What does Hollywood mean? To me, it’s not just that shiny, famous, ritzy place hanging out in sunny California. It’s not even just a goal or a dream to strive toward, though it does hold that kind of place in my heart. No; to me, Hollywood as I have come to understand it is a place where people from all walks of life have a chance to get their ideas out there, to find success in their own way, and show what makes each of them special.

Individuality--that’s what Hollywood ultimately boils down to for me. It is a simple ideal that I and many others feel is being compromised.

Jimmy Kimmel. Stephen Colbert. Whoopi Goldberg. Kathy Griffin. What do all of these names have in common? They are four of many liberal thinkers over in Hollywood. Now of course, their political affiliation is not the issue; like I said, Hollywood is a place for many people of many faces and identities. But maybe this will put it into perspective.

Kimmel recently had an interview with CBS Sunday Morning. In it, Tracy Smith asked him whether or not he would care if people who disagreed with his liberal ideology tuned out of his show.

“I want everyone with a television to watch the show, but if they’re so turned off by my opinion on health care and gun violence then…I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t want to have a conversation with them anyway,” Kimmel said.

How about a few more examples? Kathy Griffin once posed with a faux severed head of President Trump. Rosie O’Donnell tweeted offensive comments about Trump’s youngest son, Barron, and also pled to Kim Jong Un--one of the most ruthless and evil political figures in history--to ignore Trump’s rhetoric concerning defending the nation from North Korea. Colbert once made highly offensive remarks about Trump that went unchallenged by the FCC, suggesting that Trump perform a sexual act that I’d rather not talk about in full detail. Unlike Colbert, I have tact.

This is the problem. Constantly slamming and criticizing the President or conservative thinking in general. Making Trump and Republican jokes at every waking moment. Shaming conservativism and holding up liberal thinking on a high pedestal from which it can never be removed or closely examined. Utterly refusing to listen to non-liberal thought.

This is what Hollywood is coming to now. In a large portion of the content that comes out of it, especially talk shows, one will find an overwhelming amount of liberal rhetoric that’s being treated as mandatory, lest one want to be looked at as ignorant or be cast out by the liberal majority.

There was a time and place where entertainment was required to spread one sole line of political thinking. It was called the Soviet Union.

Nothing is wrong with having a political opinion. Like I said, Hollywood is a place of various ideas. But it stops becoming about welcoming all walks of life when we make it unsafe for outsider opinions, for people who are different. Politics can have a place in entertainment, but they cannot possibly dominate it. Because once it does, where is the art? Where is the magic of bringing people together with comedy, drama, horror, action or experimentation? What happens to all of that creativity?

It is suppressed. It is reduced to less than nothing. The once-fabled artistry and innovation of Hollywood, entertainment made for the sole purpose of brightening one’s day, succumbs to the grey, hollow lifelessness of bitter political rivalry.

I care about pop culture and entertainment because it’s something fun and even at times uplifting to follow along with. I don’t expect it to change the world, though it very well could. I want to be there in Hollywood one day, crafting cinematic stories that entertain and broaden the horizons of an audience, not bring them down and constrain their thinking.

Before all of this politicization, Hollywood embodied the spread and the growth of new ideas. And if it ever wants to be like that again, then maybe it might be time for everyone involved to be a little more open-minded.