Hollywood, particularly at awards ceremonies, prides itself as being courageous, ahead of the pack and willing to discuss and say the unpopular long before the rest of the world has caught up.

This is of course nonsense but it has proven a persistent and popular narrative. Hollywood does not like to admit it but the film industry is often woefully late coming to social and political change.

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It was only after gays became one of the world’s most protected and revered minorities that Hollywood felt it was ok to give them a movie all to themselves. And so Brokeback Mountain came to pass. And everyone in the industry congratulated themselves on how courageous they were tackling a subject that almost every family in America has had to deal with for decades when their sibling, child, uncle, aunt, mother or father came out of the closet.

The truth is that Hollywood generally makes movies that repeat received wisdom that has since been disproven by the facts.

Take communism. Please. (more…)

This week’s Washington Times column:

Sometimes I just don’t get the Republican Party.

Back in 2004, a smart, good-looking moderate Republican Hispanic ran for Congress. At the time Victor Elizalde was just under 40 years old and working as an executive at a big-time Hollywood studio. As an ethnic minority, a family man and a rare open conservative in an industry dominated by liberals, Mr. Elizalde represented hope and change for the Republican Party.

Yet because he was running for Henry A. Waxman´s safe seat, Mr. Elizalde got no support from the Republican Party . In fact, no one in the party´s leadership took notice of him. As a result Mr. Waxman trounced Mr. Elizalde with 71 percent of the vote. (more…)