MSNBC Echo Chamber: When Leftists ‘Debate’ Movies
by John NolteHere’s MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Vanity Fair’s Michael Wolff, and WaPo critic Paul Farhi discussing “The Blind Side.” And how illuminating for the “Hardball” audience to hear such a broad diversity of cinematic opinion ranging from hard left to harder left.
Let me save you from watching the video. In order of stupidity from least to worst, here are the three main talking points:
1. White people holding the solutions to minority peoples’ problems is offensive.
2. I agree, but I still liked the movie.
3. Black people are used as a “prop” to make white people feel better.
A couple of times Michael Wolff seems like he’s about to credit Barack Obama, or at least his election, with the success of both “The Blind Side” and “Avatar.” At the last moment, though, Wolff pulls back as though he’s afraid to say it because in his mind the idea might sound grand but just as the words are about to leave his lips he begins to understand how moronic he’ll sound.
But wouldn’t it have been interesting to have one penetration of the “Hardball” echo chamber with this very simple question:
“Should we not tell inspiring true stories where white people help black people to transform their lives for the better?”
Essentially, if you think about it, all three of these guys don’t think “The Blind Side” should’ve even been made because it reinforces what they see as a negative stereotype — you know, that ugly stereotype of Christian conservatives reaching out to help another. That they only see skin color is not only their own problem and hang up but also illuminating. Most of America didn’t see a “black” kid up on that screen, they saw a decent young man in terrible circumstance in need of compassion.
Obviously these three are not alone. We’ve heard a lot of this criticism about the Sandra Bullock film and will continue to. The movie’s already a hit so these race-obsessed leftists know they can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube. But the idea here is to send a warning to Hollywood not to do it again.
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130 Comments
I wonder what offends them the most? That a white, Christian family would reach out to a young black man in need? Or that the young man would take it? Heaven forbid we find solutions outside the welfare system.
"3. Black people are used as a “prop” to make white people feel better."
Isn't this a plank in the Democratic platform?
That they only see skin color is not only their own problem and hang up but also illuminating.
Yeah, and it's a surprise, because Chris Matthews is known for forgetting about people's race, at least for an hour or so.
pretty much took the words right out of my mouth.
i guess the difference is that conservatives actually help people vs. just further enabling their dependence on govt…
"1. White people holding the solutions to minority peoples’ problems is offensive."
To whom?? Think Michael Oher was offended that someone cared enough about another human being to help him? Were the Twohys offended that the person they were helping happened to be black?
That statement exposes it's owner as a complete retard.
And I find Chris Matthews' very existence to be offensive.
So… do the morons at MSNBC find "Precious" less bothersome because Precious is helped by a "non-white", if not a black person?
Thank God we have the left to let us know how prejudice we white folk really are.
"That statement exposes it's owner as a complete retard."
You mean "full", not "complete".
Thanks for the correction….
Did someone not tell them this is a true story? I think they have "The Blind Side" confused with "Avatar".
I don't care what these "film critics" "think". Bullock and her films have always been underestimated. Since the mid-90s she's been my favorite actor (incl. male actors btw), and she's much more than just an actor: producer, director, benefactor, wonderful person, great American, great German. I've been laughed and sneered at by my highbrow filmmaker colleagues, but now, after 16 years of defending her, it's wonderful to see her get the success and recognition she deserves. And what do they do now? They criticize her film based on some construed race issue? It's pathetic.
Chris Matthews is a prop to make liberals feel better. And not a very convincing prop, at that.
Sandra Bullock's German?
My guess would be that the non negative Christian angle is what bothers them most. It is against the liberal paradigm
To answer your question simply, YES!!
She had to return her German passport because German women were only allowed to have multiple citizenship until the age of 18, unlike men. But since then laws have changed, and she said in an interview that she and her sister are looking for legal ways to retrieve their former citizenships.
He'd be more useful as a toilet brush….
But he's an *effective* prop.
That is a leftist trope that I find extremely tiresome: the constant assertion that Barack Obama changed race relations in America. It isn't just on MSNBC, I was reading a Time review of David Mamet's new play 'Race' and the reviewer managed to mention 'Obama' and 'the Obama era' twice in the one-page review (I guess that beats discussing the actual play) to frame Mamet's view of race relations as antiquated.
But here's the thing: Obama didn't change race relations. A racist country does not spontaneously elect a black man who heals all racial wounds. Obama was elected because we are NOT a racist country, and he (and his cohorts) have done nothing but damage race relations ever since that moment.
When has truth ever upset a liberal narrative?
What a time to be a filmmaker! You can be left…left…or left.
If you're really edgy, you can even be left!
For a minute I forgot the talking heads on the show were white …
great point about obsessing on race … audiences cheered a poor kid being given a chance and proving he was worth saving. They saw race … and skin color.
Oh, no, Hank! You said the "R" word! Watch out for the Word Police!
So I guess that I (a white woman) should stop driving my neighbor (a black woman on assistance) to the store, the doctor, the pharmacy because it demeans her and elevates me?? In spite of the fact that she said I was a God-send yesterday because she has no transportation otherwise and suffers from asthma and high blood pressure!!
Do these guys even KNOW who their neighbors ARE?!?!?
morons
That's pretty cool, I wonder if she's from anywhere near my hometown of Wiesbaden….
Personally, I can't believe that Hollywood had the audacity to make up the story that was behind "The Blind Side" simply to assuage white guilt . . . oh, wait, you say that was a TRUE story? Never mind.
The movie gives Chris Matthews a tingle up his leg because he almost forgets that there is a black person in it.
The left does not understand the concept of charity. That is why any action that you and I would consider to be charitable they see as a job for the government. God forbid they should get their own hands dirty.
I saw Precious. By the end of the movie I didn't see how she had been helped by anybody black or white.
Chris Matthews is a prop to make HIMSELF feel better.
tms, you are one of the good ones. As I stated in an earlier post, liberals wouldn't do what you are doing. They would complain that the government isn't helping your neighbor. Then they would elect the first jackass who claimed he/she would "fix" the problem with legislation and redistributed taxes.
You, however, are an example of a true American. Your actions speak louder than their words.
That's what drove me nuts about that segment on Hardball: Farhi was complaining about the story being stereotypical Hollywood dreck, and no one thought to point out that it was a true story! I wanted to see how Farhi would respond to that.
You hit the nail on the head with that one. I was thinking it, but I am not as good with words as you.
Or it could just be they can't stand the site of human goodness knowing there's not a chance in hell they'd ever try it.
Kind of like they feel as if their faces are rubbed in it.
Nah, she's made in America.
But her mother was German and she lived in Nuremberg for like 15 years. But that's closer to Wiesbaden than to my hometown Cologne. 
Respectfully, John, I think you are oversimplifying somewhat why the Blind Side has rubbed some people the wrong way. Irrespective of the truthfulness of the movie itself, the storytelling device of "heroic white person/people saves barely sentient man-child black ghetto dweller" has been used so often it's become as big a cliche as the infamous "magic negro". I get it. Movies that touch on racial topics are a lot more palatable to the mass market when the white person is more front and center than the black person (or in the case of the Blind Side, Mr. Oher is shunted aside as a virtual cameo in his own life story). While this model of storytelling is obviously very successful at the box office, that doesn't make it any less patronizing.
If Mr. Oher had actually been the main character and main focus of the movie, I wonder if it would have really gone over so well in these circles.
Reminds me of Steve Martin's joke at the Oscars years ago, talking about the "diversity" of movie stars: "They can be tall, short, thin, or skinny. They can be Democrats (long pause)…or skinny!"
Well, considering that the black person in the Blind Side was basically shunted aside in order for the film to devote its energy to the sound of Sandra Bullock's angelic Southerner loudly flapping her wings, I suspect that many in the Blind Side's audience ALSO forgot there was a black person in the film as well.
Tell me. What was the name of the actor who played Mr. Oher. Extra points if you didn't have to look it up on Wiki/
When I saw the interview segment I almost forgot for a moment that they were idiots. Then I heard them talk.
Well, to be fair, how many issues do they have that they can actually debate? That out control spending is good? H1H1 hoax? Skyrocketing unemployment?
Nope, none of that would make the messiah look bad.
"I know, racists white people!"
Given the fact that MSNBC doesn't seem to have a black person at the entire network, this seems like a crystal clear case of "physician, heal thyself."
Do these guys even KNOW who their neighbors ARE?!?!?
Only if they're card carrying members of the ACLU.
Gordon beat me to it. They only like to "help" others if the government is paying for it.
Do these guys even KNOW who their neighbors ARE?!?!?
No, but they do know somebody who knows somebody who is black. Which in liberal circles, establishes their creds.
I think the Tuohy family was damned if they do and damned it they don't. If they had passed him by on the street, they would have been stereotypical Southern racists. By picking him up, they were patronizing white suburbanites seeking to assuage their racial guilt. No matter what they did, it would have been the wrong thing.
I visit a number of left-wing movie blogs, and they have their panties in a twist about The Blind Side being nominated for any awards. While some are critical of the movie's acting, writing, and directing (fair game for criticism), others can't bear the movie's "message" of "white people helping black people". Some are also upset that Bullock, normally seen as a light comedic actress, is finally gathering critical acclaim over one of their beloved "edgy" thespians. Again, criticism to a certain degree is fine, but these "artistes" have to politicize everything.
Under no circumstances can anyone on the left say anything nice about anyone not on the left, unless every one knows its false praise, like when they call each other "honorable" in the Congress.
Everything else has to be confrontational, elitist, or insulting.
What you see with people like Matthews is trying to pretty that hatred up for public viewing.
Heh…I'm going to try to use that term at least twice today. Let's see, I have a meeting with the CEO this afternoon…
Madam, you exemplify what is good and noble in our nation today. Keep it up.
No one is criticizing the real life Tuohy family. What they are criticizing is movie's focus and storytelling emphasis. Mr. Oher is reduced to a barely supporting role in his own life story. It makes it harder to tell a story about someone overcoming great odds when the movie chooses to focus on everything but the person doing the actual overcoming. The Tuohys were VERY important people to Mr. Oher's success, but he himself had to do a lot of the actual work.
The same ACLU that helped Rush beat felony drug charges by pointing out the illegality of combing through his medical records searching for doctor shopping.
However, to be fair, under no circumstances can anyone on the right say anything nice about anyone not on the right, unless everyone knows its false praise. Well, at least this is primarily true on this and other Breitbart websites.
To be honest, Matthews and Olbermann etc. just seem downright stupid. Olbermann tries to dress up his spittle-infused hatred and venom with big words and nary a pause between sentences. he comes off like an escaped lunatic that can't wait to drown puppies or something.
Matthews just comes off like the Forrest Gump of TV. He probably has no idea where he is or what he's saying half the time. Seriously, I think he must be the product of some kind of affirmative action hiring of the mentally impaired or something.
1. White people holding the solutions to minority peoples’ problems is offensive.
Racism. It's what's for dinner.
Those clowns at MSNBC need to get a life!
hardball idiots are afraid of what the obozo election has shown America with the fiasco of the affirmative action prez
the movies are not quota set scenarios and we all know that only affirmative action/quotas can force good on the white man
but obozo is screwing that scenario, so the white guilt of down and out blacks must not be discussed or allowed in public till the obozo situation can be rectified
to bad that matthews cant turn color and join the quota crowd of professional victimhood
and thank God we have the liberal judges to force whitey to flog ourselves for our discrimination and racism
I couldn't tell you, I've never watched either of them except by accident.
Hard core types like these guys will never change, I already know what their opinions are, so why waste the time?
I think it would have been a more compelling movie if the young man was white and the family that helped him was hispanic…just kidding! Surprised it wasn't rewritten that way like those Clancy novels where they traded the Islamists for European Neo-Nazis.
Good for you!! Aim high!!
Man, what do they always say, never go full retard.
"Do these guys even KNOW who their neighbors ARE?!?!?"
You can bet these guys don't have black neighbors.
I don't think Matthews has any other setting than "Full Retard"
I know, it's impossible to get the smell out of your clothes after being in the same room….
Whats funny is, that movie is all about race. I always knew us white folks were evil, it just took Hollywood (the whitest group of elitist scumbags) to tell me so. Well, now I can get on with my life, secure in the knowledge I can do no good for anyone of color.
Seriously folks, that is some acrobatic thinking.
"Racism. It's what's for dinner"
It's the other white meat.
Hear! Hear!
Isn't it typical that a movie that conservatives actually like immediately gets ripped by liberal commentators. Ironic since it is so rare such a movie gets made.
The truth is, all media, left & right got their panties in too much of a twist over "Blind Side." You don't get to over $200 million in domestic box office without attracting a good chunk of black moviegoers, so a few columnists aside, it's pretty fair to say that blacks have been enjoying this movie right along with their white brothers and sisters without reading any nefarious subtexts into it. It's a good story, and the bulk of sane moviegoers, whatever their race, had no problem with what is undeniably a great true story. Aren't we all sick of media umbrage? One side reviles Avatar, the other The Blind Side, and the film makers of both laugh all the way to the bank and the awards podium.
A lot of black families are churchgoers, who share more values with GWB than BHO.
Reverse the colors, it will still offend liberal Democrats.
Dr. Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals (he nails them)
http://usataxpayer.org/?0028068146
Obama Mocks Christian Faith
http://usataxpayer.org/?0033881580
Reverse the colors, it will still offend liberal Democrats.
Dr. Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals (he nails them)
http://usataxpayer.org/?0028068146
Obama Mocks Christian Faith
http://usataxpayer.org/?0033881580
These are all very sound arguments of support that "The Blind Side" doesn't deserve.
I'm as tired as anyone of the "magic negro" criticism being trotted out every time a black character's triumph is over something other than "evil white people" – but "Blind Side" is the most perfect example of the actual problem ever filmed. If Spike Lee had directed the exact same film, people would be calling it the most biting SATIRE of the way mainstream Hollywood looks at race-relations ever.
It's not that the Touhey's are Christians, upper-class or even white – it's that the Oher character is portrayed as a lumbering, oversized puppy utterly incapable of self-care or self-betterment until these people come along and teach him how to tackle people. Halfway through the film, Bullock's character compares him to a cartoon bull from a children's book. I'm sure these were nice people in real life, but in the MOVIE it's a rich white family treating a young black kid like a prized pack animal. There's a line, and this is over it.
I don't know, maatkare . . . there are a few critics (such as one person who works for the Knoxville paper) who are perfect barometers for me. If she pans a movie, there will be high liklihood that I would enjoy. Kidding aside, I know what you mean, but on the other hand, at least in the case of Avatar, I wonder what percentage of those who saw it ended up saying "special effects were awesome, but I ended up bored to death."?
I don't see many first tun movies in theaters these days. Too far to go, nice home theater, yada, yada. I did see two. I enjoyed "That Evening Sun" with Hal Holbrook and liked it. Then I saw "Sherlock Holmes" and found it appallingly bad. Just one guys's opionion on both counts, of course.
and it tastes like chicken.
Is she German enough to love the Hoff?
I might be able to see their points — that whites are positioned as "angelic, that blacks serve as mere props for caucasian edification, and that this story fosters stereotypes simply to make conservatives appear better — except for one minute detail to this fable:
Mr. Matthews, panelists – sit back and listen . . . IT IS A TRUE STORY! This was not some Hollywood hucksterism, it was based on a REAL LIFE event, you PC dolts! They act as if this is some kind of dreamland yarn that would never occur in America today. The truth is it is a story that never occurs inside their own cloistered minds. Whites helping Blacks?!?! THAT would never happen!
Wow, a christina helping someone in need is a controversery??? O' wait thats right it is MSNBC
You are missing the point. Mr. Oher is made to be a bystander in his own life story. Ultimately, Mr. Oher stil had to do the actual work of rising above some bad circumstances. He is the one who had to achieve. While he was no doubt helped a great deal by the Tuheys, the movie focused almost exclusively on them.
I watch MSNBC and Chris Mathews occasionally to get a good laugh. Sometimes it's interesting and humorous to see rocks talk to even dumber rocks and reach no valid conclusions that are worth remembering. It's sorta like watching Congress on C-SPAN these days.
Unfortunately, movie marketing and the reality of the box office tells us that movies about race relations do better with the audience when the focus on the movie is skewed towards the white character (even if the characters are shown to be perfectly noble).
This is just like Dangerous Minds, where the focus was exclusively on the heroic Michelle Pfeiffer, while very little attention was given to the black youth she was helping.
But I guess if a character is a Christian, that excuses the patronizing tone of the movie.
I will say I was a little skeptical about the true story aspect of The Blind Side when it first came out. It seems like there are a lot of people who have premeditated a "true story" so they could write a book and do a movie and make millions (Eat, Pray, Love; Julie and Julia anyone?). It kind of jaded me to embracing this story at first.
However, earlier this football season I read an article by Peter King at SI where he mentions Joe Flacco (QB for Oher's team) met Leigh Anne Touhy on an elevator. She said, "'Hi, I'm Michael Oher's mom. You need to get rid of the ball faster.'"
Pure genuine football mom (who obviously loves her son no matter what color he is).
I just had a terrible thought. While I don't believe that Obama is an alien, but an American citizen, has anyone else noticed how much he would look like a native on Avatar if he painted himself blue? Coincidence? NO! THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO BELIEVE!
The only thing missing was Keith Odorbuns, everything he hates in this world is in this movie.
And yet, I find myself (just once, mind you) in agreement with Rham…liberal activists *are* f-ing retarded!
However, he should have been more politically correct and called them Avatarded.
I don't think many people bother to hire tutors for their prized pack animals, or encourage their prized pack animals to go to college. I can understand your objection to comparing Michael Oher to Ferdinand the Bull, but it seems a stretch to assume that that is all the Touheys saw in him.
Well, to be fair, they did a similar debate after the horrible racism against white police officers that was the movie "Crash." Oh, wait. They never did that debate. I guess it wasn't a racist movie, after all!
That Oher had an IQ on the low side, was uneducated and had never been taught much of anything good is part of the true story. That he was able to become a decent, college educated man is also part of the true story. That he needed help from somewhere to get from one place to the other does not mean that the Touhey's thought badly of him, in fact I would argue just the opposite, that they thought he was capable of working hard and becoming what he did was part of the story as well. The fact that he learned something from reading a book with a message does not mean they treated him like a pack animal.
What about all the movies where white people are saved from their own racism and blindness by a kind and patient black person? Are those movies racist as well? Does this mean Avatar is a racist movie because the causcasian character is taught to understand the "blue" culture by a blue person and starts acting blue and is therefore a better man?
Effective at being a total doucherocket….
Do you think they CARE who their neighbors are? As long as their neighbors don't subject them to anything right of center? And their security guards are there to keep THAT from ever happening…
No; but they certainly are morons.
Tuna?
Yeah, and the Castro hermanos are gonna go for representative democracy tomorrow.
That horrible white Christian family usurped the rightful role of government by taking that poor black child off the streets and into their family. Clearly he should have been left to the gentle mercies of the government welfare system where he would have been spared the terrible drive to excel at what he does. Instead he's grown up to be a symbol of the dreadful white patriarchal conservative mindset. He really ought to be living in a homeless shelter, getting by on what scraps the government deigns to give him instead of being this famous football player. It would be only fair. Ask any liberal.
First. I confess that I have not seen the movie.
As hard as I tried, I couldn't help but notice how 'white' Chris Matthews is. He's like overexposed.
And Paul Farhi saying that it's a movie about white people helping a black and it makes white people 'feel' better about themselves. Isn't that the plot line for the Obama presidential election? The feel good movie of the year…..that's about as long as it lasted, until they realized who they elected.
Uh oh. You've been hanging around Rham Emanuel again.
Audiences cheered Sandra Bullock and her character. To be honest, if you asked 100 people who saw the Blind Side what the name of the actor who played Mr. Oher was, how many would actually know?
Maybe the sight of people helping other people with their own money was too unrealistic based on their experiences.
Spot on. And the exact same can be said of the other libs complaint; White people holding the solutions to minority peoples’ problems. White liberals have been inventing "solutions" to black social problems for 50 years. Welfare, school bussing, afirmative action, quotas, test manipulation. Forget for a moment what a train wreck all these policies have been for American blacks, I'm betting this condescending lib supported every one of them.
With respect, "based on a true story" doesn't mean that what we're seeing is a wholly accurate view of real events. Speaking only for myself, I don't doubt that the ACTUAL Touhey's were terrific people who's above-and-beyond goodness was genuine and fully-realized, and that Oher was a well-rounded human being who genuinely needed the help and direction they gave him.
It's the trite, simplified, one-dimensional paper-dolls that they have been turned into in the film I have a problem with. The Oher character, in the film, IS essentially a "big lost puppy," and the Touhey characters treat him like their grooming Seabiscuit. Digital background players in "Avatar" have more dimensionality to them than anyone in this movie.
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