A fascinating interview with the novelist and opinion writer at Doublethink. Here's a taste;
And by the way, when I was a freshman at Harvard, the first demonstration that I saw was one guy who was carrying a sign protesting. So I stopped and I talked to him, and he told me about how awful America was and everything like that. His case was that his father had been one of the members of the Hollywood Ten, and he had been forced to relocate to the south of France and write his screenplays under a pseudonym. And he says, “Well, it wasn’t right. He was completely innocent.” But the parents lied to their children. They didn’t tell their children. And I said “Well actually, he was a Communist. It was legal to be a Communist. But he should have said so. Or, even if he shouldn’t have said so, your telling me that he was not a Communist does not change the fact that was a Communist.” So he looked at me like he had found a lunatic Red-baiter. Right? “How do you know?” I said, “Because my mother was in his cell.”And she was in the cell of a lot of those people. And most of the Hollywood Ten, who were supposedly not, were in fact in her cell. And yet she was always, to the extent that someone can be a leftist who was really wild in her thinking, she was pretty much a leftist. Although socially, she was probably like a conservative Republican at this point. That happens, you know. See, you’re in your twenties, you haven’t watched this, but Democrats, if they stayed still, would be Republicans today. A lot of them do. Even I started out as a Democrat, I voted for Hubert Humphrey in ’68. That was the last time I voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Although in ’72 I didn’t get a chance to vote because of the war.
A great story teller, he shares how he came to join the Israeli military, why he believes it's not possible to bring democracy to the Middle East, how he came to hate parties, and the "nihilistic, ironic, detached, cool, and cowardly" modern literary sensibility. Throughout the piece, you're never quite certain if he's telling the truth.
It's very long, and well worth the effort.
There were a lot of Communists in Hollywood in the 30's to early 50's.
BACKGROUND: Ronald Reagan was elected President of the Screen Actors Guild at that time and he led the fight to take back control of the Guild from the Communists and destroy their influence in Hollywood. ALl this is a fascinating, compelling story that's out there on the Internet, for those interested in doing a bit of Googling and reading. To summarize, Reagan and his allies largely succeeded, at least against the Communists.
To show the venomous undying hatred of the extreme left, Ronald Reagan is the ONLY past President of the Screen Actors Guild who's portrait is not on display in the lobby of the Screen Actors Guild HQ in Hollywood. The extreme left in Hollywood still hate him Reagan that much for what he did.
Regarding the so-called McCarthy Era, the ultimate truth is that there WERE a lot of Communists and active sympathizers in the US Government.
Much to detriment of fighting and removing these Communists, McCarthy's heavy drinking got the best of him. He lost his self-control and focus and his wild behavior and unfocused charges discredited the anti-Communist movement and served to give them cover. The Communists and their sympathizers became the "victims" of the "evil right", rather than the truth that the Communists and their fellow travelers in the extreme left were actively conspiring against the US.
Much like the extreme left of today, which hates America no less than did their spiritual parents/grandparents of the 30's-50's.
As a social democrat I am delighted to see this kind of thinking, which is either utterly dishonest or else totally delusional, coming from the far right, from Harper's hind quarter as it were. The more publicity you lunatics attract, the better.
Put a sock in it Budd.
I read the interview and want to thank you for the link Kate. I think Helprin's story a compelling one though I've never read his novels before, I will be sure to do so. I found his highly independent point of view refreshing and revealing. Not so much for outing the dogma of the left, or the right for that matter, but for the value he placed on broad experience and learning to acquire wisdom.
Dave, are you suggesting that communists should lose their jobs, be blacklisted so they can't work, be jailed?
exile, my answer is yes.
Speaking as an American, I'm saying, not suggesting, that all those who commit treason, sedition, unlawful leaking of classified information, giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States, should be prosecuted and preferably executed, but failing that, at least imprisoned for as long as possible.
And as it happens, over the last sixty years, a Helluva lot of Communists have fit into that category. And most of the rest are intellectually/morally within hailing distance of treason or sedition and making themselves enemies of my nation and my freedom.
The historical facts are that ever since the 1930's, the Communist movements in Europe and in all the Anglophone nations were chock full of traitors. And the ones who weren't traitors hated Western Democracy and Capitalism and advocated the overthrow of the democratic governments of our Western nations.
Ever heard of the Verona Tapes, exile? Try doing some reading on:
The Venona Tapes;
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg;
The Cambridge Communist Traitors Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean;
Of special interest to Canadians should be the whole story of Soviet defector Igor Gouzenko and the huge amount of information, proof he gave to Canadian Intelligence of the massive Soviet spy rings in Canada in the 40's.
Here's another one: Fred Rose - A Canadian Parliament MP AND a Communist convicted in a Canadian court of spying for the Soviets-a Communist traitor in other words.
So many Communists have undisputably shown they aren't harmless "progressives". They did huge real harm to the national security of ALL the major Western Democracies. They were traitors.
Those who associated with them, e.g. the Hollywood Ten, gave them support, aid and comfort. If one does enough research and reading, one arrives at the inescapable conclusion that this support, aid and comfort was indispensible for the active Communist spies, traitors and agitators.
So, having briefly outlined this background four you, yes, I do think that Communists should be blackballed. At the very least, people who call themselves Americans but have that much hatred for America and our form of government should be subject to great social censure, just like respectable people treat any other types of organized criminals.
And if any of these Communists have broken any laws pertaining to national security, as they have done innumerable times in the past, they should be prosecuted as vigorously as possible.
(A Post Script: The only actual blackballing going on today in Hollywood is by the Leftoids of non-Leftoids. Anyone not espousing the extreme leftie line, not having Bush Derangement Syndrome; anyone actually being patriotic, supporting the War on Terror-No work for him or her in Hollywood!)