Rant #2,441: You Talk Too Much

I guess I could have spoken about this topic earlier this week, but I waited to do so because I wanted to 1) read about the backlash of what was said, and 2) read about the damage control that the two culprits of this episode would try to spin to get themselves out of hot water.

If you have been reading the newspapers and gone on social media during the past week, you have no doubt seen the story about what actors Debra Messing and Eric McCormack of TV's "Will and Grace" sitcom fame said about their Hollywood brethren related to their political opinions and beliefs.

Just to review what it was reported that they said--and what they have not refuted--the two actors stated that they would be closely watching a Hollywood fundraiser for President Donald Trump that is slated to take place during Emmy week.

In a joint statement, the two self-appointed denizens of everything good in the world said about the fundraiser, "Please print a list of all attendees, please. The public has a right to know."

Calling for the outing of all Trump supporters in Hollywood, the two actors stated, "Kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don't want to work with. Thanks."

These comments reeked of the witch hunts of past generations, and most directly, of the Hollywood blacklists that stained tinsel town during the 1950s.

Senator Joe McCarthy led these attacks, where anyone could be labeled a "communist" for no particular reason other than the senator not liking you for one reason or another, or finding some distant relation to communism in your background.

He also listed many Jews in Hollywood as "communists" simply because of their religion.

Whatever the case, the accusation killed careers, did not allow people to pursue their livelihood, and even led to some deaths among those who could not cope with his accusations thrown at them.

Heck, Arthur Miller wrote "The Crucible" which chronicled the original witch hunts in the 1800s, but which had its eye on what was going on in the early to mid 1950s.

Now, in 2018, we have Messing and McCormack pretty much looking to blacklist fellow actors and Hollywood-ites simply because of their political beliefs.

The public was swift to come out against these two self-professed do-gooders, and honestly, I really and truly wonder if these two fools know their history, know what blacklists can do to innocent people, and realize that what they say carries a lot of weight on the pulpit that they were given as stars of a former hit sitcom.

I was personally waiting for fellow Hollywood-ites to react to what these two fools said, but unlike the public, the condemnation has not been swift, it has not been all-encompassing.

Of the few Hollywood people that came out against what they said--and I do mean "few"--Whoopi Goldberg may have said it best, stating that (paraphrase) one cannot blacklist anyone due to their political stance.

There were some other voices taking Messing and McCormack to task, but generally, Hollywood reacted as you thought it would, basically agreeing with these two fools with their silence.

Based on that silence, it simply perpetuates the belief that these so-called liberals are nothing but the bastard stepchildren of the Nixon Republicans, whose "my way or the highway" stance embroiled politics more than a generation ago.

Hollywood is as much liberal as Richard Nixon was, yet they frame whatever they say with this phony liberal attitude, which has absolutely nothing to do with liberalism, which brims with tolerance of other opinions and intolerance of any other.

No, with these two morons and others in that community, "Do as I say, and don't question me, because if you do, you are wrong" seems to be the mantra, and what does that have to do with being a true liberal?

Messing and McCormack of course reacted to the backlash, both stating that they did not intend this to be a witch hunt, do not believe in blacklists, but still believe the public needs to know who is donating money to the Trump campaign, so they really did not back down on what they were saying at all.

Messing, in particular, should be completely ashamed of herself for her stance. This Jewish woman does not know her history at all, and how many Jewish actors, screenwriters, producers, directors and other Hollywood people had their lives and careers ruined by McCarthy and his minions nearly 70 years ago.

Look, we live in a country which prides itself on free speech, but with the right to free speech also comes responsibility.

Yes, you can say what you want--even these two fools can say what they want--but with that right, you really have to temper what you say, and if you don't, you are going to have to feel and face the consequences.

Messing and McCormack, no matter how much damage control they try to do, clearly asked for a blacklist of their fellow Hollywood-ites, and the more that they say they didn't mean that, the more it simply reinforces the fact that that is exactly what they asked for.

Own up to it, and both of them will be better off.

Deny it, and they are digging their own graves.