L.A. Liberty

The Tolerance of Hollywood

I’ve discussed before how those of us who work in the tv/film industry and are not proponents of a big and meddlesome government tend to be marginalized by those others who are. This is why I call it Leftywood: the non-leftists are a very tiny minority.

A few years ago (2008, before the election), some producers were in my office and had spent a fair amount of time discussing the messianic qualities of Barack Obama. When I tried to steer them back to the task at hand, one of them turned to me and said something along the lines of “You’re latino. You must be so excited.” I winced at the employ of latino, and simply stated that I wasn’t going to vote for Obama. They looked at me as though I had just bitten the heads off a half-dozen live bats. If I hadn’t pulled the weight on that show that I did (and, frankly, wasn’t as well-liked as I was), I may not have stayed employed.

This is why I keep my identity generally under wraps on this blog. My coworkers and employers know that I’m libertarian, but there’s no telling what the consequences would be if the statists in the industry knew the extent to which my anti-statism reached. (The more I advance in my career - and the more clout and connections I have - the more open I become.)

Well, today I met another libertarian in the industry, a stunt coordinator who specializes in working with motorcycles. As a matter of fact, he lives directly across the street from me (he approached me while I was doing some sprinkler repair).

Apparently, working on a movie a few summers ago, his political affiliation was discovered. Like me, he was an anti-union member of a union (see my personal note on unions here) - a libertarian who would not support Obama.

That night, he returned to find his bike vandalized. The next day, he was met with cold shoulders and bad attitudes from his coworkers and especially his employers. Two days later, he was out of a job - and his employers made sure he understood that they were only looking for “team players” and wouldn’t tolerate “enemies within their ranks.”

Now this is the kind of story that would normally make the left’s blood boil. Here was an employer using his authority to squelch dissenting opinion. But when the opinion is anti-left, then I guess the normal rules don’t apply.

Hollywood is every bit as left-leaning and state-loving as it’s made out to be - but less tolerant than it wants the public to realize.

Posted July 26, 2012 at 1:58pm in ∆ hollywood unions | comments || home