Elia Kazan dies
Sep. 29th, 2003 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plutherusElia Kazan was, by all accounts, a brilliant director.
He is, however, perhaps best known for his actions in supporting McCarthy's witchhunt by naming names to the House UnAmerican Activities Commission.
In the past, I've spoken out in justification of his actions at the time, claiming we (or, at least, I) don't know the whole story of why he did so. My original comments can be found here
If the quote, this article in The Guardian is accurate, then I retract my statements:
But he insisted years later that he bore no guilt as a result of what some saw as a betrayal. "There's a normal sadness about hurting people, but I'd rather hurt them a little than hurt myself a lot," he said.
This amounts to nothing better than "better them than me."
He did not hurt people "a little". McCarthyism, which he not only didn't fight against, or remain apathetic to, but actively supported, hurt a lot of people a lot. Careers were destroyed, lives were shattered. In short, it sucked.
As the government of this country is doing everything it can to head down this same dark path again, I cannot forgive either those who helped it before, or those who are helping it do so now.
He is, however, perhaps best known for his actions in supporting McCarthy's witchhunt by naming names to the House UnAmerican Activities Commission.
In the past, I've spoken out in justification of his actions at the time, claiming we (or, at least, I) don't know the whole story of why he did so. My original comments can be found here
If the quote, this article in The Guardian is accurate, then I retract my statements:
But he insisted years later that he bore no guilt as a result of what some saw as a betrayal. "There's a normal sadness about hurting people, but I'd rather hurt them a little than hurt myself a lot," he said.
This amounts to nothing better than "better them than me."
He did not hurt people "a little". McCarthyism, which he not only didn't fight against, or remain apathetic to, but actively supported, hurt a lot of people a lot. Careers were destroyed, lives were shattered. In short, it sucked.
As the government of this country is doing everything it can to head down this same dark path again, I cannot forgive either those who helped it before, or those who are helping it do so now.
