Bring back Hollywood blacklist

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, September 4, 2003 | Joseph Farah

[JohnHuang2]

The United States is a "dumb puppy that has big teeth," according to American actor Johnny Depp.

I say we should make certain this scumbucket never works in America again.

That's right. I mean it's time to bring back the Hollywood blacklist.

In fact, I'd very much like to start compiling the blacklist right now – and I welcome your suggestions for additions. I'm sure I'm missing some real anti-American zealots.

Depp may be the latest offender, but he's such a lightweight on the intellectual scale that he hardly deserves to be first. So, let's reserve that position for Michael Moore.

Harrison Ford may not be the biggest offender in terms of statements he's made and actions he has taken, however, because of his star status, he is more than worthy of being on the list.

Then there is Martin Sheen, Mike Farrell, Sheryl Crow and the Dixie Chicks. There's Richard Gere and Sean Penn, Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover. George Looney – I mean, Clooney. Jane Fonda's been quiet lately, but throw her on to the list for past offenses. She belongs in the Hollywood Blacklist Hall of Shame.

Who am I forgetting? Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, of course. Ed Asner, even though he's a has-been.

There are many more, and I'm sure you will help jog my memory. But it's time to do something. It's time to silence these people. It's time to force them to get real jobs and perform real work and learn the unusual and undeserved blessings America has bestowed upon them.

I know. I know. You've heard the Hollywood blacklist of the 1940s and 1950s was a horrible thing – a great injustice. Nonsense. It was a good thing. It was the right thing to do at the right time in history. And, as America finds itself beleaguered in the world against – literally surrounded by – enemies who seek to destroy it, we cannot allow traitors privileged status in the entertainment industry.

Some of the brightest and most well-educated people in America today don't grasp the truth of what has become romantically known in the industry as "the Hollywood blacklist era."

That truth begins with this fact: Every single member of the "Hollywood 10" had indeed been members, or past members, of the Communist Party.

They never denied it – not under oath. Instead, they refused to answer the straightforward question from the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947: "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?"

Many in Hollywood today cling to the belief that their collective refusal to answer was based on a bold, principled stand against an inquisition into artists' personal political convictions. Almost no one understands that the refusal had nothing to do with principles and everything to do with Communist Party politics and self-preservation for the Hollywood 10.

As each member of the Hollywood 10 – Ring Lardner, Adrian Scott, Edward Dmytryk, Lester Cole, Dalton Trumbo, John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Alvah Bessie, Samuel Ornitz and Herbert Biberman – refused to answer the key question, committee investigator Louis J. Russell, a former FBI agent, was called to the stand to produce the number of that person's Communist Party registration card for the year 1944. And, yes, each and every one had been a card-carrying member of the party.

Remember, this was during Josef Stalin's bloodthirstiest days in the Kremlin.

Why not tell the truth and defend your beliefs and associations? Why didn't they avoid contempt of Congress charges and jail terms by simply admitting they were party members? What were they ashamed of? What were they hiding?

Well, as it turns out, the refusal to answer was merely a tactical ploy, a matter of political expediency. You see, unlike today, when most in Hollywood and even many average Americans don't see communism or totalitarianism as particularly threatening to our national security or way of life, the situation was much different in 1947. Americans had just fought a world war with one brand of evil totalitarianism represented by Adolph Hitler and were prepared to fight another one with the evil represented by Josef Stalin. Everyone understood the Communist Party in the United States was an active agent of Soviet policy.

So, why did the 10 refuse to talk? Listen to what Ring Lardner himself said in an interview with Film Comment magazine in 1988: "We decided it was not a good idea to deny membership in the Communist Party, although some of our colleagues had done that before the California State Un-American Activities Committee. We just felt that there were too many stool pigeons and various other ways to find out, and you could get yourself in a much worse situation for perjury; it would be very hard to organize any sympathy around that."

Notice there was no discussion of simply telling the truth. The Communist Party was a secret subversive organization. Revealing yourself was not an option. The purpose of membership was to advance the cause of international socialist revolution in America by whatever means necessary. Hollywood, because of its wealth and influence, was a prime target.

While many in Hollywood today decry the effort to root out the communists as "censorship" and the unfairness of the blacklisting that followed, they conveniently overlook the fact that the communists instituted those practices in the movie industry. The challenge to the party arose principally because anti-communist writers, actors and directors of the late 1940s were infuriated by the highly secretive clique of communists systematically discriminating against their work.

Lardner, for instance, was among those who circulated a petition at MGM to halt production on a film he didn't like for political reasons. Trumbo, for example, boasted in a bylined article in the Communist Worker that, while Hollywood produced few "provocative" or "progressive" films, agents within the industry were able to spike "reactionary" and anti-Soviet scripts.

Ronald Reagan, Adolphe Menjou, Roy Brewer, Morrie Ryskind and others charged that the communists conspired to create opportunities in the industry for their political allies and to destroy them for their enemies.

Screenwriter John C. Moffit, for instance, commended the House committee for "taking steps to end the most dangerous censorship that has ever occurred in the history of the motion-picture industry and in the history of American thought."

But the tactics of the Hollywood 10 paid off in the long run. Yes, it's true they served brief jail terms for contempt, and those with studio contracts were fired. Most, however, managed to continue writing for the silver screen under pseudonyms. And just over a decade later, the forgetful and forgiving nature of the American people had allowed them to receive screen credits again. Now they are heroes. All except for Dymtryk, who was sincere in his denunciation of communism. He served the longest prison term of the bunch even though he had left the party before the committee hearing.

Real communists may be few and far between in Hollywood today. But there's a new breed of anti-Americanism deserving of punishment. A price needs to be paid for biting the hand that feeds Hollywood so well.

I don't think people should go to jail for their anti-American views. I just think they should never work in the entertainment industry again. If they like it better somewhere else, let them make films and television shows and records in that country.

I don't expect the Hollywood studios and the multinational entertainment conglomerates to stop hiring these reprobates. So, this time, America, the blacklisting is up to you. Make your list – and stop supporting movies, TV shows, TV sponsors, record companies, etc. which hire these louts.

Personally, I'm starting with "Pirates of Caribbean."

[JohnHuang2]

Thursday, September 4, 2003

Quote of the Day by kcordell

[Fledermaus]

Forget it. Stupid Americans outnumber us all.

"Pirates" has grossed a huge wad of cash. Even my conservative wife wants to still see it while it's in the theater even though I haven't been to a theater in 5 years.

Americans are too brain dead to not go watch this movie garbage. Bad theaters, loud sound, small venues, horrible manners from movie goers, etc. and I don't see why anyone attends an actual movie when you can sit at home with cheaper food and beer and can pause the film when you go to the bathroom.

So socialist, American-hating morons like Depp and Ed Asner and Rob Reiner and Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford and all of their ilk can whine and complain while making millions in the same system.

And there are always the stupid Americans, Dem or GOP, that will spend $8 to watch their movies.

Shame.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

How could he forget the one who would be queen, Barbra Streisand?

[thegreatbeast]

It seems to me that I heard that Depp doesn't even have his high school diploma. But it could be I just arrived at that idea after listening to him try to speak. He's on the Sean Penn level of intellectual achievment.

[goldstategop]

Beefing up the Boycott list begun before the Iraq War would be a good start. Make em feel the heat.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

He forgot Janeane "Low Point in 'Crossfire's' History Garofalo. :)

[GrandmaPatriot]

Not Tom Cruise. I saw him interviewed and he stated that Pres Bush and his team know more than anyone in Hollywood and the so called Hollywood crowd should just keep their mouths shut.

[rockfish59]

[Liz]

So, why did the (Hollywood) 10 refuse to talk? Listen to what Ring Lardner himself said in an interview with Film Comment magazine in 1988: "We decided it was not a good idea to deny membership in the Communist Party, although some of our colleagues had done that before the California State Un-American Activities Committee. We just felt that there were too many stool pigeons and various other ways to find out, and you could get yourself in a much worse situation for perjury; it would be very hard to organize any sympathy around that." Notice there was no discussion of simply telling the truth. The Communist Party was a secret subversive organization. Revealing yourself was not an option. The purpose of membership was to advance the cause of international socialist revolution in America by whatever means necessary. Hollywood, because of its wealth and influence, was a prime target.

These "tolerant and compassionate" Hollywood liberals calculatedly proselytized audiences without the viewers' knowledge or consent. Even today, Hollywood wields the big club of proselytizing. They proselytize audiences by their movies, TV shows, and music.

Lardner inadvertently hit on the reasons the Hollywood Ten were miffed at being outed. Not b/c of their subversive activities; they reveled in their top dog status and the power they had over the "little people" they professed to defend. Being Communist was their badge of honor, it set them apart from the peons......their audiences.

However, when the Un-American Activities groups started up, it brought to the surface the worst instincts in the anti-American subversives and many in Hollywood, including the stars that came to their defense. Some like Humphrey Bogart organized, trying to defend the Ten, but was forced to back down later.

The Ten detested being outed, being exposed for who they really were....not so much for being Communists, but for being hate-filled despicable human beings.

[patj]

If you want to see real Hollywood blacklisting, come out as a conservative.

[Conspiracy Guy]

for being hate-filled despicable human beings.

Hey that sounds like me. But I aint a commie.

[WhiteGuy]

Bring back Hollywood blacklist....................

I prefer a Washington blacklist.

My list is well over 500 names and growing..........

[G.Mason]

Here is a site dealing with these vermin.
pabaah.com

[jonalvy44]

We welcome all to join our site...We've got a list of 109 of the biggest fish in the entertainment world...

http://www.pabaah.com/pabaah.htm

1. Martin Sheen
"George W Bush is a moron"
2. Alec Baldwin
would leave the country if Bush were elected president
3. Jessica Lange
"I despise him (GW Bush)"
4. Sean Penn
“(Bush) seems to be willing to sacrifice the children of the world.”
5. Susan Sarandon
"We stand a chance of getting a president who has probably killed more people before he gets into office than any president in the history of the United States."
6. Ed Harris
"we’ve got this guy in the White House who thinks he is a man"
7. Woody Harrelson
“This is a racist and imperialist war"
8. John Cusak
"The war and repression that has been loosed on the world by the Bush administration"
9. Mike Farrell
"Our leaders in Washington are out of step with millions of Americans. Inspections Work. War Won't"
10. Robert Altman
"This resent government in America I just find disgusting"
11. George Clooney
"Bush is a warmonger who wants to invade Iraq."
12. Barbara Streisand
"How could such a destructive man be so popular with the American people?"
13. Tyne Daley anti-war agitator
14. Ed Asner anti-war agitator
15. Bradley Whitford Artists for Winning Without War Signee
16. Danny Glover
condemned President Bush and "his administration of liars and murderers."
17. Casey Kasem Artists for Winning Without War Signee
18. Sally Kirkland Artists for Winning Without War Signee
19. Oliver Stone NION Signee
20. Sheryl Crowe
"I think war is based in greed"
21. Michael Moore Waging battle to smear Pres. Bush
"the (9-11)passengers were scaredy-cats because they were mostly white"
22. Harry Belafonte Called Colin Powell an "Uncle Tom"
23. Jane Fonda Need we say more?
24. Tim Robbins
"we have seen our democracy compromised by fear and hatred"
25. Kevin Spacey
"If we did what [Bush] is talking about doing, we'd go down a road from which we would never recover and which would start a chain reaction around the world. I live in the hope that it won't happen."
26. Joan Cusak anti-war agitator
27. Gillian Anderson Artists for Winning Without War Signee
28. Kim Basinger Artists for Winning Without War Signee
29. Jennifer Aniston
"Bush is a f#cking idiot"
30. Jackson Browne Artists for Winning Without War Signee
31. (REM)Peter Buck and Michael Stipe Artists for Winning Without War
32. Ed Norton
"I hope the world community will continue to voice itself and apply pressure on the U.S. government"
33. Don Cheadle Artists for Winning Without War Signee
34. Jill Clayburgh Artists for Winning Without War Signee
35. Peter Coyote Artists for Winning Without War Signee
36. Kevin Bacon NION Signee
37. Matt Damon Artists for Winning Without War Signee
38. Vincent D’Onofrio Artists for Winning Without War Signee
39. David Duchovny Artists for Winning Without War Signee
40. Olympia Dukakis Artists for Winning Without War Signee
41. Charles S. Dutton Artists for Winning Without War Signee
42. Hector Elizondo Artists for Winning Without War Signee
43. Cary Elwes Artists for Winning Without War Signee
44. Mia Farrow Artists for Winning Without War Signee
45. Laurence Fishburne Artists for Winning Without War Signee
46. Chevy Chase Bush Basher
47 F. Murray Abraham NION Signee
48. Janeane Garafalo
"Our country is founded on a sham"
49. Melissa Gilbert Artists for Winning Without War Signee
50. Elliott Gould Artists for Winning Without War Signee
51. Robert Guillaume Artists for Winning Without War Signee
52. Ethan Hawke Artists for Winning Without War Signee
53. Eric Roberts
Considers the president "fascist" and a co-conspirator (with Osama bin Laden)
54. Helen Hunt Artists for Winning Without War Signee
55. Anjelica Huston Artists for Winning Without War Signee
56. Samuel L. Jackson Artists for Winning Without War Signee
57. Jane Kaczmarek Artists for Winning Without War Signee
58. Melina Kanakaredes Artists for Winning Without War Signee
59. Tea Leoni Artists for Winning Without War Signee
60. Wendie Malick Artists for Winning Without War Signee
61. Camryn Manheim Artists for Winning Without War Signee
62. Marsha Mason Artists for Winning Without War Signee
63. Natalie Merchant Musicians United to Win without War Signee
64. Dave Matthews Artists for Winning Without War Signee
65. Esai Morales Artists for Winning Without War Signee
66. Ed O'’Neill Artists for Winning Without War Signee
67. Chris Noth Artists for Winning Without War Signee
68. Alexandra Paul Artists for Winning Without War Signee
69. CCH Pounder Artists for Winning Without War Signee
70. Bonnie Raitt Artists for Winning Without War Signee
71. Carl Reiner Artists for Winning Without War Signee
72. Tony Shalhoub Artists for Winning Without War Signee
73. Julia Roberts
"The man's embarrassing. He's not my president and he never will be either"
74. Marcia Strassman Artists for Winning Without War Signee
75. Loretta Swit Artists for Winning Without War Signee
76. Natalie Imbruglia Artists for Winning Without War Signee
77. Lily Tomlin Artists for Winning Without War Signee
78. Heath Ledger
"It is a fight for oil and screw it "
79. Robin Williams
"He's like 'We have to get rid of dictators,' but he's pretty much one himself"
80. James Whitmore Artists for Winning Without War Signee
81. Alfre Woodard Artists for Winning Without War Signee
82. Noah Wyle Artists for Winning Without War Signee
83. Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream NION Signee/ANSWER $$ Backer
84. Dustin Hoffman
"I believe the administration has taken the events of 9/11 and has manipulated the grief of the country"
85. Richard Gere
"Bush's plans for war are a bizarre bad dream"
86. Spike Lee
"the German and French gov'ts should be commended"
87. Barry Pepper
"We're going to send our boys and girls overseas to kill -- and that's pretty sad."
88. Martin Scorsese Bush Bashing At Berlin Filmfest
89. Rosario Dawson
"I'm frightened by the patriotic mood sweeping the United States
90. Fred Durst & Pearl Jam Bush Bashers
91. Chryssy Hynde
"Have we gone to war yet? We deserve to get bombed. Bring it on. I hope the Muslims win!"
92. The Beastie Boys Anti-War Song During War
93. Dixie Chicks Need We Say More?
94. Viggo Mortensen NION Signee
95. Hugh Grant NION Signee
96. John Cougar Mellencamp Released anti-war song on website
97. George Michael Musicians United to Win without War Signee
98. Ani DiFranco
"It's hard to wake up every day with a feeling that you are ashamed of your country
99. Madonna NION Signee/Anti-War Video
100. Lou Reed Musicians United to Win without War Signee
101. Eric Benet Musicians United to Win without War Signee
102. Sandra Bernhard
"The real terrorist threats are George W. Bush and his band of brown-shirted thugs."
103. Renee Zellweger
Why are we going to war? I'm confused!!
104. Greg Germann Anti-War agitator
105. Jeremy Piven NION Signee
106. Peter Boyle
“I'm Afraid of Bush”
107. Robert Redford
Bush is pursuing a dangerous and self-defeating path... and Bush offers an absence of leadership...
108. Johnny Depp
"America is dumb"
109. Harrison Ford
"I regret what we as a country have done"

Join us!

www.PABAAH.com

[Melas]

Let me get this straight. This is all about boycotting anybody and anything that has said anything you remotely disagree with?

[jonalvy44]

not at all...it's about patriotic Americans not supporting the bloated careers of those that prefer bashing America.

[jedwardtremlett]

"In fact, I'd very much like to start compiling the blacklist right now – and I welcome your suggestions for additions. I'm sure I'm missing some real anti-American zealots."

Mr. Farah should try looking in the mirror, then.

If this was a Liberal writer calling for a blacklist of actors who either supported our actions in Iraq or complimented the Bush II Administration, what would the reaction be to that?

J

[jedwardtremlett]

jonalvy44:

Do you believe that there is a difference between hating your own country and hating the actions of the current Administration?

If so, where do you draw the line?

J

[jonalvy44]

Why is the word HATE even being applied? I think you've accurately shown the feelings of these petty anti-Americans. HATE. Shouldn't that be reserved for our enemies? Sad, really.

I never hated President Clinton, I just didn't like being lied to. President Bush has done nothing to deserve this rabid hatred by the anti-American left. Anti-American because they have adamantly OPPOSED American actions, thus the ANTI label. It fits quite well on them,too. Of course, I would fight to the end to protect THEIR right to free speech, what we are talking about here is consumer choice. I do not care to allow my entertainment dollars to provide these bloated celebs a platform from which to spew their...HATE. (your words)

[jonalvy44]

that would be their right, wouldn't it?

Sarandon and company called for boycotts of Dr. Laura...liberals boycotted Rush's sponsors. The NAACP have boycotted entire states.

What we are seeing here is the hypocrisy of the left as they realize they are being held accountable for their words and actions...

Even Johnny Depp is doing the old back-pedal today...