Hollywood’s Shady Con on the Immigration Debate
Woody Harrelson got some cheap applause during his “Saturday Night Live” monologue over the weekend.
No, it wasn’t for stripping off his tux to reveal satin pajamas. He gave a shout out to immigrants in the blandest way possible.
“I think Immigrants make this country great!” he said, to sustained clapter from the liberal crowd.
As hacky applause lines go, it’s up there with, “Man, it’s great to be back in [insert city name]!”
It’s just an “SNL” monologue though, right? Who cares? Except it’s a fundamental part of the Hollywood messaging when it comes to the immigration debate.
The Left, and the vast majority of outspoken stars, demand open borders. They won’t admit that, but every utterance on the subject says it loud and clear. More importantly, Hollywood stars and stories blur the debate in a deeply dishonest fashion.
How?
They repeatedly ignore the distinction between legal and illegal immigration. Many either can’t or refuse to defend their arguments without acknowledging the difference. It’s not the elephant in the room. It’s the T-Rex.
RELATED: Hollywood Doubles Down on Open Borders Propaganda
The modern Leftist employs a number of ways to avoid rational debate. They may call their ideological foes racist, sexist, homophobic or worse rather than engage ideas head on.
Or, some will simply shut down free speech entirely, either with violence or excessive noise, rather than let differing views be heard. We see this on college campuses across the nation. They even made a movie about it (opening Oct. 25).
YouTube superstar Dave Rubin captured why the Left’s brutish tactic matters.
“If you figure out a trick that will silence your opponent, and it consistently works, you’re gonna keep going back to it,” Rubin said in a recent edition of “The Rubin Report.”
Another Leftist tactic? Playing fast and loose with critical language.
When someone like Harrelson praises “immigrants” he’s ignoring what many conservatives say on the subject. They, too, consider legal immigrants a vital part of the nation. They also believe a country has a right to protect its borders, to keep potential criminals out and ensure our social welfare programs aren’t overwhelmed.
That’s a fair argument. When Hollywood purposely denies the difference between “legal” and “illegal” immigrants it denies the argument even exists.
Oh, and you’re a bigot for disagreeing with us.
A number of new shows promise to blur the “illegal” lines just like Harrelson did. The far-left Daily Beast trumpets their arrival: The Big Wave of Pro-Immigrant TV Sitcoms Taking On Trump
Three new sitcoms on CBS, NBC and TBS … stand as a pop-culture rebuke to White House messaging that generally demonizes immigrants, especially from Third World countries, as rapists, murderers, gang members, drug dealers, or simply leeches on citizen-taxpayers.
Only that’s not the message in play from Team Trump. He’s targeting illegal immigration, which allows everyone into the country without vetting. That could mean hard-working souls ready to embrace the American dream to gang members who steal, rape and murder.
Which they do again and again and again thanks to our porous border and feckless enforcement policies. Guess we won’t see any Hollywood stories about the victims, though.
Kal Penn’s “Sunnyside,” which debuted earlier this month, focuses on a lovable group of immigrants trying to legally enter the country.
One of the show’s stars describes the not-so-hidden purpose behind the sitcom.
“Immigration has always been at the heart of America. Now it just happens to be such a focus because the word ‘immigrant’ has been vilified somehow,” said actor/comedian Samba Schutte of Sunnyside.
“What I hope this show will do, as well as the other shows, is put a human face to immigrants,” Schutte said. “We hope that people will let us into their homes every week and show that they are just people like you and me. My African grandfather said that there’s no difference between us—we all have nine holes in our bodies at the end of the day.”
How condescending.
Chances are nearly every American knows a legal immigrant, from members of their extended families to the people they interact with on a daily basis.
Chuck Lorre, the hard-left maestro behind “The Big Bang Theory,” “Two and a Half Men” and “The Kominsky Method,” is the driving force behind a new immigrant themed show, “Bob Hearts Abishola.” The show centers on the sparks flying between a middle-aged socks salesman and a cardiac nurse from Nigeria.
Lorre attempted to explain away America’s right to process those entering its borders.
“Every wave of immigration that’s ever come to this country has had a strand of criminality—every single one of them. That’s just human nature. You take any group of people and two percent of them are going to be ‘yikes!’ No one culture can claim complete freedom from a couple of bad apples. But, by and large, I don’t think it’s a political statement to say that the greatness of this country is predicated on immigrants who came here and worked their asses off.”
Legal? Illegal? Lorre never mentions the distinction. That’s no accident.
Harrelson’s “SNL” monologue didn’t just give a shout out to the country’s immigrant population, though. He mocked First Lady Melania Trump for being a “white” immigrant, again implying those who support border enforcement do so for racist reasons.
That’s lazy and cruel, but Harrelson won’t be called out for that.
Meanwhile, it’s increasingly clear he’s part of Hollywood’s effort to misinform us on the hottest button issue of our age. He may be a funny fellow on screen, but that’s no laughing matter.