Every Conservative Pundit: “Stay in your damn lane!” I yell at the TV because I know best, what celebrities ought to do with their platform!
So last night was the Golden Globes, kicking off the annual awards season of celebrating America’s most important export, cultural imperialism. I did not watch this ceremonious back-patting as it does not interest me even remotely, but I did read the highlights, and, more importantly, listened to a bunch of conservative wet noodles frothing at the mouth at how these celebrities had no right to say incredibly reasonable things like “Rape is bad, please stop it.” or “Hey, let’s pay women the same as men.”
And then there was the routine “controversy” or “ownage” where, Natalie Portman pointed out a fairly obvious thing:
Natalie Portman, did all of that, while also — get this — being a successful woman herself.
How dare she criticize this obvious lack of female representation... in her own industry... in front of her own industry leaders. Owned. What’s next, is she going to criticize capitalism while having an iPhone!? Hahaha I am both witty and smart.
The inherent irony of screaming “stay in your lane” at a celebrity attending an awards show is almost as laughably stupid as some twitter idiot telling a comedian with 3 decades of experience what to cover on his own late night talk show.
But all of these criticisms were alive and well as the conservative hot take machine lost its collective hive-mind over all the politics on the carpet because there’s “a time and place for progressive commentary”- it’s not on the streets, it’s not during the national anthem, and it’s certainly not at an awards show --- it’s only acceptable - maybe - when it’s an old white dude discussing it mockingly on a panel, with other old rich white dudes.
This is a real show, btw, we wanted to make something up, but... this show... actually exists.
But all peanut butter and jealous conservative punditry aside, these award shows are not immune to criticism. I’m not necessarily their biggest fan either - they’re full of celebrities patting themselves back-breakingly hard in the form social commentary on the carpet and in acceptance speeches.
It’s basically intellectualized fart-sniffing.
And as far as hypocrisy goes, there were actual rapists in that room wearing black, just like how there were people in that room wearing black who still choose to work with outed abusers.
*Cough* Justin Timberlake, and everyone else still working with Woody Allen. The same Allen that did all this, but still gets paid beaucoup bucks to make the same movie over and over again.
Another thing that struck me as odd was the fact that Rose McGowan, the whistleblower, and Weinstein victim, wasn’t invited to the ceremony. McGowan paid a serious personal and professional price for speaking up, as most whistleblowers do - she was then dragged through the press by Weinstein and his people and followed around by ex-Mossad agents, for god’s sake. If she wasn't invited because she called out Hollywood A-listers like Meryl Streep for their silence and Hollywood still sees her as "tainted," then they deserve some of the condemnation.
And this is exactly the kind of duplicity that allows people to dunk on Hollywood, screaming “hypocrisy!” at the top of their lungs. These cynical conservative pundits are trying to exploit this difference between celebrities’ words and deeds to discredit the entire message, which is absurd, yet sadly effective - it’s also a good segue into my next opinion.
As a progressive, I urge everyone on the left and right to recognize that the problem with Hollywood is not just about individuals, but the larger failure of the system. And I do, believe in punitive measures for the Weinsteins of the world who not only do the assaulting, but also purposefully structure the system to enforce a code of silence, so that they can keep abusing free of scrutiny. But we need to give room to context and nuance in our purity spirals, lest it get.
1- We need to stop conflating potentially problematic behavior with actual abuse.
2- The pressure put on those like Ben Affleck, or Meryl Streep should absolutely be different than the pressure rightfully put on those who continue to prop up outed abusive people.
3- Due process is important, even though our patriarchal structure and justice system has had a history of protecting abusers and silencing victims.
The fact that conservatives can so easily take this cynical approach I just criticized - and stoke the fires of the leftist circular firing squad is counterproductive to the overall #metoo and #timesup movements.
Because a viable coalition is composed of people from a multitude of different backgrounds, experiences and ideals working side by side to make society better. The truth is the truth regardless of who’s speaking it. And some of these celebrities who are dishing out contemporary feminist takes in a performative manner are an important part of that coalition.
Yes, Hollywood types are imperfect vessels for delivering progressive messages, but that’s the culture we live in. If conservatives don’t like it, then perhaps they should stop propping up the likes of Ted Nugent, Chuck Norris… and Donald Trump.
But those same shamelessly cynical conservatives understand one reality the left seems to forget, there is a culture war, and we go to war with the culture we have, not the culture we want.
Like it or not, we give celebrities a HUGE platform, and if we have to suffer through some minor hypocrisy and tiresome self-congratulatory back-patting for these important messages to get out, then so be it.