Learning The Wrong Lesson

As we all know by now, celebrities are supposed to forego the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship and just keep their damn mouths shut. So goes the conventional wisdom of The Flying Monkey Right, at least when the flying monkeys aren't all misty-eyed as they salute the wit and wisdom of James Woods, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Heaton and other Republican luminaries in the entertainment world.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, who stars in The Great New Wonderful, Oliver Stone's new film about people living in New York in the aftermath of the terror attacks, didn't get the memo. Now, she's feeling the heat.

The 27-year-old actress, who stars in a film about the 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, said in an interview last April that the United States was "responsible in some way" for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

She later issued a statement through her publicist saying that Sept. 11 was "an occasion to be brave enough to ask some serious questions about America's role in the world."

"I was so surprised by the way it was misunderstood, and the disdain that came back at me was a real shock," Gyllenhaal told the Daily News for an interview published Sunday. "I regret what I said, but I think my intentions were good."

Poor Maggie. Like Dick Durbin, now, she'll be castigated by wingnuts and the very people who share her point of view. So let's get busy!

No, Maggie. "Misunderstanding" is hardly the correct word to use for the backlash you're experiencing. It's called willful ignorance and it's apparently that element of DNA which binds today's NeoConservative hordes. You're supposed to refrain from criticizing your country for one simple reason: America is never wrong. Ever. Okay, well, it might be wrong about some things - not the important ones, mind you - but it's never as wrong as its critics, no matter who they are or what they have to say.

"...Neither the red carpet nor an interview about a movie is the right place to talk about my politics. I realize I have to be careful, because it's very easy to misunderstand a complicated thought in a complicated world."

So, even if the film is about the survivors of 911 -- an event which cannot be separated from politics (and is shamelessly exploited at every opportunity by the rabid badgers populating the Right) -- the lesson she's learned is to refrain from expressing political opinions publicly, even in the context of her work.

Maggie, neither the world nor the opinion you expressed are as complicated as the Fascist Right is vicious and simple-minded. Subservience - acquiescence to rightwing extremism - is to be rewarded and critical examination punished in King Bush's America. It's as uncomplicated a lesson as there is.



You might also want to check out the infinitely entertaining insight of James Wolcott:
Oliver Stone and Steven Spielberg: The Doublemint Twins of Treason