The Deafening Silenceby
W. Darnall & S.Darnall
In the Hollywood movie, "Silence of the Lambs", a main character hopes to end her frequent nightmare of hearing the terrified bleats of lambs as they are being slaughtered. What we hear now out of Hollywood is the silence of the sheep as they refuse to speak out while men, women, and children are being tortured and slaughtered . . . much like those fictitious lambs. The difference is these are very real human beings. Not characters in a film.
Hollywood celebrities are certainly righteously indignant enough when the liberal press and their Progressive leaders tell them to be morally outraged. They speak out about their anti-gun, anti-war, anti-religion, and anti-whatever. They are all so ready to jump on the bandwagon and express their political or societal views on whatever is the anti-topic-of-the-week. So, why does all of Hollywood suddenly seem to have laryngitis? Did all of the west coast liberals completely lose their voices? Hmmm . . .
The voices of rage and indignation have fallen silent. While the guns roar and the screams of women and children echo throughout the Mideast countryside and elsewhere in the world . . . all that seems to be heard from Hollywood is the sounds of bubbling hot tubs and the popping of corked bottles of bubbly.
We sure heard enough from all our lil West Coast buddies when President Bush was going to war. But, they have seemed strangely silent about Barack Obama's proposed attack on Syria. In fact, they have not spoken out about many atrocities and situations across the world.
The entertainment industry, which makes movies about man's inhumanity to man, such as "Silence of the Lambs", seemingly wishes to avoid the real life inhumanities occurring throughout our world. It is easy for them to address the fiction of atrocities, inhumanities, and injustices but they cannot stomach the reality of such topics` as chemical weapons, Sharia atrocities, attacks against women and children, mass murders, nuclear proliferation, and the widespread assassination of journalists.
This seems very odd given how many times we have to hear them come out and shout about animals' rights. I guess it is more ethical to care about minks raised to be fur coats than it is to care about 1,400 people dead in a Syrian chemical attack. Not to mention the more than 100,000 people killed in Syria prior to that. Maybe it is just us, but we find the worth of humans to be a little higher than the animals . . . even being such animal lovers as we are.
Remember all those female celebrities who were so ready, willing, and able to be on-call for Liberal Leftists to make use of in targeting Conservatives as somehow waging a war against women? Well, they apparently don't have the same need to speak out about real wars being waged against real women across the globe. Not to mention the rampant slaughter and abuse of children. Such as the school girls in Afghanistan maimed by acid for going to school or the numerous Islamic extremist deadly attacks on schools throughout the world.
Of course, given that these same female celebrities go ballistic at any possibility of American women not being able kill their unborn children completely unfettered by any humane standards, it is not surprising they do not shriek in outrage at news of the deaths of children around the world in numerous atrocities. I guess you have to be of a certain age, of a specific political mindset, obscenely wealthy, or a cuddly little critter to be deemed worthy in the starry eyes of the stars!
There have been two gang rapes in India in the past two years that were well-publicized. Hear any Hollywood ladies rushing to bring it to the attention of the people while walking the red carpets to the latest awards show? I know I haven't seen any of them primping for the cameras and complaining about rape being used as a weapon against women in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and other places. Heck, they don't even come out to say anything about honor-killings or genital mutilation right here in America, never mind what is happening halfway around the world.
Many of the celebrities have come out in support of immigration reform, amnesty, and the various versions of so-called dream acts. I suppose in an effort to make certain they have unlimited access to maids, limo drivers, gardeners, and other low-paying services filled by immigrant workers. So, we know they are at least sorta kinda aware that Mexico is on our southern border and that this is where many of the immigrants come from. However, they seem to suffer from selective knowledge about Mexico and the problems therein. Not one have I heard speak out about the mass murders in Mexico.
Oh, they are ever ready to be supportive of the Left taking away the guns of most American citizens by infringement upon our Second Amendment Rights. They will beat the drums right alongside the likes of Obama, Pelosi, and Boxer in saying gun violence in America must be ended by restricting citizens' access to guns. But, not hearing them say much about the wholesale slaughter happening in Mexico. Guess it falls under the same gag-rule as gun-violence happening in Chicago. I suppose to talk about such gun-violence must be considered to be racially motivated and therefore banned by political correctness.
To hear Hollywood and the Left talk about violence in America, you would think we are the most violent and uncivilized people the world has ever known. And yet, they don't say a word about the continuing bombings, kidnappings, and shootings of innocent people in Iraq. Not even when some of those targeted have been political candidates. More selective hearing and speaking, I suppose.
Some of the biggest proponents for eliminating our nuclear arsenal have always come out of Hollywood. So many of them have always been of the make love or movies, not war mindset. They deride our military as warmongers and call for reduction, if not actual elimination, of our standing army. And, yet, while they use their public podium to speak against our military and our weaponry, they are again strangely silent about other known warmongers and weapons makers around the world. Even when it is tyrannical extremists like Iran and North Korea, two countries with a proven history of "not playing well with others".
But, despite the Iranian and North Korean efforts to achieve membership in the somewhat elite club of those with nuclear weapons capability, the celebs are quiet. I guess maybe they think the Ayatollahs or Kim Jong-un are so much more sensible and suited to weld world -ending power in a humanitarian manner, as opposed to us ever vicious and ideological American types. Oh, wait a minute . . . it is the Ayatollahs and Kim Jong-un who are vicious and ideological!
Perhaps one of the most important series of events that Hollywood has been silent about is the killing of journalists across the world, with the resulting stifling of the ability of people to learn the truth. We have been unable to get statistics on how many have been killed. Even narrowing it down to just a few years past leaves the numbers incredibly high and not readily tallied. And, it is happening all over. Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, the Middle East, Asia, Philippines, and so on. The list is seemingly never-ending. One headline stated it very succinctly: Murdering with Impunity: The Rise in Terror Tactics Against News Reporters (By Frank Smyth, November 14, 2010, Harvard International Review).
This is not just the killing of people; it is the killing of the truth. When journalists are silenced, we all suffer. And, yet, celebrities who thrive on getting their messages out when pacing the red carpet, promoting a film, supporting a political candidate, or trashing the paparazzi, are hushed about this insidious attack upon a freedom all people should be allowed. Freedom of the press. Freedom of the media. Don't they understand that suppression of freedom in media can become that oft spoken of slippery-slope?
Today those who would oppress freedom do it through intimidation and death of journalistic media. Next maybe it is entertainment media. Loss of freedom of the press can so easily become banning of films and burning of books. Just look to the great dictatorships of the world. A few to consider: Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jung-il, the Ayatollahs, Castro, etc. Censorship can be found in both the past and the present throughout world history. Those who will not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. An old saying and a true saying. Censorship is a great tool for control of the populace. And, it seldom stops short of a complete takeover of any media that is audio, video, or written.
We would ask that those in Hollywood look around the world and decide to use their celebrity stage for more worthwhile causes than free birth control for over-sexed college-coeds or safe road-crossing tunnels for turtles and frogs. Why not speak out for some of your less fortunate fellow human beings? There are men, women, and children dying all around you. Are they really not worth even a short sound-bite in your many hours of sounding off about whatever latest movie you are promoting?
© Walter W. Darnall, Jr. & Suzann C. Darnall, SEPTEMBER 2013