Friday, October 10, 2014

Gwyneth Paltrow, and the Celebrity In Chief Who Would Be King

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Hosting a fundraiser for President Barack Obama at her home, Gwyneth Paltrow gushed as she introduced President Obama, "I am one of your biggest fans, if not the biggest," and when handing him the microphone, Paltrow said to the President, "You're so handsome that I can't speak properly."  In the middle of her worship session, she added, like a good, mindless follower of a ruling elitist, "It would be wonderful if we were able to give this man all of the power that he needs to pass the things that he needs to pass."

Gwyneth Paltrow may not be speaking for all of Hollywood, or all of the leftists in and out of the Democrat Party, but those who work in film, or leftwing politics, that would stand in disagreement to her statement regarding President Barack Obama, would no doubt be a very small minority.

With Ebola, Islam, and Valdimir Putin working to destroy the Western World, my first question is, "Why didn't she just have the event without the President, and let him stay in Washington to do what Presidents are supposed to do when the world is on fire?"

The potential responses to that question are surely numerous, and sharp.

"The world is better off when Obama's not in Washington."

"Of course he showed up.  Barack never misses an opportunity for a photo-op."

"Because Gwyneth wants to make sure her self-importance is elevated by not just contributing money, but then bragging about it by having a picture taken with the president and telling all of her admirers she had dinner with him."

The Celebrity in Chief would not miss such an opportunity, and when Paltrow wished upon him dictatorial power, I am sure he was nodding to himself in agreement.

In March of 1983, two years after the film had originally premiered in primetime on ABC, ABC's Afterschool Special aired a movie titled "The Wave."  I was wrapping up my Junior Year in High School, and was knee-deep in my political education, when The Wave aired as an Afterschool Special.  During lunchtime, I was often arguing in defense of President Ronald Reagan's policies with a friend of my girlfriend's.  My girlfriend, now my wife, did not participate.  She just observed, and decided to remain neutral in the discussions.

The Wave came at a good time in my life, cementing for me what I had been learning, and confirming many of my burgeoning political beliefs about the dangers of putting too much power into the hands of a single leader.

At the beginning of the television program, a story centering around a true story about a teacher's "Third Wave Experiment," a student asked her history teacher, after a classroom viewing of a film about the Nazi Holocaust, "Were all Germans Nazis?"

The teacher explained, "No.  As a matter of fact, less than 10% of the German population belonged to the Nazi Party."

"Then how come nobody tried to stop them?" the student asked.

"They said they didn't know it was happening," replied the teacher.

Another student asked, "How could you kill ten million people without somebody noticing?"

A kid further back in the class added, "Yeah, that can't be true."

"After the war," continued the teacher, "the Germans claimed they knew nothing of the concentration camps, or the killings."

A short-haired girl in the class, who had been listening intently, said, "How could the Germans sit back while the Nazis slaughtered people all around them and say they didn't know anything about it?  How could they do that?  How could they say that?"

"That was a very good question, Laurie."

The teacher, to drive home the message of how easily tyranny could gain control in any society, and how easily people can be fooled by movements and leaders that strive for dark ends with a message of uniting a society (like the mindless automatons at Gwyneth Paltrow's party gushing over President Barack Obama), began an experiment.  The movement would be called "The Wave," a student organization where the kids protected members of the group, and recruited others that agreed with the good platform of the group that included discipline, being a good citizen, and looking out for each other.  By the end of the film, the participants in The Wave had grown exponentially, and the followers were prepared to make it a national organization leading America into a new era with new leadership striving for a united and successful society.

At the end of the film, the history teacher announced a leader has emerged, to lead the National Youth Movement to a new and glorious future.  An assembly is announced, and the members of The Wave attend the assembly at the school auditorium, waiting for word from their new leader.  The assembly waiting for the announcement of the new leader become restless as they sit in the auditorium waiting for the opportunity to see the new National Youth Movement leader address them by television.  Two small screens, and one large screen, has been set up on the stage for the group of kids to view the new leader addressing the nation, and more specifically, addressing the National Youth Movement called "The Wave."  The screens remained filled with static for a long moment, and the restlessness in the auditorium increased, until finally one of the kids stood up and said, "There is no new leader, is there?"

The teacher then stepped forward, and said, "Yes there is.  Here's your new leader," and then the large screen on the stage went into action, showing film footage of Adolf Hitler addressing throngs of people in Nazi Germany.

As the film continues, the history teacher began his own speech, a hard lesson about reality.

"You traded your freedom for the luxury of feeling superior.  You accepted the group's will over your own convictions, no matter who you hurt. . . take a look at your future," at this point he pointed at the screen where the film footage about Nazi Germany was still playing, and German children, dressed in Nazi attire, grinned with their hands out in a Nazi salute to the Fuhrer.

"Yes," continued the history teacher.  "You would have all made good Nazis.  You would have put on uniforms, turned your heads, and allowed your friends and neighbors to be persecuted, and destroyed.  Fascism isn't something those other people did.  It's right here, in all of us.  You ask, 'how could the German people know nothing as millions of innocent human beings were murdered?  How could they claim they weren't involved?  What causes people to deny their own history?'  Well if history repeats itself, you'll all want to deny what happened to you in The Wave.  But if our experiment is successful, you will have learned that we are all responsible for our own actions.  And you must question what you do, rather than blindly follow a leader.  That for the rest of your lives you will never allow a group's will to usurp your individual rights."

Watching Gwyneth Paltrow gush over Obama, it is apparent she would have made a good Nazi, too.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary



The Wave, Part 1 - YouTube

The Wave, Part 2 - YouTube

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