, Mel Brooks, and classic black and white TV shows.  

Goodbye, Hollywood, it was fun while it lasted.