So he's a conservative Republican. This is a country where you can find a plethora of ideas and cultures, and this does not exclude celebrities. I may not agree with his current political views, but at least we can understand where it stems from. He used to be a "liberal hippy" back in the day, definatly opposed to the Vietnam war.
Wikipedia states the following:
In a July 28, 2008 op-ed in The Washington Times, he wrote that he regrets his youthful anti-war activism, calling it the result of "Marxist propaganda." He pointed in particular to the massive human rights abuses in Vietnam and in Cambodia after the American withdrawal. Voight has said about his political transformation that:

We were traumatized in the Sixties and all of that behavior—the dancing in circles, the smoking pot and saying "all we need is love"—it was because we couldn't identify evil; we couldn't believe in evil—we didn't want to believe in evil so we just hid from it. It was a very disturbing time... overwhelmingly, it was a very bizarre, selfish and hedonistic philosophy that wasn't very helpful. It attacked the family—the attack on the family was very severe because not only was there this idea of [indiscriminate love] and that would solve the world's problems, which gave rise to teen pregnancy, but also this idea not to trust anyone over 30. This was from people who were over 30 and bombed out of their minds with every kind of drug they could put into their system. Then there was the romanticization of the drugs—there were people coming out with [pseudo] scientific evidence that [drugs] increase your enlightenment—it was devastating. Today, I find that people look back at that time in a romantic way and that's as dangerous as anything is. It wasn't a romantic time. It was a time of great distortion."

CHRles, and what is today? Everything that happened in the 1960's is happening now, and more of it. Frankly, young men were tired of being sent to their deaths at the command of the old men, and for what? So Vietnam could be ruled by a corrupt puppet state? It wasn't all about flower power dude, it was a very serious movement of people who were tired of watching their country kill multitudes of people everyday on the news.. and then watching body bags arriving back home. The problem with the American right, is their dangerous dependence on militarism disguised as patriotism, in pursuit of more power.

quote:

Originally posted by HardTranceProd There hasn't been this much hate in the country in a long time. And it's remarkable that one of its biggest inciters, besides Bill O'Reilly and the usual suspects, seems to be this man, who, amazingly, started out as a liberal back in the 60s, at the dawn of his acting career--and then inexplicably changed into a fanatical right-winger. The NYT article by Frank Rich is very much worth reading. He points out there's a lot of danger in the "silent enabling" of hate by right-wing people who would be considered relatively mainstream, as opposed to their more extremist and openly xenophobic peers; the former legitimize and excuse the actions of the latter. And how ironic that, among such silent enablers, is this man!

I can't believe I just read that. Silent enabling? That's rich. If you want to look for deep seeded hatred in this country, look no further than the Democrat party, the left wing especially, and the left wing media. How convenient you chose to ignore some of the most glaring examples.

Paul Krugman (and Mary Alice Carter of the Wash. Post) the other day blaming O'Reilly and conservatives for the death of abortion doctor George Tiller and for the Holocaust museum shooting... claiming they incited the violence. Krugman failed to mention the museum shooter had a violent past dating to 1981, hated conservatives, neocons, the Bush family, Fox News, John McCain, was a 9/11 truther, and was planning to kill the "Jewish" editors of the conservative publication "The Weekly Standard". That actually sounds more like the profile of someone on the Left than the Right. Using Krugman's own logic, you'd have to assume his extremely harsh criticisms of the Bush policies for the last 5+ years are revving up the next terrorist attack, and incited the death of the Army recruiter by the Muslim conver upset over U.S. policies, right? Last month four ex-cons were arrested when they were alleged to be plotting to blow up synagogues in the name of Islam. Where is the investigation into the hatred that guided them in that direction? How about earlier this month in New York City at the Israel Day Parade? Anti-semites holding banners saying "Close Guantanamo Bay and Re-open Auschwitz." This all occurred with no denouncement from the media or anyone. That's not inciting hatred? In May a student at Wesleyan University was shot and killed by a man apparently bent on killing Jews... funny how acts of domestic militant Islamist hatred and terrorism happen, and there's no concern for any of the rhetoric that might be circling around in groups that would have inspired those guys. The media's purposeful ignoring of such events reinforces the hateful behavior that leads to them. But NO NO NO... lets focus on all that "right-wing inspired" hatred.

In summation: Krugmanis saying anti-abortion rhetoric lead to the inciting of a nutjob which lead to the murder of a doctor. But anti-war rhetoric leading to the inciting of a nutjob which lead to the murder of an Army soldier is different? Rhetoric did not pull the trigger, some fucked up psychopath did. Think Krugman will be held accountable for the same responsibilities he is trying to impose on others? Hell no.

And, this is all from the main stream media BEFORE the information was uncovered about the museum shooter's past:

quote:

LAUER: Clearly Obama's election has fueled the right-wing extremist movement. MATTHEWS: This is a political action by a far right extremist COOPER: The rise of hate groups in the United States of right-wing extremists. OLBERMANN: Right-wing religious based domestic terrorism. BROWN: Right-wing extremism. WALSH: There is a rising climate of right-wing hate, a lot of it directed at Obama.

That's not a knee-jerk media inciting hatred? (I'm still waiting for them to apologize) How about the hate spewed in Obama's church for 20 years (that he claims he never witnissed)? Just the other day Jeremiah Wright claimed "Them Jews" won't let him talk to Obama. How about the feigned outrage at the AIG bonuses that the administration knew about (and aided in their construction of... Chris Dodd) months before hand? They knowingly incided class warfare and hatred of those execs who had people giving them death threats and showing up on their lawns.

Have you forgotten the absolute vile hatred spewed at Bush the last 8 years? Books were written about assassinating him! Have you ignored the non-stop dismantling and destruction of Sara Palin and her family? Last week she's at a baseball game with her 14 year old daughter for a charity event and Letterman goes below the belt about her getting knocked up by A-rod. "Come on The17sss... it's just a joke". Yeah... and I wonder what the reaction would be if Obama's daughter was on the receiving end of that joke rather than Palin's. When Obama said "families are off limits", they listened to him about his own... but those crazy unhinged Republicans deserve as much hate as they can get, right? I nominate this thread as the most pathetic ever created in the PDD.

quote:

Originally posted by Krypton CHRles, and what is today? Everything that happened in the 1960's is happening now, and more of it. Frankly, young men were tired of being sent to their deaths at the command of the old men, and for what?

and who's pursuing more power over the electorate, economy, and private sector now than ever in history?

BTW- Young men have the choice not to enlist. The military wasn't voluntary in the 60's.

quote:

Originally posted by The17sss and who's pursuing more power over the electorate, economy, and private sector now than ever in history? BTW- Young men have the choice not to enlist. The military wasn't voluntary in the 60's.

More power over the electorate? You mean like, people actually voting for the guy? The economy...you damn well know the government concentrated on "too big to fail" companies. And you can just as easily do business as you did 2 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by Krypton More power over the electorate? You mean like, people actually voting for the guy? The economy...you damn well know the government concentrated on "too big to fail" companies. And you can just as easily do business as you did 2 years ago.

More power over people who vote... yes. Power is being centralized in Washington more than ever.

Yeah I can still do business as I did 2 years ago, but the outlook is bleak. I actually have to focus on my overseas stuff now, as domestically it may dry up soon... corporate taxes are not low and people don't want to spend their money on services unless it's a dire emergency.

I don't which post in this thread is most migraine-inducing. Sheesh.

___________________

quote:

Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov I don't which post in this thread is most migraine-inducing. Sheesh.

quote:

Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov I don't which post in this thread is most migraine-inducing. Sheesh.

i particularly love hearing about media, one of the biggest of big businesses, described as "left wing media". because i too think the media hates itself so much that it wants to deconstruct the state and usher in socialism, which would obviously be truly awesome for all the privately-run and profitable media empires.

___________________

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN i particularly love hearing about media, one of the biggest of big businesses, described as "left wing media". because i too think the media hates itself so much that it wants to deconstruct the state and usher in socialism, which would obviously be truly awesome for all the privately-run and profitable media empires.

You gotta live here and see it all first hand, day after day, to understand how fucked up our main stream media is. For a good look, go here---> http://www.newsbusters.org/

quote:

Originally posted by The17sss You gotta live here and see it all first hand, day after day, to understand how fucked up our main stream media is. For a good look, go here---> http://www.newsbusters.org/

no, i just have to be so far right that everything looks left to me.

___________________