I watched this video of one of my favorite Social Commentators Ms. Ekpunobi.
I reject her premise that Americans are not empathetic. It’s been my experience that Americans are among the most empathetic people on the planet. When a tsunami hits some place in the pacific America parks an aircraft carrier and a hospital ship right off shore and deploys men and women and supplies and equipment within days. China and another nations with aircraft carriers are conspicuously absent. America has been accused of being the world police, poking our military noses into situations where we don’t belong. But when shit really hits the fan if we don’t show up we catch all the worst kind of hell. When the Carolina’s were destroyed by a hurricane Americans from ALL over the country descend on the region to help. I don’t see any other nation jumping in to help. Even when FEMA tries to turn volunteers back we dodge and keep poking by and pushing our way in. Even when FEMA was avoiding Trump neighborhoods. Even when Camela (Yeah I spelled it that way) ‘ever so magnanimously’ said the government would be willing to pay $750.00 for their loss, the rest of us were incensed but carried right on pushing and helping. I believe what she is seeing is that the holly-woke elite have burned up much of their social capital. Rachel Ziegler is the poster child for this push back. For decades holly-woke and by extension (guilt by association and geography) LA have been cramming their agenda down us non-elite’s throats. They have been throwing their considerable, woke at all costs, weight around. Incompetent Mayor. WOKE DEI fire department. Environmental policies that put smelt and mice before the people that the government is supposed to protect. So votes LA and San Francisco so votes California regardless… By way of movies and TV with more message than entertainment. By pushing environmental activism at all cost. By way of ‘movie stars’ becoming more political activists than entertainers. I personally have decided that I will no longer watch the new offering from Hollywood that has in its cast Robert De Niro. Nor will I be watching anything that has in the cast Julia Roberts of Jamie Lee Curtis to name but a very few. Yes this a statement of stick your head up, get it slapped. They have all thrown a weighted, cold, wet blanket of their guilt over the rest of us all with their activism. They should step back into ‘their lane’ show up, act, collect their considerable paycheck, go home and do NOT pretend to be better or smarter or more enlightened than the rest of us. As far as I know Mr. Clooney does NOT have any degree in any family of political studies. Nor does he have access to nor attend senate committee meetings on national security.
A long time ago I saw a clip on some social media platform showing Mr. Brad Pitt being asked his views on some political issue. His response was something along the lines of ‘I am no expert on any of this why do you think that I should be answering this question.’ That has obviously changed. The Oscars and now it seems that all of the glad handing, backslapping awards shows have been turned into a paid for political programming action piece. I think it was Marlon Brando who kicked open that door down. But wait there's more. So what with all the preaching and the lies and, and, and I find myself having a very narrow vision of empathy for the holly-woke elites. the nameless huddled masses, I completely empathize with, and had I any means of helping I certainly would. But I live in biden's economy on social security, uber, plasma donations and slowly selling off my collections and possessions on eBay.
I can certainly accept (and fall into this group) that Americans have become selectively empathetic. Just as much of the upper 1% have become selectively empathetic. We, the lower 99% are looked down on by the holly-woke elite. No matter how much we worship, love and adore them. The likes of George Clooney think us cave dwelling troglodytes incapable of making 'proper' voting choices for ourselves. And that he, Mr. Clooney, must step up to a microphone, any microphone, every microphone and lead us by the nose to the voting booth and hand hold us during the voting process to be sure that HIS candidateS are properly voted for.
This LA fire is tragedy it is certainly that. A Colossal tragedy. And there are, as you say, thousands of nameless people impacted by this. And the tragedy of the fires and overwhelming loss is compounded because these nameless masses will be lumped in the wealthy, powerful and privileged. (guilt be association and geography) But it is my experience there have been lots of tragic and fires just as devastating and horrific in their loss of life and property that go largely unreported and unnoticed because no ‘stars’ homes were destroyed on the making of this news cycle. Santa Rosa, the Paradise fire ,the fire that devastated several tiny towns Phoenix, Talent in Southern Oregon, The Camp Fire in rural Northern California to name but a few. Likely you will not have heard of these fires. Every year or so there are just such firestorms somewhere in the Pacific Northwest that amount to but a tiny blip on the 24 hour news cycle. There will be loads of finger pointing to go around on this particular fire though. I do hope that something positive will come of this.
I hope it but I doubt it.
I think that the election has, or at least it should have, told the elites in holly-woke that the rest of us, NOT making millions of dollars for some small number of months of work, are tired of being preached AT. There is absolutely NO WAY that acting in a movie not even Tom Cruise's movies, is a more important or more difficult or should be paid SO much more than oil well work or coal mining or trying to put out a fire in a region that the firefighter can NOT afford to live in with NO water. And just as you say the nameless masses do not get the same airtime that Mr. Mel Gibson gets because his house was razed to the ground because they are just that, nameless. The thousands that you mention absolutely deserve the airtime and HELP and empathy from every corner. They absolutely do. I also do not say that the wealthy do not deserve empathy. But I truly feel that this empathy is legitimately mitigated by their activism. And no I do not know where the bar of ‘wealth’ can be set. Initially I did not feel too very much for Mr. Gibson’s loss (I see Mr. Gibson as the poster child for the wealthy because he has lots of airtime and because of his hair gel sound bite which was Absolute genius.) plight, because he truly can with A phone call have the replaceable bits of his home replaced, and he certainly has some other home, likely in Hawaii where he can live relatively un-impacted until his LA home is replaced, he was describing things of his that were lost. The thing that hit hardest was a mention of a rare book. That is a thing that is lost forever. Can’t be replicated. It is History, now gone forever. It’s not some modern art ‘master piece’ that absolutely CAN be replicated or replaced. If the Hollywood elites had remained anonymous like the rest of us poor slobs except for when their work was released. They would not have burnt up their social capital. (They should not really have social capital to burn, but that is rant for another time) But when they use their power and influence to push their unenlightened and dangerous agendas onto the rest of us they put themselves in this position. I think the Germans call this schadenfreude. I have NO empathy for their activism. Maybe they didn’t knowing do this to themselves but perhaps they will learn from this. Maybe they will Sit down Shut up and do what WE pay to do, act or sing or entertain or whatever but NOT preach AT us. And I am not talking about their plight with the paparazzi and how difficult it is to simply go shopping for groceries without being mobbed, or real life looks versus glammed up for the Red-Carpet camera looks. In my opinion that is why they get paid the Millions. I am talking about when George Clooney shoots off his mouth about how America should vote. Mr. Clooney had better NOT be privy to any sensitive or secret information that the rest of US are not privy to making his words more informed than the rest of us unwashed masses. But when he steps up to the microphone his vote by dint of his 'Star' power and popularity suddenly becomes multiplied by thousands. That is wrong, very very wrong. The left keeps screaming about how a vote for Trump was a nail in the coffin of democracy. But the idea that Mr. insert Actor Name here can influence an election is death to democracy but thousands of times worse. The American obsession with ‘movie stars’ is perhaps going to take a rest now.
I hope it but I doubt it.
This fire and all of the ensuing fallout could/should be a catalyst for that change. The change that Americans voted for in November.
I hope it, but I doubt it.
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