NBC offered far-right columnist Steve Sailer a platform to attack Hollywood
SUMMARY: During an NBC Nightly News report on the increase in "serious" movies that involve current issues and topics, right-wing columnist Steve Sailer was quoted as a "critic" upset over "a lack of diversity of political opinions in Hollywood"; however, the report omitted any mention of Sailer's controversial associations, including his writing for VDARE.com -- the right-wing website that publishes the work of "white nationalists."
During a January 21 NBC Nightly News report on the increase in "serious" movies that involve current issues and topics, NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander aired a clip of right-wing columnist Steve Sailer as a "critic" upset over "a lack of diversity of political opinions in Hollywood," but omitted any mention of Sailer's controversial associations and past statements that might shed light on the precise views Sailer believes have been neglected. While Alexander identified Sailer in his report only as a film critic for The American Conservative magazine, Sailer also writes for the right-wing website VDARE.com -- which publishes the work of "white nationalists," in the words of the site's editor. In the report, Sailer said, "Hollywood's got to start getting on the boat. They've got to do some research, they've got to think about the fact that the whole world doesn't see the world the way they do, that they are off on this little island."
Alexander also omitted that, as Media Matters for America has noted, Sailer has written in defense of the Pioneer Fund, an organization designated a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for its support of the work of white supremacists, eugenicists, and others dedicated to proving the genetic superiority of certain races. Sailer additionally describes himself on his website as "founder of the Human Biodiversity Institute," which claims that it "promotes the study of biological differences among humans and their impact on society"; the SPLC has described the institute as a "neo-eugenics outfit."
In a December 11 VDARE.com column on Jews and Christmas, Sailer stated that "American Jews, those exemplars of successful assimilation now seem to be de-assimilating emotionally, becoming increasingly resentful, at this late date, of their fellow Americans for celebrating Christmas." He further quoted approvingly from a December 7 column by Burt Prelutsky on the conservative news website WorldNetDaily: "[T]he dirty little secret in America is that anti-Semitism is no longer a problem in society -- it's been replaced by a rampant anti-Christianity." Sailer further wrote that, like the Jews, African-Americans were also "de-assimilating," as evidenced by which sports they chose to participate in:
African-Americans have similarly been de-assimilating too, losing interest in facets of American culture that they can't dominate. For example, in sports, blacks have largely stopped playing baseball, the national pastime, in order to concentrate more on the sports where they have a larger competitive advantage: football and, especially, basketball.
As Media Matters has noted, VDARE.com is named for Virginia Dare, the first child of English descent born in the New World in the 16th century. The site's FAQ page contains two links: one to an explanation of its name and one titled "How can I report an illegal alien?" A search for the word "white" on VDARE will return articles with headlines such as "Do White Men Need Their Own Political Party?" "White Americans: Second-Class Citizens," "No Democracy For Whites in the New America," and "No Equal Protection for Whites?" Peter Brimelow, who operates the site through his nonprofit organization, the Center for American Unity, wrote that "VDARE.COM is obviously not a 'White Supremacist' site, if for no other reason than that it publishes non-whites. We do publish writers who could fairly be described as 'white nationalists,' in that they explicitly defend the interests of American whites." The site has also published the work of Kevin MacDonald, who appeared as a character witness for Holocaust denier David Irving when he unsuccessfully sued a critic for libel during a 2000 trial in Britain. In a November 5, 2005, review of Yuri Slezkine's book The Jewish Century (Princeton University Press, 2004), MacDonald wrote:
Slezkine also ignores the extent to which Jewish competition may have suppressed -- arguably sometimes reversed -- the formation of a native middle class in Eastern Europe. He seems instead to simply assume the locals lacked the abilities required.
But the fact is that in most of Western Europe Jews were expelled in the Middle Ages. And, as a result, when modernization occurred, it was accomplished with an indigenous middle class. Perhaps the Christian taxpayers of England made a good investment in their own future when they agreed to pay King Edward I a massive tax of £116,346 in return for expelling 2000 Jews in 1290. If, as in Eastern Europe, Jews had won the economic competition in most of these professions, there might not have been a non-Jewish middle class in England.
From the January 21 broadcast of NBC's Nightly News, with anchor John Seigenthaler:
SEIGENTHALER: NBC News "In Depth" tonight: "Follow the money" is a truism in Hollywood just as it is in tracking a political scandal. If serious movies start translating into big box-office hits and big bucks, there will inevitably be more serious movies in the production pipeline. Is that starring to happen now? Here's NBC's Peter Alexander.
ALEXANDER: Star-studded Hollywood, where the most frequently asked question is often "who's wearing what," has many moviegoers these days wondering, "What gives?" as filmmakers appear to be on a more thought-provoking phase.
[clip from Brokeback Mountain]
ALEXANDER: Movies Brokeback Mountain and The Constant Gardener, both produced by film divisions of NBC Universal, as well as Syriana, were honored at this week's Golden Globe awards. They tackle weighty issues like hatred, poverty, and greed.
[clip from Syriana]
ALEXANDER: And while the stars gather this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival, the tone of many new releases remains serious.
[clip from Syriana]
ALEXANDER: Ricky Strauss is president of Participant Productions, behind Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck.
[clip from Good Night, and Good Luck]
ALEXANDER: The company says its goal is making movies that not only make a profit but make a difference.
RICKY STRAUSS (president of Participant Productions): There's a social return on our investment and a financial return on our investment. Thus, the double bottom line.
ALEXANDER: So far, most of these films are finding an audience. Brokeback Mountain has already doubled its production costs, with Good Night, and Good Luck so far quadrupling the $7 million it cost to make.
HENRY SHEEHAN (president, Los Angeles Film Critics Association): It's very voguish to be heavy-thinking in Hollywood because it's always very voguish to be making money. Plus, you have first-rank directors, top actors that are happy to attach themselves to these projects.
ALEXANDER: Among them George Clooney, one of the most powerful men in moviemaking.
CLOONEY: The last couple of years I've been -- we've been more politically interested in a lot of issues.
ALEXANDER: But critics charge there's a lack of diversity of political opinions in Hollywood, that moviemakers are out of touch with most of America.
SAILER: Hollywood's got to start getting on the boat. They've got to do some research, they've got to think about the fact that the whole world doesn't see the world the way they do, that they are off on this little island.
ALEXANDER: Still, for now, Hollywood continues on its course, and all sides agree ultimately it's the audience that dictates which movies are made. Peter Alexander, NBC News, Los Angeles.
I have no problem with NBC, or any other network providing other points of view (That's being liberal and openminded, right ?), as long as there is an opposite point of view to counter it. If a far right-winger such as Sailer or Bill O'Reilly is allowed to present his views in front of a nationwide audience, for example, then maybe a far left-winger should be allowed to do the same thing within a reasonable amount of time. The problem now is that the right has its views expressed from the moderate to the extreme, with the left hardly ever represented.
I should have been more clear: The moderate and centrist views are represented ad nauseum to often counter the Right, but the Left and far Left positions are rarely if ever seen or heard.
What is considered "liberal" today is what I would call a moderate. The right wing have moved the goal posts so to speak. Didn't you know the GOP plays football on a 200 yard field!
Sam Francis, the person described at the first vdare link, is dead. He is also not the same person as Steve Sailer, and just because their articles appeared at the same site does not mean they share the same views.
Here's more on the Southern Poverty Law Center; the reader can decide whether they're a credible source.
Here's a list of some Pioneer Fund grants. If they're a "hate group", would Tel Aviv University, Stanford, New York Hospital - Cornell Medical Center, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, and the Sickle Cell Disease Foundation of Greater New York among many others have accepted grants from them?
Perhaps they aren't a "hate group", and someone's just trying to lie to you.
[Please save off this comment, since many others I've left here have been deleted.]
All this is now common parlance, more or less. What you won’t hear, except from me, is that "Let the good times roll" is an especially risky message for African-Americans. The plain fact is that they tend to possess poorer native judgment than members of better-educated groups. Thus they need stricter moral guidance from society.
[link to timworstall.typepad.com]
Can fairly be lumped in with hate groups
People who would rather read actual facts about the Southern Policy Law Center should check out their website ([link to www.splcenter.org] instead of the one posted by the aptly yclept LoneWacko.
If I were a right-winger (*shudder*) I'd be insulted that this clown is who they trot out to represent my point of view. Of course, NBC's "story" (serious movies are being made - oooh!) isn't really a story anyway so I guess it doesn't matter that much.
Its just one more example or the extreme right demanding that popular culture, as represented by Hollywood, is expected to toe the extreme right/administration line. Just as Stewart Varney moaned a short while ago that he would not go to see actors who "insulted my president."
If Sailer and Varney are that upset at Hollywood, they should start their own far-right film festival. As a first screening, they can show D.W. Griffith's classic, "Birth of a Nation."
Of what I say about NBC.
Nothing But Crap.
1. Sailer is as loony anti-war as any of you are. He is also filled with irrational hatred of Bush, doesn’t understand economics, supports big government and doesn’t like free trade (not vehemently on the last one). The few conservative view he has does not like affirmative action and being strongly against immigration. Talking about the “administration line” and Sailer is pretty funny, the guy foams at his moth when he talks about Bush and the Iraq war.
2. The guilt by association is pathetic. If media matters takes themselves seriously they should quote Sailer, not smear him by playing the Kevin Bacon game. But I am sure NBC is rightwing because in their 10 second qoute they don’t point out Sailer once shared a taxi cab with a man who might have been reactionary? At any case what Sailer writes about race, gender and IQ (which is the really juicy stuff if you want to paint him out as a racist) is science, not politics. In fact Sailer is the exact opposite of a “white” nationalist, he is a citizenist, which is to say he wants to support African Americans interests against Hispanic, Asian and white immigrants.
3. That Hollywood is out of touch with America is a fact. But I love the guy who thinks it is a “logical fallacy” because “its not possible to be out touch with something you represent”. Logic dictates that you prove some evidence for the claim that Hollywood represents American, not just state it. It represents a segment of American, but a minority, as is clear from every almost every election of social issues, and from how well movies such as Passion do.
4. Calling Syriana a “serious movie” is a joke. It is just the same “everything is an oil conspiracy” and “all islamist grievances against the US and Israel are justified” junk that we have seen 20 times, only less coherent than average. Brokeback is good tough.
>>3. That Hollywood is out of touch with America is a fact. But I love the guy who thinks it is a “logical fallacy” because “its not possible to be out touch with something you represent”.
Isn't Hollywood just a commercial business selling a product? If they were out of touch wouldn't they be going broke?
Hollywood is cutting back production of films over the next couple of years, as reported in a Variety article. Sony and Disney (they are focusing on ESPN and ABC) were the bigger players that said they would scale back on production as a "house cleaning" of films.
It seems to me that Hollywood has been in a funk for several years now. I don't know if it is just a lack of creativity (look at all the remakes of older films and junk TV shows), mega stars increasing salaries, or just bank busting budgets for thrillers. In the end I doubt it will be the social implications that some have suggested.
Hollywood will always push the envelope and as in the past when they have gone to far (or not far enough), people will vote with their wallets.
Thanks to Bush's tax cut giveaways, there are plenty of very wealthy right-wingers who can bankroll a right-wing movie maker. They need to pitch their ideas and sell them to a studio. They will buy anything that they think is going to make money.
People like Sailer expect "Hollywood" to hand them opportunities-like some kind of Tinseltown welfare system, but it doesn't work that way. They'll have to fight to get their scripts made, just like everyone else does.
Teller, you wrote "That Hollywood is out of touch with America is a fact." and I always cringe when people assert such a thing. It's a perfunctory assertion. If it's a fact, then prove it and don't cite one film, such as Passion. Present a trend. Passion might be an anomoly. Passion might have appealed to our blood lust, that inveterate desire to prepare a picnic (popcorn and pop in Passion's case) and witness an execution. I suspect that you're projecting when you assert that Hollywood is out of touch with America. I suspect that Hollywood is out of touch with your group and you. Do you want Passion clones? That is one thing that Hollywood does well: it makes the same film again and again. Do you want to see the Christ pummeled ad nauseum?
As others have asserted, Hollywood is capitalism. It's a money-making mechanism. They would remake and remake Passion if they believed that they could make more money. And they were willing to make Syriana partly because the Leftie George Clooney, like the Christian Mel Gibson, has paid his dues. Both have demonstrated an ability to make money for others.
Like Chi-Town Dave asserted, it's not a welfare system. If the Right wants to opine via a backlot and a 100-million dollar budget, the Right should put its money where its mouth is.
The Theonazis will no doubt point to these two movies and their box office success as some sort of cultural "turning point". The problem is that their success is statistically skewed, because such movies get a lot of free promotion in the churches. Nothing wrong with this, and both movies are well done, but I think it is ill advised to read too much cultural significance into their success.
"The Passion of the Christ' not only had a lot of free publicity in the churches, but the churches also bought up a lot of tickets and distributed them to the churchgoers for free.
[Link]
If Michelle Malkin likes this guy, there must be something bad about him. As for Hollywood, I'll make a prediction; if Brokeback Mountain wins Best Picture, expect the GOP's Theonazi masters to go ballistic. They'll make the decline of American culture a major topic in the next election cycle. Of course, the lapdog press will slavishly comply, and the Abramoff scandal, Plamegate, and the NSA/CIA excesses will disappear from the headlines as they breathlessly discuss the "Gay Agenda".
Hide and watch.
All good points, except Plamegate would still have to be in the headlines for it to disappear.
It just seems that the outing of a CIA Agent and her cover company isn't as important as trying to tie Abramoff's $$ to Democrats.
I guess it was wishful thinking on my part that once the Plamegate prosecutor moves on to the next phase, it might get some coverage...of course, that would mean the press would have to actually do it's JOB, and stop carrying water for these criminals!
Perhaps whats missing in the so-called 'main-stream' media today is the actual pairing of far-right pundits (say Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbough, Steve Sailor) and those with moderate to progressive views (George Clooney, Ed Schultz, Joe Conosson) in the same room at the same time in front of the same camera each given 2 minutes each to say their peace on a given subject. We all know that these poeple can say their peace in their own time or within their own setting (i.e, radio station). Lets get them to be able to get within a group of their peers so that a bigger chunk of both sides can hear differing opinions. This would eliminate the 'he said, she said' and bring to the open how one side lies and screams and rants and raves and blames Clinton for everything, distorts the facts to fit their views and the other uses facts properly and relative calm to get their point(s) across!!
If this were offered I wonder which 'side' would refuse and which would be willing? Let everyone see it at the same time and I bet a chunk of this country begins to see the light!
I have my thoughts on which side would choose to be willing, but as a liberal it would be biased to say!
The Conservatives will never allow this to happen. They've spent years and millions of dollars stacking the media deck in their favor; they know that a fair debate would reveal them as the liars they are.
"SAILER: Hollywood's got to start getting on the boat. They've got to do some research, they've got to think about the fact that the whole world doesn't see the world the way they do, that they are off on this little island."
Excruciatingly funny for Sailer to do such judging. Hollywood is closer to the rest of the world than the narrow conservative view.
Here is a Sailer Sample from VDare: "In contrast to New Orleans, there was only minimal looting after the horrendous 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan—because, when you get down to it, Japanese aren't blacks. For example, the per capita imprisonment rate for Asian-Americans is about 1/30th that of African-Americans. "
[link to www.vdare.com]
But, don't fault NBC - they are just trying to keep up with recent CNN hiring policies (A Man Called Beck) and ESPN news (i.e., reporting on nation's best football lineman winning the Outland Trophy, versus this post Cronkike version of linemen seeking the Outlandish Trophy)! It's all about revenue.
There is a racial undercurrent to the modern Conservative movement. They'll deny it, of course, but many of them are secretly applauding people like Sailor and Beck and Savage who are willing to be more open about it. What do you think is behind the school voucher movement, or the growth in mostly white, religious private schools since the 60s? Do you think Roe v. Wade is the only Supreme Court decision the Conservatives want undone? Do a Google search on Nixon's "Southern Strategy", then stop to ponder why the Southern states that so vehemently opposed the Civil Rights movement have gone Republican. Do you really think it's a coincidence?
That New Orleans quote from Sailer is lovely, Olivelawyers.
I can't imagine why Sailer/VDARE take issue with being called racist.