OP-ED
by Gary M. Wisenbaker
In 280 B.C. the citizens of the Greek island of Rhodes erected the statute “Colossus of Rhodes”, one the Seven Wonders of the World at the time, to celebrate their victory over Cyprus.
The dedication text is preserved in Greek anthologies and reads, in part, “To you, O Sun, the people of Rhodes set up this bronze statue reaching to Olympus, when they had pacified the waves of war and crowned their city…not only over the seas but also on land.…”
Pretty lofty stuff, that.
Today’s pretender Colossus is the Los Angeles enclave known as Hollywood, which has recently taken issue with the people of Georgia regarding who they elect to office and how they govern themselves.
You see, the voters of Georgia declined to elect Hollywood backed Democratic Socialist Stacy Abrams as governor in 2018, electing instead conservative Republican Brian Kemp.
Although losing by nearly 55,000 votes, they (to whom Abrams fled for financial support) say that the election was “stolen” for Kemp. Their combined hubris refuses to allow them to concede that Abrams lost so the false narrative is that she actually won.
Indeed.
A more recent affront to their cultural values is the Georgia “Heartbeat Law” which was passed by a solid majority of the state’s legislature and signed into law by Governor Kemp. So obnoxious is this law to their sensibilities that Tinseltown now threatens to use their financial ties with the state to force Georgia to accept their values and discard the new law.
Talk about bullying.
The Heartbeat Bill prohibits aborting the life of a preborn child once a heartbeat is detected. It is generally held that this may effectively ban abortion at the first trimester midpoint.
Georgians think it moral, wise, and compassionate—as well as Christian— to protect the preborn. This is a value a large majority in the state hold and it is reflected in their elective politics.
Abrams, like most of Hollywood (to whom she returned for support opposing the law), is pro-abortion. Governor Kemp is pro-life. Ms. Abrams lost the gubernatorial race; Governor Kemp won. Tinseltown, as well as most Democratic Socialists, is beside itself.
The screeching from Tinseltown is that film and other entertainment producers should pull out of Georgia because of what these “evil” and “horrible” people have done to protect the preborn. Of course, if jobs are lost, then many women will also lose their right to work.
But, whatever.
They knew Georgia was a conservative state when they started filming there in the first place, just like they know other countries where they do business outlaw abortion and execute their own LGBTQ citizens.
The fact is that they didn’t come to Georgia, or those other countries, because of cultural values, they came for the money and tax breaks ($800 million in 2017) that Georgia offered. And it is money, as well a good bit of narcission, that turns Tinseltown’s wheel.
This fight with Georgia is just another front in the war of values. That Hollywood’s productions increasingly attack the values of mainstream America is without question. And these attacks are not limited to feature films and documentaries but in interviews and speeches, where the true well of their soul can be observed.
For Hollywood, there is no limit to the denigration of marriage, fidelity, abstinence, patriotism, the military, religion, and America’s values of human decency and norms of behavior.
Consider acclaimed actor Dan Aykroyd, for instance, who recently declared a conditional acceptance of bestiality since, “Sexuality has nothing to do with morality.”
One doesn’t have to be a Fellini to connect that dot to pedophilia, incest, or Hollywood’s entire necrotic culture.
Perhaps Hollywood’s heartbeat might be one Georgia can do without.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gary Wisenbaker (gary@realtyadvisorsga.com) is a political consultant at Blackstone LLC, and a REALTOR® at RealLiving Realty Advisors.
