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| Alec Baldwin Receives Award from |
| 2004-08-30 |
| Actor Alec Baldwin Honored by Muslim Public Affairs Council (subscription required) LOS ANGELES (RNS) Actor Alec Baldwin was the main honoree at the Aug. 21 media awards banquet held by the Muslim Public Affairs Council, with the Democratic Party-supporting actor denouncing President Bush and Fox News Channel anchor Bill O'Reilly. "Voice of Courage", most recently in his outspoken stance on protecting civil liberties. Mr. Baldwin courageously spoke out against the climate of fear and intimidation that curbed free speech at the beginning of the Afghanistan war, saying, "when Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon spokespeople say to you, 'Well this is going to be a long war, we're going to be in it for the long haul,' what the euphemism means is that moratorium on criticizing the government must be extended longer and longer." As chair and moderator of the "Grassroots America Defends the Bill of Rights" National Conference in Washington, D.C., Mr. Baldwin led efforts to urge Congress to repeal sections of the USA PATRIOT Act, and other post-9/11 policies that threatened civil liberties. As President of The Creative Coalition, Mr. Baldwin led a coalition of artists and entertainers in advocating for better policies on social and political issues, especially those surrounding First Amendment protections. MPAC honors Mr. Baldwin for maintaining such strong positions on civil liberties at a time when critics and dissenters were labeled unpatriotic. In its 13th year, the MPAC Media Awards recognizes "Voices of Courage and Conscience." This year's awards will take place at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on August 21, 2004 at 7:00pm Many well-intentioned observers assert that we should ignore the antics of the Hollywood Fifth Column. After all, the Hollyweirdos are less than nobody in terms of political, moral, and intellectual credibility. Understandable as it is, I believe that this stance is dead wrong. I have long believed that the political left, as we know it today, is primarily about Hollywood and the overall media culture, including advertising and popular culture in general. For 40 years, aping the left-wing rhetoric of the mass-media elite (including the entertainment media) has been the surest way to associate oneself with the glamor, power, and status of the world's most influential industry. There are many reasons for the media culture to have embraced left-wing ideology but what it comes down to is the "illusion of rebellion" so necessary to set oneself apart in the hyper-competitive world of big media. It is no accident that this same illusion has also been the top advertising gimmick for the same 40+ years. In our approach to activism, we should emphasize this connection as much as humanly possible: Lib voters are the slaves of Hollywood and Madison Avenue, the "Left" as we know it today is little more than an advertising gimmick run amok. For more on the real origin of Hollywood leftyism, see Thomas Frank's landmark cultural history, The Conquest of Cool. |
| Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy |