As I opened the paper today to find a list of the charitable
contributions made by the entertainment industry, I was not at all
shocked to see at least 90 percent were given to Democratic
candidates. Now the one issue all these candidates and entertainers
agree on, other than the fact that they hate Republicans and George
Bush, is the idea of universal health care. Universal health care
is the nice way of saying socialized medicine because at the end of
the day we would be putting restrictions on how much doctors can
make.
Now let’s see doctors go through eight years of school at a cost
of at least $200,000, not to mention the sleep deprivation that
they suffer most of that time. They sacrifice most, if not all, of
their social life for the idea and goal that one day they might get
to be a doctor. What present do they get when they graduate, at
least another four years of interning with, again, at best a
limited social life! So to recap: eight years of schooling, four
years of interning and at least $200,000 of debt, oh, and I almost
forgot, no social life.
Theater tickets’ price continues to climb while top tiered
actors like George Clooney make upwards of $20 million a movie. So
it occurred to me today, why not socialized acting? Now I know the
argument will be, “Well, people don’t need to go to a movie,” but
as Patch Adams showed me, laughter is the best medicine and doctors
really aren’t all that important. Aren’t the arts as important?
Should not every person get to and have to see such brilliant
movies as Oceans 11, 12, and 13?
I figure I went to the movies about ten times last year. Each
time it cost me about $30, which is about $300 a year. I say we
take the money that we spend on movies and instead put it into
health care. I mean, of course actors will still be well paid, but
the government will tell them how much it wants them to make. This
plan will work not only for actors, but also for the many singers
out there who are constantly preaching how unfair our society is.
Instead of 99 cents a song, let’s say we charge nine cents a song
and give the other ninety to those in need. That would never
happen, though, because we only like to give away and be tough guys
with other people’s money. How big of us.
How backward is society that actors and directors that make $20
million a year are telling people that have spent half their lives
in school how much they can make? Just because you played a doctor
or a lawyer on TV and did a great job, George Clooney, at the end
of the day that is all you were doing. It was a great job, yes, but
it was just a role.
Now, if given the choice, who do I want making $20 million a
year? Do I want the doctor operating on a heart in real life, or
the doctor operating on a heart on TV or in the movies? I choose
the doctor in real life! Now, if we back off on socialized
medicine, perhaps, we can back off of socialized acting, or maybe
not!
