Hollywood's Influence on California

The utter mismanagement of the recent disastrous wildfires leaves many people wondering “What the hell is wrong with California?!” There are plenty of blue states but California seems to be the poster child of liberal lunacy and incompetence. During Covid, Gavin Newsom’s draconian lockdowns included not allowing people to go to the beach, which in one case, led to actually arresting a man for surfing—he was all alone, outdoors in the middle of the ocean. Meanwhile, Newsom—violating his own edicts—was dining indoors at the fancy French Laundry with multiple people. Crazy, liberal policies during this time destroyed so many businesses; destroyed so many people’s lives and it happened again with the wildfires. So what is it about California, compared to other blue states, that’s making it so uniquely bananas?

I think Hollywood plays a huge role in influencing or infecting the culture of California—particularly in metropolitan areas—which happens mostly surreptitiously. LA is perhaps the most image-driven, image-conscious city due to its proximity to Hollywood. And the very essence of Hollywood is based on image. The phenomenon of motion picture is nothing but a series of still images put together to create the appearance of motion. It’s an illusion. It’s fake just like the acting, the scripted dialogue, the lighting, the sets, etc. All that matters is the appearance of reality. And this rule isn’t limited to just movie making itself. It’s part of the entire culture of Hollywood. The industry attracts image conscious people and working in that environment exacerbates it like a drunk who only has drunk friends. And then these people rub off on non-industry people and it ripples from Tinseltown, through the city of LA, to the whole state.

Democrats and leftists at their core are image conscious. They have an idealized vision (image) of how they want the world to be irrespective of if that’s even possible, pragmatic, fair, meritorious, and even if it’s counterproductive. They start with the end and work backwards, which is what we saw with the wildfires. Their idealized vision of their land is that of restoring it to its natural state, untainted by the human hand. They can’t disturb the fish or forbid the trees and shrubs from growing wild because everything in California needs to be natural and organic. It’s all about appearance, which is the same for their hyper-focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. The head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Janisse Quinones, sanctimoniously self-proclaims: “It’s important to me that everything we do is with an equity lens and social justice, making sure we right the wrongs we’ve done in the past.” Likewise, the LAFD proudly describes their deputy chief, Kristine Larson—a DEI product herself—as “the first African American woman to be promoted to the rank of Caption I, Caption II, Battalion Chief, Assistant Chief, and Deputy Chief in the history of the LAFD” who “aims to advance DEI within the fire service.” According to former Los Angeles Fire Captain Paul Ybarra, this focus on DEI has led to the elimination of basic requirements/standards like size and height for fire fighters and their ability to lift the ladder onto the truck all because a certain group is unable to do so. When addressing concerns that female firefighters aren’t physically capable of carrying a man outside a burning building, her response was: “He got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of a fire.” This is the kind of leadership you get when form is prioritized over substance.

The reason why the left is so preoccupied with image is because it’s not really about whatever issue is at hand, it’s really about their own self-image. Take any issue whether it’s radical environmentalism, DEI, BLM, LGBTQ, “systemic racism,” the “greedy rich,” democrats and leftists uniformly stand on the same side for every issue because they are identity markers that allow them to showcase how virtuous they are. Their ultimate concern is how they appear and how they are portrayed. The kooky car with a hundred bumper stickers almost always belongs to a liberal. It’s super narcissistic in nature and thus why Hollywood is such a hotbed for self-absorbed superficiality. On the bright side, Hollywood is losing its impact on the rest of the country. Most people are no longer “star struck” like before. They see through their phoniness much the same as how people view the mainstream media now. 20023-2024, California lost more people than any other state due to domestic migration yet California still shifted to the right this past presidential election. It’s a great sign but I think this preoccupation with image is too engrained in the culture of California for it to really change. Sadly, it’s a lost state.