In one of Robert Reich's recent radio editorials, he points out that when the Religious Right scapegoats Hollywood for the supposed Decline and Fall of Western Civilization, they're putting the cart before the horse. People want Hollywood's output, they consume it avidly, and they buy it. Hollywood may be cranking out tons of material to which the Religious Right objects, but that's only because the material sells. (Assuming the Religious Right isn't buying the stuff — ha ha — this should send them a clear message about how small they are.) Reich goes on to confuse the issue by talking about conservative free market hypocrisy, but you can ignore that. The important point is that Hollywood is not holding a gun to our head, and the Religious Right is confusing demand with supply. The only way to interpret their calls for change — and we all know they'd love some regulation — is elitism; the rest of us can't be trusted to protect our own interests. Pretty ironic for a bunch of folks obsessed with an imaginary cultural elite conspiracy.
Note: I held onto this entry for a long time in the hopes of being able to link to something on the NPR site eventually. Looks like that ain't gonna happen, so it's time to punch that Publish button.
