Hollywood: Cheerleader for Hugo Chavez

It has been said that Hollywood is "high school with money." This accounts for the vacuous passion for questionable causes often displayed by talented activist actors. (Just recall what a font of wisdom you were when you graduated from high school with no life experiences.)

We see this now with the strong support Hollywood gives to Hugo Chavez. In all fairness to Hollywood, Hitler too enjoyed enormous popularity in Europe with many European national socialists of differing nationalities who supported Nazi ideology. And not to be outdone, prominent American businessmen, corporations and personalities supported fascist regimes in Europe in those days. We all recall Charles Lindbergh attending Nazi Party meetings in Berlin.

The phenomenon today is markedly different, in that Hollywood supporters of Chavez simply relate to leaders who are opponents of the American government; and right now Chavez is the most visible anti-American on the planet. And what really titillates and energizes Hollywood is that Chavez laces his criticisms with explicit, offensive language, such as having called George Bush a "devil," a "monster," and a "spokesman of imperialism" at the United Nations. (As to President Barack Obama he has said, "I recommend to Obama - they're criticizing him because they say he is moving towards socialism. Come Obama, ally with us on the path to socialism ... Imagine a socialist revolution in the U.S. Nothing is impossible.")

The first Hollywood/Venezuela power couple was Sean Penn/Hugo Chavez, Penn having described Chavez as a "warm and friendly man." Another notable includes Harry Belafonte who declared to Chavez that "not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of American people ... support your revolution." Kevin Spacey, another heavyweight, enjoyed a three-hour meeting with El commandante. Model Naomi Campbell took a motorcade through Caracas. Danny Glover, a regular visitor to Caracas, has appeared on Chavez's radio and TV shows and has agreed to produce two films for Chavez. And finally, Oliver Stone, whose latest film, "South of the Border," made its Venice premiere to rave reviews. Stone said Chavez was the "star of the movie," which depicts the changes in South America where countries are "moving away from the Washington consensus control ... but in America they don't get that story."

Hollywood just doesn't see Chavez's authoritative socialism for what it is. Last year he won a referendum to abolish term limits for president - so now he is president for life. He just let the cat out of the bag and candidly announced to his parliament that he is a Marxist. He ordered the only opposition cable channel shut down. He has given support to Colombian terrorists and interfered with the internal affairs of numerous Latin and South American countries.

Russia has agreed to help Chavez get nuclear energy, so one can only speculate how far that will go. Investment has fled Venezuela as he has seized private property despite a constitutional guarantee of private property rights and private enterprise. Inflation is at 35 percent, and there are food shortages and student unrest. The Heritage foundation and Wall Street Journal 2010 Index of Economic Freedom ranked Venezuela at 174 out of 179 rated economies, putting it in a class with Zimbabwe and Cuba.

F. Scott Fitzgerald observed that "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." Hollywood activists can't seem to grapple with the outcomes of democracy and capitalism - the good and the bad - always a work in progress, juxtaposed with the outcomes of authoritative socialism. Since the U.S. represents the former, its raison d'etre disappears by some magic of attention deficit. It's hard to tell whether this is an example of ignorance or blind anti-Americanism.

Philosopher George Santayana, who is known for his observation, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," said very simply - and you have to think about this - "Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are." Lots of luck. Even this writer has trouble living up to that standard. We are all creatures of bias and prejudice. But while the U.S. has enough flaws of its own, we should be able to "quickly" see that Chavez no longer maintains the facade of Venezuela being a democracy.

Perhaps Hollywood has lost a sense of its own history. Many of the early iconic actors, producers and directors fled from fascist Europe in the 1930s. The town was even nicknamed "Weimar on the Pacific." These people never forgot the horrors they left behind.

The new breed in Hollywood just visits places like Venezuela, sees what they are allowed to see, and then returns - not escapes - home, applauding Chavez as a "world-changer," while complaining about our failed democracy, which welcomed their Hollywood predecessors.