Screenwriter shares a few thoughts about David Mamet's conversion into a right wing troll

[tenderfoot]

What caused this change in Mamet's political orientation? He has provided two explanations, in different essays. In one, he talks about how his TV show, The Unit, was canceled as a result of the 2008 writers' strike. Because his show was canceled ("at Christmastime!" he wails), unions are bad, workers are pigs, the left is led by savages. No, really, that's his official term for elite leftists: "savages." He constantly accuses liberals of using language to dehumanize their opponents, thus making it easier for them to round them up and murder them (he really thinks that),

His other explanation: He has a house in a fancy part of Santa Monica, and was told by the city that, in accordance with a city ordinance, he had to cut the hedges around his house so that it is visible from the street, so that the neighborhood would look like a neighborhood instead of a gated enclave. That, apparently, flipped a switch in his head, and he decided, then and there, that government was evil and needs to be dismantled, so that wealthy men like himself can have hedges that hide his house from the hoi polloi.

I'm not kidding. Those are his actual stated reasons. The writer became a business owner when writers asked to be treated fairly, the artist decided government is evil when the local municipality asked him to trim his hedges. He's the perfect example of the artist who received tons of help from government programs and then, once he became a multimillionaire, decided that he'd done it all himself and everyone else can go fuck themselves.

more: https://www.facebook.com/toddalcott/posts/10221434857237992

[Midnight Writer]

1. Leftists are "savages" that use "language to dehumanize their opponents". Alrighty, then!

[DallasNE]

25. He Sounds Just Like Putin nt

[Cuthbert Allgood]

2. He has written some good plays. Great ones, actually.

But that's the end of his expertise. A lot of artists are batshit crazy.

[kysrsoze]

3. Maybe Larry David was making fun of him with the Santa Monica pool fence law plot.

[SergeStorms]

4. I don't do Facebook......

so I'm not going to delve any further into the article.

I enjoy some of Mamet's plays and have acted in two of them. Mamet always tries to make you think, he almost demands it of you.

I wouldn't hazard a guess as to why he's taken this particular stance on these issues, but I can tell you that some creative people tend to swing from one end of the spectrum to the other at a moments notice.

I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water here. All of his creativity isn't suddenly discounted because of a few off moments.

I'd wait to see if these are a few isolated incidents brought on by forces we're not privy to, or if this is really a wholesale run to the right.

[fishwax]

15. It's nothing new from Mamet--he's been swinging right for well more than a decade now

It started in earnest with the war on terror, and by the early 10s he was calling Obama a tyrant and complaining about government control, high taxes, and liberal hypocrisy.

I agree that we need not discount all his creative work--his plays from the 80s and his films from the 90s offer some great work. Alas, it's been quite a while since he did really good work in either medium, imo.

[groundloop]

20. "High" Taxes..... THAT is why most wealthy people are right wingers

That and blatant racism.

Between righties sending signals to each other that it's ok to be racist and their disdain for paying their fair share of taxes I'd say we've covered the vast majority of what they stand for.

Oh, and throw in their desire to control women's reproductive choices.

[SergeStorms]

30. I wasn't aware. Thanks for that.

I don't pay too much attention to writer's politics unless they're outlandishly overt about it, like a Tom Clancy.

Thanks for the information.

[PatSeg]

5. I saw him on Bill Maher's show

and I didn't know what to make of him. It was rather bizarre and clearly he is even worse than he appeared on the show. I wonder if he's always been this way or did something flip a switch in his brain.

Looking back on his works, maybe Alec Baldwin's character in Glengarry Glen Ross was suppose to be the hero in the story.

Edit to add: Okay, I read the rest of the article and I think he's lost his mind.

[Paladin]

12. Maher's show is where Mamet belongs. (nt)

[PatSeg]

13. Yeah, Maher pushed back on

some of the things Mamet said, but he still seemed to be kissing his ass as if Mamet was some kind of hero. It appears Maher caught a milder version of whatever Mamet has. Did they change or actually become more of who they really are already?

[mountain grammy]

16. Good take Pat

I think the later is true.

[PatSeg]

22. I've watched Bill Maher for over twenty years

and there does seem to be something wrong with him the past two years. I wonder if it is age related. The harping on the same issues over and over again is really disturbing. Something is just not right with the guy.

[Paladin]

26. Maher was on Joe Rogan's show recently.

Sounds like he's getting very close to the inevitable: doing a final, no-looking-back jump to full-time Republicanism. I have no regrets about walking away from his show years ago, and subsequent attempts to persuade others to do the same thing.

[PatSeg]

28. I just saw that today about Rogan's show

That is so disturbing. I'd stopped watching him awhile back, but I'll tune in occasionally to see if he's changed. Unfortunately, for the most part, he seems to be getting worse. Also, I don't think he is attracting the same guests as he used to. Meanwhile, his Facebook page is drawing an awful lot of right-wingers who aren't there to necessarily troll him, but to support him.

[mountain grammy]

29. Yes me too

Finally stopped a couple of weeks ago. Not good for my blood pressure. Just watch clips.

[TheDemsshouldhireme]

18. Maher was almost in awe of him

Yeah Bill pushed back on the election was stolen lie, but other than that Bill was like a teenager meeting a rock star.

[PatSeg]

23. He was and it was rather disturbing

[tanyev]

6. Sounds like David MeMeMeMeMe has found the party he belongs in.

[Redleg]

7. I liked "The Unit" and some of his plays made into movies

BUT I think he has gotten the prion disease in his brain. It gets tiring hearing former liberals criticize other liberals for "wokeness," "cancel culture," and whatever. The problem is that these former liberals have mainly associated with wealthy Hollywood liberal types and don't know jack-shit about the rest of us liberals from outside their own enclaves. What they see is a very narrow cross-section of liberals and then create the most odious strawman possible to represent the whole herd of us, including the Democratic party.

Bill Maher does the same shit. He and others like him need to get out and about and talk to liberals living outside the Hollywood bubble. It's ironic that Bill Maher says that we need to better understand the MAGA folks while he fails to understand us. There might be some freaky liberals in Hollywood, but last I checked none of them were elected officials while many of the crazies of the right have infested our own state and federal congresses.

[PatSeg]

14. That's a good point

Maher has been living in a bubble and it seemed to get much worse during the pandemic. Perhaps he needs to get out and talk with real people in the real world.

[Fix The Stupid]

8. 1st excuse is BS...the 2nd one though...

Yeah, I can see getting pretty upset with that. I want to grow my bushes 10 ft high, I'll grow my bushes 10ft high...

But that 1st one is just silly.

[DallasNE]

24. My Guess

The home carried an easement when he bought it that governed this, so he has nobody to blame but himself.

[kcr]

9. I don't think there was ever a conversion

What really happens is selfish, self-centered people become aware enough of politics that they correctly identify themselves as right-wing. They think of or perceive this political awareness as a change, then erroneously conclude that if they changed, that must mean they were a liberal before.

[UTUSN]

10. Excellent analysis. I never knew anything about him or his work, just knew his name was famous.

Never read or saw any of his stuff. What I've learned recently is his legacy, and not a good one.

[JHB]

27. Yeah, the "conservative is a liberal who got mugged" syndrome

I think there are a lot of people who don't really have views with "roots", they just absorb what's around them as normal. Then something happens, they feel betrayed because the superficialities they'd surfed on don't account for it, and they become very receptive to conservative easy answers.

[edhopper]

11. Speed the Plow

and Oleanna showed a trend he was heading there.

[SergeStorms]

31. Oleanna....

drove me crazy. By the end if the play I wanted to throttle both characters for not listening to each other. They heard each other, but they didn't listen.

Once I got past my murderous rage for both characters I enjoyed the play, but it's not for everyone, that's for sure.

[hadEnuf]

17. People like this guy have likely always been this way.

They've just decided that it's safe for them to crawl out from under their rocks. Just another selfish asshole who thinks it's all about him.

[budkin]

19. Used to love Mamet... no longer

Can't support that insanity.

[DallasNE]

21. So Very Weak

Wn he bought the house I am sure there was an easement against blocking the view, so he had nobody to blame but himself for thinking that he was entitled to do as he pleases. Sounds to me like he went from right wing to far right wing.