Richard Dreyfuss took a lot of heat for attending a Ted Cruz campaign rally a few weeks ago. Which is ironic, since the famous actor leans about as far left as you can without falling over. He just likes to hear and engage other viewpoints. I guess his liberal friends in Hollywood felt betrayed and the backlash-hungry media ran with it, as they are wont to do.
The actor’s son Harry was so pissed off at the attacks on his dad that he penned an excellent Facebook rant explaining the importance of curiosity and considering opposing viewpoints. Here’s an excerpt:
If we shame curiosity, our country will never stop being scarred by the battle lines we draw to ward off the loony toon republicans or the batshit democrats. Exalt curiosity. Exalt the ability to hold someone else’s belief in your mind for a moment. You might find we disagree on fewer points than you thought, or you might find that this other person is insane and you are the God of right and wrong. I think that sort of certainty is always insane, but arriving there after actually engaging with an opposing opinion is the closest you’ll ever come to being right.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Harry. It’s nuts how so many supposedly enlightened people believe so strongly in their own ideals and opinions that they refuse to listen to other perspectives. How in the world do they expect to learn or accomplish anything in life when they’re that closed-minded and think they have all the answers?
Sad how our culture has perverted the word “diversity” to mean race, gender, and sexuality when its true meaning is about ideas, expression, and culture. The irony is that those who do all the talking about diversity and inclusion are usually among the most politically correct, which limits the free expression of ideas. Hypocrisy.
When asked if he was surprised at the backlash from showing up for Ted’s talk, the elder Dreyfuss said, “No, no. Because my other son, Ben, who is an editor for Mother Jones magazine, always warned me never to read comments on the internet because they were from people who were dropped on their heads.”
Funny man, but there’s a lot of truth to that. The ever-growing “backlash” crowd has become incredibly annoying … present company excepted, of course. You have no idea how boring it is to have to listen to the thoughts in my head all the time. Keep those comments coming folks. Need. More. Diverse. Viewpoints.