Spengler, the acerbic columnist for the Asia Times, has a worthy commentary up today on the spate of politically correct movies tanking at the box office. because he has a way with words, I recommend the entire column, despite his offhand dissing of President Bush. His underlying thinking is quite sound. For example:

Liberal Hollywood is the heart of America's Democratic Party, and its offerings for the Christmas season explain why the opposition to the present administration remains weaker even than the flailing White House. A red—state cultural revolt won the last election for President George W Bush (It's the culture, stupid!, November 5, 2004), and Hollywood presents a view of the world that Americans find —well, revolting. This is not an accident, but a nasty prank by the Zeitgeist. [....]

Futility makes poor theater. If Spielberg had portrayed a moral equivalence between the great white shark and its hunters, Jaws would have bombed at the box office. American audiences sat on the edge of their seats waiting for Roy Scheider to wreak vengeance against the toothsome monster. Indiana Jones' enemies meet hideous deaths, to audience cheers. The director who made his reputation pandering to vengeful bloodlust now wants moviegoers to ponder the moral equivalences in war. Vengeance makes for good box office, as Aeschylus well knew. Moral ambiguity just wins the Pulitzer Prize (or in the case of Harold Pinter, the Nobel).

Speaking of the Pulitzer, noteworthy is Spielberg's choice of the world's worst playwright as screenwriter, namely Tony Kushner. Thanks to HBO, Kushner's Pulitzer—winning magnum opus Angels in America was played before the world by the likes of Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman. Kushner's "gay fantasia on political themes" waves placards and shouts slogans with the worst kind of agitprop didacticism. Kushner is not only gay, but also a Marxist. Of Jewish extraction, he despises Zionism.

Kushner identified with the Soviet Union until its collapse. Afterward he told an interviewer, "The collapse of the Soviet system does not mean that capitalism has succeeded ... Socialism is simply the idea that people are better off if we work collectively and that the economic system we live in is made by people and therefore can be controlled intelligently rather than let loose. There's no way that can't be true."

I have nothing against homosexuals, although I think homosexuality a poor theme for political agitation. I have a great deal against Marxists, especially apologists for the Soviet empire.

Hat tip: Lucianne.com

Thomas Lifson 12 12 05