Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BizPac Review.

Most Hollywood denizens don’t understand that the ability to act and “entertain” is no qualification for knowing how to live an ethical life. Hollywood is a diseased town, full of sick people with no qualms about destroying standards of decency. Many of these Hollywood creatures have careers that thrive or sputter out based on how well they lie and suck up to the media to cover their antics. Their thirst for coverage and juicy roles spawns some of the world’s worst displays of bad taste and poor judgment.

Hollywood’s far leftists have played a starring role in the breakdown of the American family and in the growth of violence. Get a gander at Academy Awards ceremonies and you will receive your wake-up call about where these entertainers are trying to push us as a nation; the classic example is the 2003 Awards ceremony when Roman Polanski, hiding in exile, was given a standing ovation and an Oscar after being convicted of raping/sodomizing a 13-year old girl. Nice.

And how about the warped entertainment culture that has given us rap and hip-hop, mostly noise posing as music. Have you ever really listened to that rubbish? It glorifies illegal activity and personal violence, couched in the nastiest of language, and performed by people with no serious musical talent.

It takes effort to think of any group of Americans who can be more obnoxious or narcissistic than many in the “Hollywood elite.” Entertainers, wrapped up in their coarse industry largely devoid of ethics, are damaging our country’s culture, especially youth culture. The film and TV bad boys have made near-heroes out of characters like “Dexter” the serial killer, and “Breaking Bad’s” Walter White. “Good Behavior” sympathizes the twisted and violent behavior of thieves, hit men, druggies and con artists.  Hollywood has made vampires into unfortunate but admirable creatures who drink your blood—it’s not their fault, you see.

Gen. Kelly brings up that time Frederica Wilson made a ceremony for slain FBI agents all about her

Night after night, from our living rooms, we get to watch torture methods, blood-soaked rampages by Charles Manson copy-cats, new ways of killing people, “fast & furious” sensational mayhem. Anything goes. Violence becomes normalized. Hurting others becomes depersonalized, all brought to you by your favorite film stars, directed by brutalists like Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone. Children are raking it all in, learning that the lowest cultural impulses are acceptable.  Not long ago, a Houston middle-school student wrote, “As I see more violent movies and play more violent games, the brain comes to a point where all you think about is violence.” Little wonder that bullies learn to proliferate in schools—they have such “cool” widescreen role models.

These entertainers are aided and promoted by the cottage industry of people who call themselves image-builders, media consultants and marketing experts, led by ethics-challenged media moguls who are all-powerful and wealthy, and can make or break whole careers.

When average Americans see such reckless acts, no wonder the feeling grows that America is coming apart. That the “American Way of Life”, involving two-parent families, hard work, honesty, manners, marriage, is unraveling. The American entertainment industry seems determined and eager to hasten the plunge. We see also the role model link between the personal behavior of Hollywood actors and impressionable American youth.

All this also creates a cause-and-effect link from Hollywood violence to violent actions in real life. And, you may not know that a “Doom” videogame was used as a training aid by the U.S. marines to create “a will to kill.” Many kids and teenagers have become desensitized, aggressive and indifferent to suffering around them.

Hollywood has lived in a self-congratulatory bubble, isolating itself from ethical humanity. Examples: deifying brutal revolutionaries like “Che” Guevara; fawning over O.J. Simpson and Woody Allen, and tolerating, until recently, Harvey Weinstein; promoting innumerable anti-American movies like “Avatar,” “Platoon,” “Lions for Lambs,” “American Psycho,” “Green Zone” and Michael Moore “documentaries”; vilifying business people as corrupt, greedy and a worse threat to society than terrorists or gangs.

Giddy response from Frederica Wilson after Gen. Kelly’s somber scolding is beyond shameful

Let’s enjoy entertainers for their ability to make us laugh and for how they make us feel, and use the power of your dollars to tell them to shelve their political opinions. Celebrity does not equal honesty or wisdom.

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John R. Smith

John R. Smith is chairman of BIZPAC, the Business Political Action Committee of Palm Beach County, and owner of a financial services company. He is a frequent columnist for BizPac Review.

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