Golden Age Hollywood Liberals of the Past (split discussion)

[charby]

Continued from this thread

http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=61804.0

Ben said Kirk Douglas wasn't one of those in your face liberals like many are now. I said he was but they didn't have our modern social media or 24/7 media like we did now, he would of been if they had it, because he started a film company in 1952 to use the ousted "communist" Hollywood actors and writers.

Interesting thing about 1952, is that a supreme court decision said that declared films were a form of free speech. So the silent liberal actors/actresses of the former conservative Hollywood started to become more vocal.

[Ben]

My next to last post in that thread said that he did in fact have very liberal views and that he stated them in the last ten years, when social media was firmly in place. And as I said there, I had to hit google to learn that, which meant he wasn't shoving his views down peoples throats, via social media or otherwise.

Nor did his later views seem to get picked up by the social media machine on either side, which likely meant he wasn't giving his views in an inflammatory manner, which was likely the case in the 50s as well, when people seemed a bit better behaved in general, whatever their political persuasion.

[charby]

in the 50s as well, when people seemed a bit better behaved in general, whatever their political persuasion.

Were they? Examining the subject matter of many of the plays, books and movies showed that they used those mediums to express themselves. Used what has available to spread the message. There was underground newspapers back them to spread those liberal ideas. Movement for civil rights, women's rights, religious freedom, etc.

Plus mainstream media at the time wouldn't broadcast anything too right or too left. We didn't have pundits or radio talk shows either. There was low power pirate radio stations. I'm not sure what the era UHF local TV stations showed.

So if we had the internet in the 1950s, everyone would be sharing their voice like they do now.

[Ben]

Used what has available to spread the message. There was underground newspapers back them to spread those liberal ideas. Movement for civil rights, women's rights, religious freedom, etc.

So if we had the internet in the 1950s, everyone would be sharing their voice like they do now.

My mind is open - if you have examples of people like Kirk Douglas (vs Trotskyites in their basements) spreading hate and "death to the US" and other "America is a crappy country" stuff via these underground newspapers, I'd be interested in reading it. Note there is a difference between protecting people accused of communism and being a US hating commie yourself.

And for the third time, Douglas expressed his liberal views in the age of the Internet, but somehow he managed to be moderate about it. So moderate and polite that the politicos and twitchys and whatnot figured it was too boring to cover.

[K Frame]

Shouldn't this be in... Politics? 

[charby]

My mind is open - if you have examples of people like Kirk Douglas (vs Trotskyites in their basements) spreading hate and "death to the US" and other "America is a crappy country" stuff via these underground newspapers, I'd be interested in reading it. Note there is a difference between protecting people accused of communism and being a US hating commie yourself.

Examples will be hard to find since, blacklisting was used heavily in the 1950s, out spoken Hollywood people would find themselves without work or the ability to find work. Hoover and his FBI was trying to root out those people also. Famous people kept those ideas to themselves for those reasons. Going to have to look at what they said later in life.

I'm going to look for some beatnik pubs that may fit what you are looking for.

And for the third time, Douglas expressed his liberal views in the age of the Internet, but somehow he managed to be moderate about it. So moderate and polite that the politicos and twitchys and whatnot figured it was too boring to cover.

He also had a stroke in 1996 that effected his speech, the Internet was just getting started about them. He wasn't in the public eye much after that, so he wasn't relevant.

[Ben]

He also had a stroke in 1996 that effected his speech, the Internet was just getting started about them. He wasn't in the public eye much after that, so he wasn't relevant.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000018/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Was an avid user of the Internet.

In June 2013, he publicly called for more gun control in the United States.

[Ben]

Shouldn't this be in... Politics? 

Yes.

[charby]

Yes.

No

[Brad Johnson]

No

Definite maybe?

Brad

[charby]

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000018/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

I'm an avid user of the Internet and so are you, a very small circle gives 2 farts how we feel. Like I said he wasn't in the public eye much so he wasn't relevant anymore, he didn't fit into the liberal propaganda machine.

[charby]

The more I think about, you actually should be outraged that there wasn't any in your face liberals or conservatives in the 1950s because the jack boots of the government kept them from speaking out.