Video: The obligatory “Sean Penn scolds America, salutes his own courage” clip

I’m late enough to this that all the points worth making have already been made. See, e.g., Richard Just at TNR noting what a moron Penn is to even jokingly equate support for gay rights with communism or Ace reminding Spicoli that our “elegant” new president is himself on record as opposing gay marriage. Give him credit for candor, though: Per his opening line, he’s under no illusions about the role politics played in his winning. Reminds me of Clooney’s own self-congratulatory acceptance speech a few years ago for yet another role where politics doubtless weighed heavily on voters. Brave artists bravely rewarding themselves for bravely advancing liberal orthodoxy; over to you, Andrew Breitbart.

If “the medium is the message,” as Marshall McLuhan formulated 45 years ago in “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man,” then Hollywood-style liberalism is America´s current and future message. And conservatives have no one to blame but themselves for not investing their collective efforts in the pop cultural and the greater media experience.

Art, music, film and new media must be at the center of a reborn conservative movement. Hollywood should not simply be ignored, reviled and condemned by detached intellectuals, talk radio and elected officials caught in her crosshairs, but taken on head-on…

My biggest fear is that later this week I will be among the legions at CPAC rearranging the furniture. Instead, the conservative movement needs to think in revolutionary terms.

Exit question: Why is it that Hollywood’s ability to influence the culture is not only acknowledged but celebrated by the industry when that influence is salutary, but denied and dismissed as conservative scapegoating when it isn’t, e.g., in glamorizing violence and teen promiscuity?

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