Dark Bilious Vapors

And Wolcott certainly delivers in this one: Oliver Stone and Steven Spielberg: The Doublemint Twins of Treason

Whenever a non-controversy galvanizes the bleary eyeballs of America's sentinels of freedom at their computer screens, depend upon Glenn Reynolds and Mickey Kaus to clarify the vital issues involved into clear mud.

Instapundit, displaying the gift for comedy that's made his colleagues avoid him in the faculty lounge, writes: "Hollywood probably is that out of touch with America, which may have something to do with its falling revenues. But hey, the inevitable scene of Jewish office workers staying home will be well received in some other parts of the world. . . ."

He links to Mickey Kaus, who because he lives in Los Angeles and has seen more than his share of billboards behind the wheel thinks he knows something about the movie business weightlessly weighs in with this trail of chicken scratchings...

"Keep Oliver Stone Away from 9/11! Is Oliver Stone really the person to direct a big-budget film about the rescue of Officers McLoughlin and Jimeno from the rubble of the World Trade Center? Stone has shown he has trouble leaving history alone (most famously in JFK); he'll probably have some wacky, conspiratorial left-wing theory to add into the script. ... The McLoughlin rescue is a surprising, moving, and patriotic story if you just tell it as it happened. Do you trust Stone to do that? I don't. ... Is Hollywood so out of touch it thinks Stone's version of 9/11 is what America is clamoring for? After Alexander, at that? ... Stone should be free to say what he wants. But it might be useful for Paramount's Brad Grey to hear that many Americans--including, say, a mob of salivating bloggers--are not eager to provide Stone with a paying audience. ..."

Well, it's so nice and generous of Mickey to say that Stone "should be free to say what he wants." Though "should" sounds a little conditional, a permit that could be revoked. (Why not simply "Stone is free to say what he wants"?)

And I love this solicitude and concern over falling box-office from those who loathe Hollywood to begin with.

...

Yes, it's awfully arrogant of movie studios not to grant script approval to Mickey Kaus, Captain Courageous, and Little Green Footstool before they begin casting and location scouting--their creative input could be just what Hollywood needs to be saved from itself and restored to the towering glory of the Blacklist era. Though you'd think in Spielberg's case being the director of Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List, not to mention all his valiant, dedicated work for the Shoah Institute, would earn him a wee bit of slack and benefit of the doubt and smidgen of TRUST. But the neocon Leninists of the post 9/11 era are as unlenient toward deviation as any certitudinous ideologue with goatee and clenched fist, and should Spielberg depict any member of the Israeli assassin squad expressing doubt or regret in lip-biting closeup, he'll be accused of sewing Bin Laden a new robe of snow-white radiance, and the movie will be boycotted by those who never intended to go in the first place but wanted yet another pre-fab outrage to bitch about in their blogs.

So exactly when was Jarvis a Bronze Star-winning LRRP in Vietnam?

As I remember it, Stone left Yale to become an 11B, served with distinction in four divisions and ended his tour as a LRRP (Long Range Reconnaisance Patrol) member. I don't think Kaus or Jarvis have any call to question Stone's patriotism, especially when I doubt they have his service record. During the Vietnam War, LRRPS went behind enemy lines to do recon and ambushes, often beyond artillery support. It was a very risky job, which only expert infantryman were eligible for. Stone volunteered for this and spent 16 months in Vietnam, four over his required year tour.

I'm tired of the right wing constantly belittling people who have given far more to this country than they ever have or will. Jarvis is free to disagree with Stone and his politics, but to impune his patriotism, one he defended with his life, is just horseshit.

Len on 07.11.05 @ 11:55 AM CST