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name three writers who started a civilization. three artists. three scientists.
farming/agriculture was the beginning of civilizations, if I recall my 3rd grade history.
I don't deny thinkers/dreamers are a wonderful part of every culture, but don't deny the builders, farmers, energy miners are the backbone of every society. who would fix your broken toilet? a poet? feed your family? an artist?
So we should pay homage to Monsanto and Conagra and ADM? I think their profits are reward enough.
And to the Oil Drillers who, in fact, started the entire right wing movement in this country (John Birch Society and all its offshoots)??? They did so because they didn't want to pay taxes.
Oh, and big ag is fighting hard to keep their corn subsidies for fuel that isn't needed.....
Now - if you want to go back and live in a hut in Africa or a Cave in France then maybe you'll appreciate the folks who find or grow food (it will likely be YOU). Also, you will collect fuel (firewood) and perhaps help build your hut from thatch.
By definition, it's the brains who move civilization forward. GPS keep harvesters and planters 100X as efficient as the "old farmer".
I mean - a LOT of humans are involved in all the stuff we take for granted. Should I appreciate the aircraft engineer less than the farmer? Or is it really the Egyptians we all should be thanking?
"Thinkers" are the people who domesticated crops and animals. They didn't come ready to go...dreamers are the folks who installed underseas cables to Europe - a LONG time ago.
We have come quite far in terms of technology but our aggression remains and arguably we have overpopulated the planet (in many places, at least). We could, in fact, blame overpopulation on the thinkers who figured out fertilizer.
Anyway, I never start silly threads like this. Any "con" who doesn't appreciate Science and Tech which makes most every aspect of their life more pleasurable just isn't thinking. Then again, I guess that's the point.
Summary - MS. and AL. could not create the world we live in today. It was Pasteur, Curie, Darwin and thousands of others...who were part of a lineage of societies that valued science and research.
Even basic US History will show you that the South advanced only because of the brains of the North.
Rockefeller eradicated the dreaded "Southern Lazy Disease" - Hookworm, which the population of the south didn't even know was keeping them in the past.
Whitney invented the cotton gin as well as top-flight rifles with interchangeable parts (CT).
Carrier invented A/C
Franklin invented so much stuff it's hard to list it all.
Whilst much of this was happening, the Planter Class was ruling the South and suppressing education. That is why Trump loves the uneducated.
I know I am being general and there certainly are exceptions, especially now that ideas and processes spread in an instant. But, yeah, the internet also - basically Physics dudes and Boston and Berkeley and such...
A notable exception is/was Texas Instruments. But guess what? They licensed manufacturing of chips from NJ based AT&T. But no doubt they advanced the art after that. Of course, they only hired the top physicists and scientists etc. - wherever they were from (this is, after all, the modern age and such became possible).
It's not a contest. The USA still is a world leader in much of the stuff that makes the world go around. But so are MANY other countries, some very small in population. This gets back to why trade wars and isolationalism is a bad thing.
On a side note I spent a lot of my career in two aspects of your mention...Building and Energy. I don't need any thanks, the profits were enough!
Precisely. Hollywood is a business, run for the P&L statements. It doesn't care about politics, Liberals, conservatives, Democrats, or republicans. It doesn't care about race, gender, who sticks what up their nose, who sleeps with who, or any color but green.
If Hollywood is pumping out product that has a Liberal bent, you can bet dollars to doughnut holes they figured out that's where the market is and they're going after it. If you want more conservative offerings, you will have to convince the studio bosses that it will be good for their pocketbooks, and they'll cover you up with right wing fantasy before you get through waiting in line for popcorn.
Good luck with that.
To put a finer point on it, currently overseas box office is as important if not more so than domestic revenues. Fair to say a moviegoer in Beijing, New Delhi, Frankfort or Stockholm don't give a rat's pahtooie about the political bent of the filmmaker. Great stories with great casts and crews are all that matters. If a conservative agenda can't complete it's no one else's problem but their own.
Yes, they are creative...but they can be because all the hard work is being done around them to create real stuff...not just play dress-up! They have a view of themselves that is disproportionate to their contribution.
It's ENTERTAINMENT...nothing more, they are PERFORMERS...that's it.
Yes, they are creative...but they can be because all the hard work is being done around them to create real stuff...not just play dress-up! They have a view of themselves that is disproportionate to their contribution.
I think this can be said about a LOT of mankind...playing dress-up and thinking too highly of themselves.
Especially if lots (millions) of other people tell them how great they are...
Do you think you are immune to this way of thinking? Who measures "contribution"? Some movies and documentaries (Roots, for example) probably change history in some ways.
It's not "just" entertainment. It's often education and the communication of ideas - and/or a way to give you an idea of how things look from other "sides". This is what civilization is all about.
What view they have of themselves is of no concern to me. When I watched "Roots" I never thought about - then or now - who each of the actors were and what they thought of themselves. It was great TV. Of course, we all have our own tastes but mine runs towards at least historical fiction...rather than Star Wars or completely made-up stuff. To each their own.
I recently have watched some Russian movies and series (Amazon Prime). They are very good - not nearly as polished as some Hollywood, but quite good even with subtitles.
I think Hollywood - in many ways - has been the American Ambassador to the world-at-large.
Well it wasn't historical documents/documentary...it was fictionalized.
My point is that these people and the industry are there to entertain...they have always been permitted to speak their mind or skew a story in their own direction, but they have gone FAR beyond that now...into PREACHING their religion and pushing it on us constantly...and they are starting to feel the pushback...they don't like it!
Meryl type talent? Classic Hollywood was full of republicans , Jane Russell said it was why the movies were so good. Hollywoods golden age was full of right wingers and various viewpoints?
Theater attendance at a two-decade low , lowest rated Oscars of all time, profits dwindling, an industry a shell of itself. You cant alienate most of the country and live on liberals
You mean, Jayne Russell, the 3x married, premarital sex, abortion having actress who made a career out of exploiting her big boobs and nice legs? She's another hypocrite.
It seems to work for radio, most talk radio is conservative and look at all the conservative youtube channels.
Not to mention all the conservative musical groups that do very well.
Since you like to complain about liberal Hollywood, why haven't conservatives started their own entertainment studios? I'm not talking about the fringe stuff that Kirk Cameron does. I'm talking about Meryl type talent. I'm sure that there must be talented conservatives.
There's a lot of money with conservatives so what has stopped them from getting studios, finding good actors who are conservatives, building movie theaters, tv stations, starting a Netflix type business, etc?
I would think that the audience would be there based on the Hollywood hatred here. There must be some reason that no one has done it. Look at what Tyler Perry has done just by focusing on the black community. Conservatives make up a larger percentage than black people.
Instead of expecting Hollywood to change, why don't conservatives get off their soapbox and do something about it?
Conservatives and liberals have different personality traits.
Conservatives are usually high in conscientiousness and low in openness. Liberals are the opposite. Liberals are good at novelty and creating new things, new businesses. Liberals, if not kept in check, veer toward chaos. Conservatives are better at running established businesses. Conservatives, if not nudged into new ideas, become so closed off that they implode.
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