Here’s something worth reading in The New York Times. The IRS has demanded website access that would expose the membership list of “Friends of Abe,” the only circle of folks in Hollywood who happen to lean right politically. (The group applied for tax exempt status similar to that of the far-left People for the American Way, founded by Norman Lear.) Among Friends of Abe who are “out” are John Voight and Kelsey Grammer. Most of the 1500 members closet themselves to avoid the predictable career and social fallout from being exposed as independent thinkers in Hollywood.
The purpose of the investigation is to make sure it doesn’t have a — are you ready? — a political agenda (unlike all the rest of Hollywood, right?) Executive director Jeremy Boreing has denied that it’s a political group, stating: “It exists to create fellowship among like-minded individuals.”
I think this is pretty obviously true. In Hollywood, there’s apparently no other place to go if you wish to think out loud without being cast into the outer darkness. Friends of Abe is clearly a place to let one’s hair down and exchange thoughts and ideas. Freely and without duress. Kind of like what civil society is supposed to be. But that’s what is really unacceptable to PC Forces. The harassment of Friends of Abe is ultimately is an attack on its members’ fellowship. It’s really an attack on friendship. On freedom of association. For the IRS to probe for an active “political agenda” seems more like cover for a different goal, which is to isolate and separate people.
Comments