They Are So Scared

Posted by on 8/31/2004

Celebrities fret as Republicans come to New York

“I’m scared. I’m fucking scared out of my pants right now, and if you’re not, wake up.” The actress Rosie Perez was pouring out her heart to a crowd of artists, performers, activists, and partygoers gathered at the Chelsea nightclub Crobar. “My heart is broken,” Perez continued. “My heart is broken by this administration. I’m fucking scared, and I’m mad as hell.”

Perez never explained precisely what she was scared of. She even confused the audience a bit when she said, “I really don’t care who wins the election.” But she said she was deeply concerned with “the issues,” and that concern left her very, very frightened.

She wasn’t alone. “This guy Bush makes Barry Goldwater look like Pollyanna,” said comedian Chevy Chase. “He’s frightening. He’s scaring the crap out of me.”

And the musician Marc Anthony Thompson (also known as “Chocolate Genius”) said the current political situation had jolted him out of complacency and into a new age of activism. “I’ve been sitting on my lazy ass watching Maury Povitch,” Thompson told the crowd. “Then I decided to get my lazy ass out on the fucking streets.”

Perez, Chase, Thompson, and others had come to Crobar to kick off the Imagine Festival, which is billed by its organizers as an attempt to “use art, not politics or protest, to confront the critical issues facing the nation.” Festival spokesman say they will stage nearly 200 events in New York during the Republican National Convention. Among the celebrities who will participate, according to organizers, are Richard Gere, E.L. Doctorow, Yoko Ono, Margaret Cho, Lou Reed, Gloria Steinem, Marisa Tomei, and others.

These events are put together so they can use art to confront critical issues – - yet so far none of them have spoken about an issue. They have certainly used their fair share of the word “scared” and cursing seems to be their favorite way to express the level of fear they are experiencing – -but where are the issues?

There are other celebrities not mentioned above who will take part in the events – I wonder if they’ll share the level of their fear with all of us?

Follywood

15 Comments.

  1. PCD 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 08:07 AM

    She’s scared?? Has anyone asked them how scared they’d be when Kerry/Edwards let them have nuclear bombs and missles to deliver them? Anyone see the Reuters article about K/E negotiating with the Iranian mullahs? Roger L. Simon almost crapped his pants on Hugh Hewitt’s show last night, and he recounts the shock of learning about this story on his blog.

  2. peejz 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 08:31 AM

    Scared because their pocket books are hurting? Chevy who:?:

  3. Snowy Egret 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 08:48 AM

    Yeah the same bunch of idiots from hollywood are fretting over the RNC in new york and thats unsettling for these socialists and from hollywood the same bunch who want gun control come the latest glorifacation of drugs a dumb movie called ROLLING KANSAS who do these hypotcrits think their kidding not ol snowy egret:smile::razz::wink:

  4. BonBon 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 10:06 AM

    I saw that article PCD and let me tell you. IT SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME. It’s just unbelievable that these people don’t seem to have a clue. Kill or be killed when it comes to terrorists and they seem to accept the latter. With a mindset like that who needs enemies.

  5. Lorie 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 10:15 AM

    PCD & BonBon,
    Can I access that article on-line? And if so, do either of you know the url? I would love to read it.
    Thanks.

  6. American Girl 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 10:20 AM

    Well, this certainly sounds like an interesting time…

    The scene at Crobar was eclectic. There were old hippies with gray ponytails; there were the now-ubiquitous Billionaires for Bush (with their leader, Phil T. Rich); there were young women in black and white majorette outfits, twirling batons; there were young men in 1970-style athletic garb, with short shorts and high socks; and there was man who roamed about the crowd completely naked, wearing only a large backpack. Other people held up signs that said things like, “Donna Rumsfeld — Come out or get out,” or wore t-shirts with sayings like, “MY BUSH ACTUALLY WON THE POPULAR VOTE.”

    Um, okay. :roll:

  7. American Girl 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 10:33 AM

    I should probably add that, in addition to being conservative and priding myself on my conservative values, I personally consider myself to have an artistic mind, and have always supported the Arts, being a big Shakespeare afficionado among other things. I love the works of Mary Cassatt and Monet, I have always been quite fond of ballet, I have always been a huge fan of Broadway shows, particularly those penned by Rogers and Hammerstein, I love all sorts of music….

    Well, you get the idea.

    However, I scratch my head at this sort of thing, and wonder how this can be perceived as art…

    Spokesmen for the festival say the works will be featured in the city’s “hippest clubs and performance spaces,” as well as its “most prestigious cultural institutions.” They were particularly pleased recently to announce that the actress Holly Hunter will appear in a reading of playwright Tony Kushner’s “ONLY WE WHO GUARD THE MYSTERY SHALL BE UNHAPPY,” which is billed as a “work in progress in which First Lady Laura Bush grapples with Dostoyevsky and the ghosts of Iraqi children.”

    Now I suppose I could have a field day with the implications of the “work-in-progress”-bit, but instead, I think I’ll just let the paragraph speak for itself.

    I suppose there are those who would critique me and insist that I am “being too restrictive in my definition of art,” but while art on the one hand is indeed subjective, on the other, in order to reach a wider audience, I believe certain considerations must be taken into consideration, and certain limits must be applied. It’s that saying about movies: the problem with movies as a business is that it’s an art, and the problem with movies as an art is that it’s a business.

    Perhaps they could successfully argue that these forms of art are not intended to reach a wider audience, but instead intended for themselves, as they are the only ones who could fully appreciate it, understand it, and aptly interpret it. Now that I can see to a degree…

  8. PCD 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 10:39 AM

    Lorie,

    Here’s the Reuters version.

    I think the Washington Post has another that I’ll look for.

  9. PCD 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 10:42 AM

    Lorie,

    Here’s the Washington Post’s story, a better, more indepth one. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45216-2004Aug29.html

  10. peejz 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 10:50 AM

    AG-Nothing worse than a 60 year old hippie clinging to the past of what could have been but wasn’t!

  12. PCD 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 12:18 PM

    I aim to please people who aren’t Kerry Kool-aid drinkers.

  13. Snowy Egret 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 01:18 PM

    On a recent picture on my computer i saw a picture of one of these protesters with a sign reading VOTE SOCIALIST yeah just like they did in germany and allowed hitler to come to power and the same way they did in russia and along came stalin and look at what stalin did we dont need socialism in this country so lets get us out of the UN:cool::smile::grin:

  14. American Girl 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 01:27 PM

    AG-Nothing worse than a 60 year old hippie clinging to the past of what could have been but wasn’t!

    Good point, Peejz! :wink:

    Now having said the above, there is plenty that I personally fear. I fear the consequences of the open attitudes of illegal immigration, namely that they may promote terrorism, which in turn will cause another 9/11. I fear the possibility of the continuation of outsourcing, and the impact on the economy.

    However, I also fear being bullied by the rest of the world. I look at the Election of ’92, how people voted the then-Wild Card Clinton into office, what unfolded afterwards, I look at the false confidence I had at the time that there would be nothing to worry about where his possibilities were concerned, seeing as no one had nominated a Democrat for president in twelve years, the confidence that the right decision would be made, and I am absolutely filled with fear over the possibility that the same thing would happen with Kerry.

    I look at the aggressive “Anybody but Bush”-campaign, even in this very blog where comments are concerned, and this does absolutely nothing to restore my confidence where this is concerned. No one really seems to care about Kerry’s record, except to call the Swiftboat Veterans a bunch of liars at his own insistence. Not one of these people seems to be doing the aggressive research into Kerry’s record that they do where Bush’s record is concerned! :shock:

    Is it any wonder it would appear that these people would elect the likes of Stalin or Lenin in the event that either of these men were running against Bush?!? Now, if that doesn’t scare you, nothing will!!! :shock:

  15. American Girl 8/31/2004 at August 31, 2004 - 01:34 PM

    Forgot to mention another great fear of mine: the fear that this nation will eventually become so compromised that we will stand for absolutely nothing as a nation, and that we will be but a shadow of the country that our forefathers had in mind when they wrote the Constitution.