The Disenlightenment (Review)
World renown dramatist, author and director, David Mamet, plunged headlong into the dark abyss of ‘enlightenment’ in his tour de force THE DISENLIGHTENMENT. His work encompasses a host of issues from antisemitism, anti-Americanism, the legacy media’s hypocrisy, the intolerance of the progressive-woke crowd, the LGBTQ+ clique, the pro-Hamas dupes, as well as the assault on common sense, and the West’s abandonment of moral bearings.
Brutal is the only way to describe the way Mamet rightfully bludgeons racists, fascists, hypocritical politicians, and fake news talking heads who are gaining traction in society. That unfortunate happenstance is due to our educational system’s indoctrination of Marxist ideology, the legacy media’s mendaciousness, the mindless disgorging of idiocies by the Hollywood woke, the hypocrisy of politicians of all stripes, and the usual proliferation of antisemitic tropes and canards against Israel and Jews.
Mamet exposes the hypocrisy of politicians who pretend to be a friend of the voter, when in fact they vote in support of those who contribute to their war chest. He cites the left’s bigoted and damaging “dumbing down” of the education of our youth by considering a student’s “correct answer” as a form of white supremacy. Also, their contempt for the traditional nuclear family derives from their erroneous belief that it represents a form of oppression against women and racism against Blacks.
The infamous Stalin, famously coined the aphorism, “telling a lie, repeated often enough, people will eventually accept it as true,” the truth of which we clearly see played out daily by the mainstream media. And finally, he unmasks ‘Antifa,’ which means antifascist, when ironically the group is comprised of a gang of fascist thugs.
Mamet slams those who proclaim, “I’m Jewish but I am not that Jewish” as cowards who in fact are broadcasting “Hate my brothers, but accept me” because I am like you, not them. Having escaped the fate of too many of his co-religionists, namely assimilation, his world view is more in line with that of Rabbi Hillel, than that of the apostle Matthew. Hillel’s Golden Rule states, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow” which is akin to a conservative “leave us alone” approach to life. Matthew, some 150 years later, stated its opposite, which exhibits the intrusive liberal attitude of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
He also decries today’s despotic demand that the Oscars nominate minorities, women, homosexuals, transsexuals, you have it, regardless of their merit, not because of it. He targets those progressive-woke Jews who are tolerant of the jihadi’s point of view, until those terrorists bomb their synagogue. He concedes that in a capitalist democracy there are winners and losers but as for Marxist and Socialist governments there are only losers. The politically inclined Hollywood thespians do not escape his opprobrium. They feel entitled to share their ideological ‘wisdom’ on the international stage, but had they not won the good-looks lottery, “the lot of them would have ended up as chambermaids and chauffeurs.”
Mamet believes common sense trumps the nonsense today’s indoctrinators, formerly known as teachers, impart to their students. Two of many absurdities he illuminates: the notion that “women do not lie” and “Blacks cannot be racists.” Only the college indoctrinated can believe such foolishness. He also said that “anecdotal evidence” gathered during sixty years of observation of human interaction is no less valuable and dependable than information garnered by academics from a dozen or so books they have read. In a series of pithy comments, Mamet utters truisms such as, “Psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors do not know more about our behavior than we do; they just get paid for being wrong,” and “It is a crime to shout “fire” in a crowded theater. Unless of course the theater is burning when it is criminal to refrain.”
Considering the industry in which Mamet works, I found his courage inspiring by speaking his mind and heeding that “still small voice” whose truth mutes the cacophony of foolhardiness disgorged by Hollywood know-nothings and their adoring sycophants. I highly recommend his book, THE DISENLIGHTENMENT, for those who refuse to cower to the bullying tactics of the far left and reject the diktats of the ‘enlightened lemmings” and their ilk.
