A "Fact-Free Zone"

Articles

David Allen Jared

A "Fact-Free Zone"
July 21, 2004

I once read an article by Dr. Thomas Sowell in which he explained Hollywood's leftist leanings as being because they live in a "fact-free zone" where nothing in their lives is actually REAL. I agree wholeheartedly.

Consider for a moment. Hollywood is predicated on fiction. Almost NO non-fiction books are ever turned into movies, for example--not even some of the so-called "documentaries." Original screenplays are NEVER factual. Some may claim to be BASED on factual incidents, but they are fictionalized every time--understandably to make the stories more exciting or appealing to those who keep Hollywood alive--the theater-going public. Hollywood types, therefore, live their entire existence in a milieu of make-believe, with make-believe emotions, make-believe plots, make-believe characters and make-believe character interactions. It rarely stops once the film is completed. These people move in circles socially that are exclusively people who live, breath and exist in that same fact-free zone to which Dr. Sowell referred. It's little wonder that so many of them believe in leftist ideology since so much of leftist ideology is based on emotion instead of truth and logic.

The results of what they do are immaterial. What counts for them is how they "feel" about a subject or how much they "care" about those less fortunate. It's often how they choose their companions, too. "Does this man/woman express the 'proper attitude' about homelessness, AIDS, the environment, the war, President Bush, welfare or tax cuts. With only a few, rare exceptions, few of these people actually LIVE what they talk about. They'll go to an anti-oil & gas rally in a limo that gets 5 MPG, wearing clothing worth as much as the GNP of Guatamala and live in mansions that cost as much to cool and heat as the entire City of Far Rockaway, New York.

I don't understand why these people are given so much media attention--especially with respect to politics. Many of them barely graduated from high school (and some, not even that) yet their pronouncements are given the weight of the most highly-educated and knowledgeable pundits in the country. Mike Farrell, for example, whose only real claim to fame is that he played "B.J. Hunnicut" on the series M*A*S*H is a popular speaker at many of our universities on foreign policy matters. One can only ask, "Why?" Surely, a career based on a highly fictionalized version of the Korean War doesn't qualify one as an "expert" does it? His opinion should carry no more weight than that of your hairdresser or a cab driver, but he's getting wealthy with speaking fees, talking about things about which he has no real expertise. One is tempted to think that his popularity is connected to his espousal of the leftist line and that alone, which universities are ALSO pushing as hard as they can. (I have a daughter in college so I know about that which I speak on this issue.) Then there are the Julia Robertses, Alec Baldwins, Charlie Sheens or Ed Asners who barely got through high school who are VEHEMENTLY leftist in ideology. Maybe there's something to be said that the left DOES love the undereducated and poor people. After all, they are obviously the easiest folks to fool.

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About the author: David A. Jared is a semi-retired oil & gas middle- manager who, as soon as he can get his daughter out of college, intends to be a FULLY-retired oil & gas middle-manager. Email: JaredLand@sbcglobal.net