Labels

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Red Carpet Hypocricy

If you are going to do something, do it well. And you can always rely on a really good show from big-bucks Hollywood which loves a parade on the red carpet. Were a hollywood star to have an MRI of her/his head, it would glitter with all the tinsel in there where a brain should be. Their hearts are in a bad way too.  They pump cant. But we cannot wholly blame them: we need to recognise the talented Media for spreading the red carpet over all the shyte they sweep underneath.  Perhaps an award night.


So we have been treated to the grandest show of narcissistic hypocricy that only a fetid mob of minds could conjour, and fortunately the Tavern saw quite a few voices raised to jeer the cheers.  Melanie Phillips and Matt Walsh were joined by Bill Donahue, for singling out amongst the raucus offerings as I pulled the pints.
John Namnik "Look at my face, you disgusting pervert"!

The subject was the 'Golden Globes', which I was quickly assured were not the lifted and separated superstructures the ladies were thrusting at all and sundry.

Matt had only dropped a short comment to set the globes rolling.....
An actress showed up on the Golden Globes red carpet last night wearing a sweatshirt with the words "Poverty is Sexist" emblazoned across it. 
The sweatshirt costs $380. 
It was a perfect microcosm of the entire night, and the film industry as a whole: vapid, ridiculous, clueless, meaningless, self-serving, self-righteous, self-defeating, hypocritical, phony.
Oprah Winfrey took a break from smooching Harvey Weinstein to deliver a rousing speech about the need to believe and defend women who are abused. The night went on like this, apparently. 
The viewing audience was subjected to one moralizing lecture after another from people who either participated in, or kept their mouth shut about, Hollywood's sexual assault problem until they had no choice but to speak against it. Now they want us to applaud their courage. And many people seem more than happy to oblige.
Not me.
These cowards — both the men and the women, equally — not only tolerated the predators in their midst but heaped adulation on them for years. Woody Allen won the lifetime achievement at these same Golden Globes only four years ago. Meryl Streep went on stage at the Golden Globes in 2012 and called Harvey Weinstein a "god.
Roman Polanski, child rapist, received a standing ovation at the Academy Awards in 2002. The list goes on. 
Natalie Portman is being praised for taking a bratty little swipe at the "all-male" directing award nominees, but she didn't seem to have much problem with Hollywood's male predators last year when she wined and dined with Kevin Spacey, a man well known in the industry for his affinity for underage boys.
They all praised and befriended the predators and begged to be in their films when their career ambitions were best served by doing so. 
Yep. A good start. He went on talking with a bunch while Melanie stepped up. Boy was she spitting chips! 
Hollywood hypocrites feel sorry only for themselves
Never mind the movies: the theatricality and demand for applause at the Golden Globe awards in Los Angeles at the weekend took place on the red carpet. Actors wore black outfits to signal their solidarity with victims of the sexual harassment scandals that have consumed Hollywood.
It’s hard to recall a more egregious display of vanity signalling than the black dress protest. It was 
“please snap me while I pose in my conscience”. 
MeToo! MeToo!
M'thinks they do not do irony well in Hollywood. Black Consciences are, well, black. Showing them off is a bit rich. 
Shortly before the awards there was a major crisis. Forget Iran, Syria or North Korea. So many Hollywood consciences needed to be on display that designers and stylists were reportedly running out of black attire and having to rush in more from their fashion bases in New York.
One stylist who dresses Mariah Carey told The Hollywood Reporter: “We are all fighting for the same black dresses”. 
MeToo! MeToo!
Oprah Winfrey’s hair stylist said the pressure was “incredibly stressful”.
You have to weep. Perhaps they should join the military and go to Afghanistan for a rest from all the stress. 
Another said stylists would be having sleepless nights over how to showcase their clients in black garments. “It has to be creative. How can I stand out?”
How indeed. You’ll be relieved to know that Angelina Jolie was in feather-trimmed black tulle, Laura Dern was in black Armani and Gal Gadot wore a tuxedo-inspired Tom Ford gown.
Whatever happened to the idea that women shouldn’t be defined by what they wear? 
According to Eva Longoria, wearing black was “a moment of solidarity, not a fashion statement … This time the industry can’t expect us to go up and twirl around”. 
Oh but they did, Eva, they did; this time, though, it was a meaningful twirl.
It didn’t stop, though, at mere attire. Many female actors brought a female activist as a date and chose to be photographed arm-in-arm with other women.
This was solidarity not just against men outed as sex-pests but against all men. Receiving a lifetime achievement award, Oprah Winfrey spoke about “a culture broken by brutally powerful men” whose “time is up”. 
Now Oprah is being touted as the Democratic presidential candidate for 2020. 
SheToo!
The hypocrisy is epic. Many actors expressing such outrage use sexual chemistry to attract the predatory male movie executives they then profess to despise. They habitually wear outfits that leave little to the imagination, split upwards or downwards or utterly transparent. What’s more, many of the movies and TV series in which they appear, some of them having forgotten to put on any clothes at all, have long crossed the line into soft porn.
Among all the exaggerated outrage, however, there have been victims of real, horrific, sexual violence. Yet many of those blustering in black at the Globes knew about this behaviour but kept quiet about it in order not to jeopardise their careers.
When Roman Polanski won the Oscar for best director in 2003, he wasn’t present at the ceremony. He had fled to France after being charged in 1977 with rape, sodomy and other offences against a 13-year-old girl and had pleaded guilty to engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
When his award was announced, however, Meryl Streep, among others, leapt to her feet to give him a standing ovation. No matter: there she was at the Globes displaying her principles and courage by wearing a long black gown instead.
Where is this outrage going to draw a line? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is in disarray over the fact that, having expelled Harvey Weinstein for his sexual aggression, they face similarly having to ban dozens of A-listers — Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Affleck and many more — who have also been outed (with some denials) in the Great Casting-Couch Terror.
The director Woody Allen has been accused by his adoptive daughter Dylan of molesting her. David Krumholtz, who co-starred in Allen’s recent film Wonder Wheel, tweeted a few days ago that he deeply regretted doing so as it was “one of my most heart-breaking mistakes. We can no longer let these men represent us in entertainment, politics, or any other realm. They are beneath real men.”
When feminists objected that it was a bit late now to have second thoughts, Krumholtz said he had donated his Wonder Wheel salary to the protesters “without a tweet”. Which he nevertheless told us.
Laura Dern used her acceptance speech for her best supporting actress award to urge: 
“May we teach our children that speaking out without the fear of retribution is our culture’s new north star.”
Yet the causes regularly promoted by such luvvies — climate change, Black Lives Matter, anti-colonialism, anti-Islamophobia, LGBT issues — are being advanced by condign retribution, such as character assassination or social and professional ostracism, against any who dares speak against them.
Moreover, Hollywood’s finest don’t don black outfits to protest against men in the developing world who not only abuse but slaughter women, men and children.
Millions of women around the world really do suffer in cultures where male violence towards women is a given; but on those victims, these Hollywood hypocrites are silent.
In cultures they choose to present as victims of western colonialism, they simply ignore the all-too real oppression of women. They profess “solidarity” with oppressed women; but of course, it’s really all about themselves.
Yep, Melanie covers the bases. But we can overlook the bases not covered by journalists. Not covered by the media. They are quick to attack, say, the Catholic Church and call for heads to roll, but never do we see any statistics about the number of predators and paedophiles and homosexuals in other institutions. Like journalism, for instance.

Bill Donahue had our back on that one.
Media Provide Cover for Boston Globe
On December 8th, the Boston Globe published an article citing some past and recent examples of sexual misconduct among its employees. 
Well, no 'extra' here.


There were two curious things about the piece: the timing and the content.
The article was posted online after work on a Friday, around 6:00 p.m. This was no mistake: bleeding out bad news late on a Friday is done purposely so few readers will notice it. The next day the article appeared in the newspaper; Saturday is known for having the lowest circulation of the week.
The content was just as cute: Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory refused to name names—he protected the "privacy" of the sexual predators,.... 
thus adopting a "confidentiality policy" for the Globe that his newspaper found unconscionable when invoked by the Boston archdiocese.


On December 12th, I wrote a news release blasting McGrory for his duplicity; we provided our subscribers with email contact information at the Globe. On December 18, I struck again, detailing many examples of Globe editorials savaging the Catholic Church for following the same policy it had adopted all along as its own. We sent my statement to over 100 editors and reporters at the newspaper.
Ahhhh, now THIS is Fighting. I like it. Pints for the rest of the evening for Bill. 
That same day, I discussed this matter with Laura Ingraham on her Fox News Show, "The Ingraham Angle." That was a Monday.
Late on the following Thursday, McGrory apologized online for not saying who the most recent sexual abuser was. He identified the man and then tried to walk away from the issue. He never fingered all of the other predators known to him, nor did he identify the guilty who worked at the Globe before his time. Surely the Globe keeps personnel records— 
it demanded the Boston archdiocese turn over its files. So why not the Globe's?
Why were none of these abusers reported to the authorities?  
Sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal in Massachusetts, and that includes verbal, as well as physical, offenses. 
Oh, yes, McGrory's apology to readers of the newspaper's edition appeared on Friday, December 22, the last workday—many were off—before Christmas.
The Catholic Church has long been trashed for the way it handled the problem of sexual misconduct, but the media have said virtually nothing about the Boston Globe's duplicity. Is that because its competitors do not want to open up a can of worms?
We normally call it a cover up when those who work in a company fail to come clean about wrongdoing. 
What do we call it when almost an entire profession covers for its own? 
Journalism?
Go for it Bill. The Jugular.

Now before anyone goes off half-cocked and accuse me of beng 'holier than thou', I recognise hypocricy as a human failing common to pretty well everyone. Mea Culpa. I am not without sin. But I do not make a song and dance and have scriptwriters write my speech notes. I do not go on TV and say what a staunch fellow I am - even if I am. I do not - and I am not being presumptious to say neither do you - expect applause.

And a role in a film.

And a couple of million bucks.

Nope. I pull pints and wipe the tables.

Despite being a little bitty hipocrite, I am not in their league.

Pax 


6 comments:

  1. It's years since I've even been tempted to see a new Hollywood movie. And even if I were tempted I'd remind myself that every time you buy a movie ticket to see a Hollywood movie you are donating money to people who really do want to destroy our society. Hollywood people aren't deluded or naïve or misguided. They are out-and-out evil.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Back in the early 1930s when Hollywood was being accused (quite accurately) of spreading depravity and undermining morality, it was the very real and credible threat of a boycott by American Catholics that forced the movie studios to clean up their act.

    It's depressing to think that there is zero chance of that happening today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Two insightful comments. We are (most people) still attracted to the tinsel, the sex and violence, the glamour of the 'Stars' etc. What a frail and unworthy lot we are.

      But you are right.... if the act is to be cleaned up it will take people who have moral probity and they do seem in short supply. Catholics used to provide that. Not only they of course .... there were many fiercely 'proper' protestants too who could be relied upon in a fight. Now of course the virtue-signallers and the 'high moral ground' charlatans have shoved every decent soul aside.

      Delete
  3. Think you just about have that covered. As this is a family blog, I’ll not let loose with what I was about to.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Go for it James....

    ReplyDelete

Ne meias in stragulo aut pueros circummittam.

Our Bouncer is a gentleman of muscle and guile. His patience has limits. He will check you at the door.

The Tavern gets rowdy visitors from time to time. Some are brain dead and some soul dead. They attack customers and the bar staff and piss on the carpets. Those people will not be allowed in anymore. So... Be Nice..