Posted by
Tom Anderson on Friday, January 16, 2009 5:57:56 PM
Wow...the Respect-o-Meter for one Tom Hanks just sank into oblivion.
Earlier this week, Mr. Hanks said, "...the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen. There are a lot of people who feel that is
un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any
discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in
America, but here's what happens now. A little bit of light can be
shed, and people can see who's responsible, and that can motivate the
next go around of our self correcting Constitution, and hopefully we
can move forward instead of backwards. So let's have faith in not only
the American, but Californian, constitutional process."
While he's really good at pretending to be other people, Hanks' grasp on the truth is somewhat lacking. I have found four problems with his short statement.
First, no Mormons gave money to the church to make Proposition 8 happen. In reality, the church urged its members to financially support the ballot measure, which many did by donating to pro-8 groups directly. The church had no hand in the transfer of cash from any member's wallet to the pro-8 coffers.
Second, as pointed out by Bill McKeever, a rep for the Mormonism Research Ministry, "Hanks said he doesn’t 'like to see
any discrimination codified on any piece of paper.' Considering that
just about every law discriminates in some form or another, makes this
comment ridiculous. Hanks’ comment shows that he very much believes in
discriminating against people with whom he disagrees." Isn't it also discriminatory to call someone - or in this case, a large group of someones - un-American? Hanks may not agree with Mormons and their moral stance on this issue, but they have a right - just like any American - to voice their opinion with their money and their votes. You can't get much more American than that.
Third, since when did any of today's Hollywood ultra-libs go in for naming names? That's what Hanks is suggesting when he says "a little bit of light can be shed, and people can see who's responsible." Wonder how Elia Kazan would feel about that little chestnut...wasn't he one of the ones responsible for naming Hollywood Communists to the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 50's? And wasn't he one of those blacklisted for doing so? Since names of Prop. 8 supporters have been listed online, there have been numerous cases of discrimination (there's that word again) against them and their places of work...some have even lost their jobs.
Finally, Hanks says we have a "self-correcting Constitution." Funny, last time I read it, Article V says that some combination of Congress, state legislatures, and state ratifying conventions had to act in order for the Constitution to be changed or, as Hanks puts it, corrected. It doesn't do so on its own. In the case of the California State Constitution, the people can be involved in the process through direct vote, as happened with Prop. 8. The people spoke...just because Hanks doesn't like the result doesn't mean the Constitution now needs "correction."
I for one am looking forward to Mr. Hanks' next movie coming out so I can urge all fair-minded Americans to stay away in droves.