News and Commentary on Politics, Media and Culture

Update: So You Think You Can Dance Issues Apology, read article and see video here.

The Fox Broadcasting Network has one of the most entertaining reality TV shows I enjoy watching with their 3rd season hit So You Think You Can Dance. I watch the show with my family for the sheer entertainment provided by the unbelievably talented dancers and the marvelous mix of personalities they manage to put together week after week.

But I have to say that I was disappointed by the 10 separate anti-war solos that were performed on last night’s show. The solos were choreographed by occasional judge and talented choreographer Wade Robson. He put together a fine routine and all 10 dancers performed them exactly as scripted. But after 10 renditions of the exact same dance step, each performed to John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change”, it seemed a bit preachy and hokey to me. (see video below)

From a creativity and even a hopeful point of view it is all fine, but from a reality point of view the message is dangerously naive. You can not hope away evil dictators or murderous terrorists and you shouldn’t detract away from their role in global strife with 70’s era anti-war messages.

It’s not that I don’t understand that people have anti-war views, I get that. In fact I would seriously question the character of anyone who is pro-war. Nobody in their right mind wants war. It would be great if we could all just “give peace a chance” and actually have the bad guys play along. Unfortunately life is not that simple. 2,996 innocent people who were murdered on 9/11 can attest to that, as can the estimated 2 million people who died at the hands of Saddam Hussein, the more than 60 million people who died as a result or World War II, and on and on….

The focal point of Hollywood’s anti-war stance is squarely aimed at U.S. military intervention. While that focus is not confusing given Hollywood’s past it is a bit of a contradiction. Many people in the Hollywood establishment and on the American left show nothing but disdain for most religions with a characteristic tendency to openly slam those rooted in Christianity and Judaism. Yet these very same people ignore the simple fact that radical Islam is a primary source of today’s global strife. It is a hatred and violence born of radical religious indoctrination as opposed to being a product of U.S. military intervention. Likewise, the anti-war left doesn’t seem to put a whole lot of emphasis on the dangers of rogue nations such as Iran, North Korea and Venezuela.

There is a difference between an anti-war protest and a protest against radical Islam; a difference that is not lost on the Hollywood message brokers in the least. They are vocally anti-war, i.e. anti U.S. military, but they are not anti-radical Islam or anti-despot in my view. It is almost as if they are irrationally sympathetic by their mere silence. Thus I take offense with the anti-war manifestations of Hollywood types as was my interpretation of the dance number here. (You can hear it all in Wade’s explanation anyway, the allusions to not being in power is very much in line with the anti-establishment crowd).

In any respect I get a bit out of sorts when entertainment shows unexpectedly become advocacy platforms for this kind of agenda; it’s a turn off. People are very much into escapism nowadays. The entertainment industry does best when they stick to entertaining without the lecture.

I have the same criticism for just about all entertainers that take advantage of their spotlight in the media for the express purpose of furthering their own personal agenda. When I purchased Roger Waters tickets I had no idea that he was going to use my favorite Pink Floyd songs as a foundation to launch into an anti-war, pro Castro, Bush Derangement Syndrome, anarchy baiting communist sympathizing free for all. Had I been given some heads up or been paying attention I would have never spent good money to see such garbage. He can shove it.

Not all entertainers that are on the left act this way. Take Dave Matthews for instance. He joined the 2004 concert tour for John Kerry yet I don’t fault him or criticize him for this. It was a pro John Kerry tour! He was very up front about that. It wasn’t underhanded nor unexpected. I have seen DMB about 20 times since 1994 and never faced any sort of of agenda other than the music that was being performed on stage. It was quite simple really and that is what I spend my dollars and time to see.

Unfortunately the anti-war crowd lives in a fantasy land of Utopian pipe dreams. All you have to do is look around and see the evil that is knocking at the world’s doorstep. You don’t even have to look that hard. This isn’t the era of peace and love, and neither was the late 60’s and early 70’s. Like then, as is now, it is an illusion. We all hope we can live without war but unfortunately those who want us dead aren’t playing along.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program. Let’s get on with the show (and please, keep it non-preachy and clean).

See Also – Matthew Sheffield on NewsBusters – Hollywood to Launch Raft of Anti-military, Anti-war Movies

 Send this post a Friend  

3 Comments »

Trackback URI | Comments RSS