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| Right Turns | | Date Created: Apr 10, 2005, 10:23 PM |
 Yes, it's that Michael Medved who was co-host of Sneak Previews with Jeffrey Lyons in the 80's and seemed to go over to the dark side with Dan Quale and the Republican Right with a mission to get Hollywood to clean up its act and get some family values. He even wrote a book about that, Hollywood vs. America. Turns out the reality is quite different. He explains it wonderfully and you will follow right along with him unless you're stuck in leftist ideology -- in which case you won't read this anyway. There's a Rush Limbaugh blurb on the cover which will act as a hex.
And yes, he's a conservative. And he's religious. But not what you might think. I almost passed on this book because of the title and his image in the media. Fortunately I picked it up on audio book and was immediately fascinated. I'm always interested in political transitions. Usually these are from left to right as we grow and learn and have to deal with reality. David Horowitz', Radical Son, is the classic. The process by which we (and I include myself) leave the comfortable myths of the left and take on the realities of the real world usually result in ending up on the conservative side of the political spectrum. It's also easier to see what the problems are in what you left because you can stand outside it. Those who never leave have no perspective. This is also true of religious belief.
In Right Turns, Medved details not only where he came from politically and why he moved to the right, but how his liberal idealism changed to religious zeal. Medved became an Orthodox Jew. Judaism is as important to him, perhaps more so than conservative politics. This is where I differ with Medved fundamentally. I don't think it's necessary to be religious in order to be moral and to avoid the secular-religion of the left. Libertarian philosophy offers another way.
I suspect Medved would agree with this and I'd like to ask him about it. He's been doing a conservative based radio talk show from Seattle for several years. The radio thing is also interesting to me. But the point is that Medved is not afraid of the Christians of the Religious Right because he feels the real religious zealots are few in number and Christians and Jews have more in common in this country than what separates them.
He's got the left with their "Do-Something Disease" and their dysfunctional focus on "faraway problems over which we have no control rather than achievable aims in our immediate surroundings." His brand of "do-it-yourself conservatism" is very libertarian. "I am not a victim" he repeats. He even picks up trash from the streets to the embarrasment of his children -- something I've done too. If it's important for others to be doing it then you should be doing it too.
There are a number of hooks in Medved's story. His Jewish heritage and his family are wonderfully told. He was at Yale from '65 to '69 and knew John Kerry among other east coast 60's luminaries. The book is worth it for his tales of Kerry, the radicals, and the various campaigns of the 60's. Medved was there when Bobby Kennedy was shot. His first book was called Whatever Happened to the Class of '65 Other books include Hospital, The Shadow Presidents, The Golden Turkey Awards, and the Hollywood Hall of Shame: The Most Expensive Flops in Hollywood History.
There are wonderful tales of hitchhiking in the 60's, Hillary Rodham at Yale Law School, various political figures like Ron Dellums, Berkeley in the early 70's, TV and movie figures including Roger Ebert, and eventually his start in talk radio on Limbaugh's show. The evolution of Sneak Previews and his media induced reputation as a Right Winger was fascinating. How can you be a part of the Religious Right if you're an orthodox Jew?
There's also a great story behind his involvement with Mel Gibson's, The Passion of The Christ. Medved's quote of his eleven year old son taking a call from Gibson is priceless. "Somebody called who said he was Mel Gibson. It sounded like Mel Gibson, too. I told him I liked his voice in Chicken Run."
So Medved and I don't agree on abortion and on the overarching importance of religious belief (Jewish or Christian) but we have a lot in common and I bet he'd make a great friend and someone to discuss everything from movies to politics to families and, yes, even religion. One could learn a lot from his life and his opinions. And it's all in this book.
You should read it. |
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