At the Golden Globes, Meryl Streep gave a speech slamming President-Elect Trump, which isn't incredibly surprising as Hollywood has always been very liberal.
Most of the Internet bowed down to the distinguished actress, with the notable exception of the Alt-Right, and of course, Mr. Trump, who made the ridiculous and rather childish argument that Ms. Streep is "overrated."
However, there is plenty to contest about Ms. Streep's speech.
"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. If you kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts, " Streep stated, taking an unnecessary dig at sports, and by extension, those who enjoy them. Full disclosure: I myself am one of the "artsy, outsider" type kids who'd rather go to an art museum or sit at home writing angsty poetry than go to a football game, but even I can see the legendary Hollywood snobbery and elitism in that statement. Enjoying football or MMA does not make a person less intellectual or stupid... And, if I may have a moment of elitism myself, calling what a lot of Hollywood produces art and much of the people who populate it artists, is a bit of a misnomer. Many of your neighbors, Ms. Streep, are talentless and produce subpar work, and implying that what they do is "art" is an insult to artists, including yourself.
Streep went on to say about Hollywood, "You and all of us in this room really belong to the most vilified segments in American society right now. Think about it. Hollywood, foreigners, and the press. But who are we? And, you know, what is Hollywood anyway? It's just a bunch of people from other places."
And while there is a lot of truth to this statement— Trump's rhetoric does vilify the press, which, although it can be incredibly biased due to the fact that Reagan repealed the equal time rule in 1983 and corporate sponsorship paying its wages, is one of the most important tools to democracy, and he does tend to go after foreigners, specifically, immigrants, it is still very short sighted.
The foreigners that have flocked to Hollywood are not the people who are in danger of Trump's wrath. While he may throw fits all over Twitter about people who disagree with him, it isn't the immigrants who are wealthy and powerful that face danger from Trump's rhetoric. It's the regular folk, the immigrants who are middle and lower class, who can be justified in fearing for their future.
And, stating that Hollywood is being "vilified" is a big fat lie. One look at Twitter will tell you that. The people who were in the room at the Golden Globes were not victims-- they're some of the wealthiest, most privileged people in the country.
Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park, once made the astute observation that, "People in the entertainment industry are by and large whore-chasing, drug-addict f*ck-ups, right? But they still believe they’re better than the guy in Wyoming who really loves his wife and takes care of his kids and is a good, outstanding, wholesome person. Hollywood views regular people as children, and they think they’re the smart ones who need to tell the idiots out there how to be." As he very often is, he's right.
Maybe, Ms. Streep, Hollywood is being "vilified"— or rather, criticized, because people are sick of being spoken down to by out of touch elitists.
