“On the Side of Sanity” at a Hollywood Party
by Rebecca CuseyIt was a typical Hollywood working party. Fox brought their TV talent out to a club in L.A., all black leather and rocker skulls, to mingle with reporters. Loud music playing. Open bar flowing. Familiar faces surrounded by unrecognized and unidentified minions. Keifer Sutherland, star of “24,” stood in a hip courtyard, reporters shoving recorders in his face. American Idol’s new judge, Kara DioGuardi, held court on a square modern couch, explaining she hasn’t yet had time to watch the show. David Boreanaz of “Bones” cozied up to the bar, while co-star Emily Deschanel laughed with friends on a couch downstairs.
Then….in a side room…Jon Voight fielded questions about “24.” He plays this season’s resident bad power player. The show has received more than its fair share of criticism because critics interpret it as an endorsement of Bush’s counter-terrorism tactics, which they consider torture. His response to the questions? (He very logically, but incorrectly, assumed this reporter was a lefty.)
“You gals are on that side of things. From my side, I’m glad to say I’m glad we haven’t had another 9/11 and that took a lot of work. And we don’t know all the work it took or all the things they stopped because nobody wants to scare us. But we’re dealing with a serious enemy.
“We take for granted a lot of things here. We’re very complacent. Thank God we have people looking out for us. It’s a very dangerous world out there and it’s quite easy to do damage. I hope they’re doing their job. I hope they’re doing things I don’t see. I hope they do everything possible. I hope we give them every tool to keep us safe.”
When asked if he was a conservative, Voight said, “I don’t like any labels at all. I’d like to be on the side of sanity and truth.”
I flashed my conservative credentials….writing for Big Hollywood and Voight gave a shout-out to Big Hollywood readers. “Do I have a message for the readers of Big Hollywood? Yeah. We’ve been given this great legacy from these great forefathers of ours and we must hold to it and not let it be lost. And as Jefferson said, we have to be eternally vigilant.”
Oh, and, yes. He’s seen Angie (his daughter, Angelina Jolie) recently and she and the kids are fine.
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34 Comments
I love Jon Voight. When you read his words and then read what Tom Hanks said about Mormon supporters of Prop 8, the difference in the level of class and integrity is amazing.
I think the people who belong to the loony Hollywood left, like Tom Hanks, will be very embarrassed at their conduct to promote their ideaology when the honest history is written about them. The puffery Tom Hanks & Companyng use to portray themselves as beacons of truth and tolerance is an utter shame and will be laughable when looked upon in retrospect.
I was at that party — and Voight was not the only conservative or center-right person there. Had some very entertaining conversations. Also know many other folks scattered throughout the industry. May we strive for a normalization of relations in Hollywood, where conservatives and libertarians can express their views with the same gusto as their center-left colleagues without fear of retribution or damage to their career. Wow, what a thought. Imagine such a place! Oh, wait, there is such a place. It’s called All the Part of America that Aren’t L.A.
Oh, and BTW, Voight — such a gentleman. Have met him before at parties and on set, and unfailingly kind and gracious. And awesome in 24!
Anytime that I read comments from Jon Voight, his decency, intelligence and humanity shines through.
He was great as Larry Zoolander.
Caught Voight on Shatner’s Raw Nerve this week. Damn fine stuff and highly recommended if the Biography Channel re-runs it.
I’ve been reading that Angie is very interested in playing Dagny Taggart in a movie of “Atlas Shrugged”.
Maybe some of the old man rubbed off on her, after all.
Interesting commentary by Mr. Voigt. I have some questions, though.
In the first place, I thought the primary function of government was to preserve our liberty. There are all kinds of things government can do, from abolishing the Bill of Rights to mandating we wear safety helmets in our showers, that would keep us protected. But not free. So does being conservative mean valuing protection at the expense of liberty?
In the second place, if all the things Homeland Security does to keep us safe is secret, how do we KNOW they’re doing anything at all? Isn’t an implicit trust in government employees to do the right thing with unchecked power a hallmark of socialist thinking?
John does seem like a thoughtful, decent individual. Not just because I agree with many of his opinions, but because you don’t hear him out there flame-throwing like so many on the Left. I think the resentment of the Hollywood Left would be far less if we didn’t have to hear about Matt Damon or Linsday Lohan’s outrage about Palin, or what a monster Bush is by Tim Robbins and his frightening wife.
From what I’ve heard, Angelina is fairly Left in her views, yet she’s made some very responsible statements on Iraq and our need to stay and finish the job (to care for the people, from her perspective). She might hate every Conservative alive for all I know, but you don’t see her out there yapping about it. She’s a fine actress and a beautiful woman, and doesn’t feel the need to overcompensate for her gifts by explaining the world to everyone else.
Scott when you say:
“Isn’t an implicit trust in government employees to do the right thing with unchecked power a hallmark of socialist thinking?”
They don’t have unchecked power because we have a free press. What conservatives believe is that a free press is the check against unchecked government power. And let’s face it, any honest person would say the Bush Administration recieved unprecedented amounts of free press “checks”. At times, an unhinged, irrational amount of free press inquiry and debate about their powers.
That’s why so many in conservative journalism are angry at how the MSM treated Obama on the campaign trail.
I mean if the cheering and drooling that Obama received when he was at the Washington Post the other day is any indication of how they plan to “report” on his administration, then yes a type of socialism is what we will be getting with Obama in the next four years.
Thank you, Scott. You are largely correct, but government is the natural enemy of liberty. It is not government’s job to protect liberty. It is OUR job to LIMIT government to prevent it from destroying liberty – what it will ALWAYS seek to do. That is what the Constitution was about. The whole thing is a LIMIT on government.
If Voigt gave a d*mn about protection, why isn’t he calling for the border fence? Our open borders are the only major threat to our safety.
9/11 was likely carried out by our own government which has faked a lot of events to make war (Gulf of Tonkin comes to mind.)
Andrew – if 9/11 had been carried out by foreigners instead of our own government, what exactly has stopped them from doing it again IF that was their intent? I can’t think of a single thing. The country is flooded with foreigners thanks to Bush. Besides, Sun Tsu said not to attack an opponent in the process of self-destruction.
You sound like you should move to China since you want a militaristic nanny state.
Terry
Be sure and sober up before you leave any more comments.
9/11 was likely carried out by our own government
Since I haven’t read that in the New York Times-Democrat, a publication that makes sure we all know The Truth™ about everything our government does, it can’t be true.
“Voight said, “I don’t like any labels at all. I’d like to be on the side of sanity and truth.”
I think I am going to use that line from now on. A new neighbor had me over a couple weeks ago and asked “what kind of Christian are you?” to which I replied “I hate labels. They don’t do anything but narrow your opinion of me. I believe in the Bible and that is it.” Voight said it best with the “be on the side of sanity and truth”. I know some don’t believe the Bible is sane or the Truth but that’s ok. I don’t care what they believe as long as they let me believe what I want too.
LOVE Voight! I watched The 5 People You Meet in Heaven this past weekend. What a lovely movie and what a lovely man.
John Voight is a fantastic actor and so happy he is unafraid to speak. Now if only more brave souls would step out. And with Big Hollywood, they will.
What a great site! Thank you
“Angelina is fairly Left in her views, yet she’s made some very responsible statements on Iraq and our need to stay and finish the job (to care for the people, from her perspective).”
She also puts a great deal of her time and large chunks of her money where her mouth is, working for and giving to charities. Musings about her political ideology aside, this deserves massive respect- how many of the prattling emptyheaded mannequins rattling around Hollywood actually DO something about the causes they espouse?
And by doing something, the ever popular “raising awareness” nonsense does not count. What- Don Cheadle, Gary Sinise? Who else?
Terry you ignorant tool.
If 9/11 was “an inside job”, a huge conspiracy requiring thousands of complicit perpetrators that have somehow managed not to say one word about this in 7+ years- why would they leave gadflies like you alive to talk about it?
The mere act of you spitting up this adolescent twaddle from somewhere in your parent’s basement, and not being liquidated with extreme prejudice, invalidates your entire sweaty fever dream premise.
Now go do something useful, like hunt a unicorn or locate Atlantis.
Terry: 9/11 was carried out by our own gov’t? Amazing, we can’t faciliate peace in the middle east, but we CAN organize a conspiracy that allies a dozen Muslim governments, millions of Arabs, and probably thousands of Muslim leaders AND make them take the fall for it? Seriously, I think you need to think about WHO wanted war. Are you suggesting that Osama Bin Laden doesn’t exist? How about the Taliban? Real or imagined? Conspiracy theorists like you exist because you can’t acknowledge that there is real evil in the world. Bush was in office for eight months before 9/11 – are you suggesting this was engineered by Clinton? The same people who blame this on our own government are the same who wax on and on how inept Bush was. Get the contradiction?
“The primary purpose of government, any government, is not to preserve anyone’s liberty. Its primary purpose is to preserve its own existence.”
And that, folks, explains everything.
I love this guy! Everytime he speaks he really has something intelligent to say. That is so out of style in Hollywood.
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