The American Spectator

p> FIRST HONORS br> Re: Ben Stein’s Spiders With Tenure : /p>

I’m been an admitted fan of Ben Stein for some time. However, he has topped himself once again!

p>His article, “Spiders With Tenure” is absolutely on target. Ben addresses an issue that I’ve been struggling with for a long while. That is, why do those in our society who are among the most privileged hate America, our political system, our constitution, and the free enterprise system? Ben answers this question in spades. Thank him and you for publishing his wisdom. br> — Ed Meell br> Newtown, PA /p> p> Ben Stein’s column today was typically brilliant and insightful, but there is a parallel question he may be able to answer: how did Hollywood become so hateful and anti-American? Even with its communist underground, anti-Americanism wasn’t the dominant mood in Hollywood before Vietnam. The same forces also can’t be at play as in academia — people who make it in show business have definitely learned to thrive in an uncertain, dog-eat-dog world, and one thing they have in abundance is confidence (the opposite of fear). I’ve always thought Hollywood liberalism was a mixture of guilt (i.e. becoming rich and famous mostly by being good-looking) and a certain type of stupidity (actors are trained to feel and emote, not think analytically, so they are highly expressive but haven’t developed practical, problem-solving skills — a dangerous combination). But presumably this has always been true, so what’s changed? If anyone is better-positioned to answer this question than Ben Stein, I don’t know who it is. br> — Larry Kaufmann