In recent years it's often seemed that left wing ideology has gained its greatest power―or at least institutional acceptance―just as it's lost touch with human values. And that's probably not a coincidence. It wouldn't be the first time those two traits have gone together.
As Matt Taibbi notes in the preamble to this interview, Tim Robbins has frequently drawn fire for his political outspokenness. And he was and remains a man of the left. But he has his own values above political fashion. I'd heard about his opposition to the vaccine requirements held by the big acting unions before, and this is an opportunity to find out more of where he's coming from. Quite refreshing.
2 comments:
"Listen, Matt, if you told me 20 years ago that there would be no video stores where you could talk to a clerk and see what that person might be recommending, or no record stores where you could go see what’s new in music, or no bookstores in most towns, I would’ve told you you were crazy. But we’re here. This is part of a larger movement away from the gathering place."
He made a number of valid points about how two years worth of hysteria and lockdowns combined to make so many people lose touch with human values. It's good he admitted to participating at first and stopped when he began to consider the negative effects it was having on society.
Tim Robbins has certainly done his share of 'comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable'. You're right it was refreshing to read this - may his influence continue to spread.
That's a key quote. And while books, movies, and music are all still available--in whatever format--they overall seem to have been devalued in society. It used to be that I'd go to a coffee shop and hear music playing over the PA system and you could ask a barista what was playing and they'd tell you with some enthusiasm. Now if anything it's a Spotify playlist that the employees tune out.
At the time I wasn't paying much attention to what Robbins was saying about it and I wasn't expecting him to do an about face. While he's certainly done a lot of things as an actor that I've enjoyed, just about everyone with his kind of forum and his reach were saying the same thing, showing little understanding of what people outside their circle were going through. So I'm glad he eventually turned out to be an exception.
Maybe his influence is spreading. Time will tell.
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