Dinesh D’Souza is an intelligent, articulate “conservative” whom I look forward to reading on a regular basis.
Robert De Niro, on the other hand, epitomizes the ignorance, irrationality and narrow mindedness of so many on the political Left. Have you witnessed any of his embarrassingly stupid, obscenity-filled rants? He is an A-Hole of the first order, as are so many of the Hollywood elite.
How dare hypocrites such as Leonardo DiCaprio fly their private jets to various points around the planet while inveighing against the carbon footprints of the average citizen! How dare simpletons such as Debra Messing wish Donald Trump a life behind bars where he is endlessly raped, and then respond apologetically to the gay community which she feels she may have somehow insulted. How dare pathologically biased non-talents such as Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg aggressively lecture the rest of the world on issues of “privilege” from their eminently privileged [i.e., unearned] network perches. Whereas I used to watch Carson, Leno and Letterman for their comedic talents, I cannot stomach the self-righteous lectures of Colbert, Meyers, Kimmel and Fallon whose shows on a regular basis include fawning interviews with the likes of Elizabeth Warren, Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Saunders.
Former “progressive” comedienne Nicole Arbour, recently interviewed by Dave Rubin, suggested that if you go to enough Hollywood parties you inevitably realize most of the celebrities there are hypocritical “douche-bags.” Claiming Jimmy Kimmel has lied to his audiences on multiple occasions, she suggests most late-night talk show hosts are a bunch of “shit heads.” As was stated by Rubin himself when he fled to the liberal Humanism of the Right, she argues the Left deals in primitive emotion whereas “conservatives” tend to focus on Principles and Values.
Genuine Humanists have long been lamenting the decline of our educational standards. In a study entitled “The Vanishing West,” the National Association of Scholars reported that whereas in 1964 forty of the top fifty U.S. Universities mandated the study of Western Civilization as a core requirement, that requirement has all but disappeared in those same institutions. In Feb. of 2016 Patrick Deneen of the University of Notre Dame declared that his students were “know nothings” devoid of “substantial knowledge,” ignorant of the basic principles and values which gave shape to the world in which they live. His essay, entitled “How a Generation Lost its Common Culture,” suggests that their ignorance is not a failing of the contemporary Western educational system but its consciously pursued crowning achievement. Denying the superiority of one set of concepts and values to another is a key aspect of Egalitarian fanaticism, a key aspect of the inclusive agenda of the Left. In a series of 2016 Viewpoint discussions, “factual” Feminists Camille Paglia and Christina Hoff Sommers discuss how the irrefutable givens of both History and Biology have been removed from contemporary “educational” curricula for crassly ideological reasons. Absurd!
It is hardly surprising, then, that most of the young people I talk to these days know next to nothing about the history and ramifications of the ideas informing their passionately held opinions. I have watched videos of dozens of “social justice warriors” who, when asked to articulate the substance of their beliefs, when asked to comment on communism, socialism, anarchism, etc., just blink stupidly while repeating the inevitable string of stereotypical epithets [i.e., racist, sexist, homophobic] that seem to be the only weapons of the mindless Left.
In his 2015 work “Notes on the Death of Culture,” Mario Vargas Llosa comments as follows on our intellectual decline: This is a phenomenon born of altruism: Culture could no longer be the patrimony of an elite; liberal and democratic society had an obligation to make culture accessible to all……This commendable philosophy has had the undesirable effect of trivializing and cheapening cultural life, justifying superficial form and content in works on the grounds of fulfilling a civic duty to reach the greatest number.
I watch early Hollywood movies such as The Philadelphia Story and The Women and marvel at the level of intelligence and sophistication assumed by their producers in their target audiences. It is an assumption that has clearly lapsed, most of today’s films seemingly directed at those with the mentality of a twelve year old, works which are in fact often adaptations of comic books. I realize I am engaging in generalizations, but there is no doubt that our culture is in free-fall, its intellectual anemia the direct and incredibly ironic result of “progressivism.”
Pardon me. Have to run. The Real Housewives of Surgically Enhanced Boobs starts in, like, five minutes!