Political holocaust comes to Hollywood

Why Tim Allen’s comments are problematic

Tim Allen compares his experience as a conservative in Hollywood to being shunned by your friends, degraded by a sign on all of your clothing, constantly beaten, starved and eventually murdered.

“If you don’t believe what everyone believes, this is like 30s Germany, if you’re not part of the group,” Allen said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” March 17.

One of the reasons why America is such an amazing country is the fact that we are able to have political minorities whose voice can still be heard and respected. That is why I cannot understand Allen’s logic behind attempting to equate the clash between differing opinions with anti-Semitism.

Once you examine the historical facts, his statements seem ludicrous. The blatant racism and hatred that minority groups have dealt with in the past overshadows the slight backlash that conservatives receive.

“In 1935 the Nazis announced new laws that made Jews second-class citizens and revoke most of their political rights,” said a statement on the United States Holocaust Museum website. “Further, Jews (were) prohibited from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of ‘German or related blood.’”

There are, however, many statements from both liberal and conservative entertainers that are not being supported by fact. Instead, tolerance is claimed as a way to avoid debate or confrontation.

According to Christian Science Monitor, the majority of entertainers in Hollywood are liberal, with more than 70 percent of those who live in the county voting for Hilary Clinton, and because of this many conservative entertainers are afraid to vocalize their beliefs. But I wonder if the real reason they are afraid of expressing them is because they are afraid of having to support them.

“Tim, have you lost your mind?” Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, said. “No one in Hollywood today is subjecting you or anyone else to what the Nazis imposed on Jews in the 1930s — the world’s most evil program of dehumanization, imprisonment and mass brutality, implemented by an entire national government as the prelude for the genocide of nearly an entire people.”

There is a stark difference between clashing opinions and a direct attack on another person’s beliefs. I believe challenging opposing views and open discussion is necessary for a society’s progression.

“What I find odd about Hollywood is they didn’t like Trump because he was a bully,” Allen said  in an interview with Megyn Kelly. “But if you had any kind of inkling that you were for Trump, you got bullied.”

Being a political minority is not a bad thing. Being bullied is a bad thing. However, when someone starts to juxtapose that with such a horrific event, people are naturally going to speak out against that rhetoric. I do not view that as bullying.

I believe Allen’s remarks, joking or not, show how fearful many people are to stand up for what they believe in. There are problems on both sides of the argument, but I believe the first step to change the status quo is to be unashamedly outspoken in order to encourage debate and discussion.

Only then can people’s minds be changed.

Jones is an opinion writer.