Status Updates From Blacklisted!: Hollywood, th...

During the blacklisting they increased their deportation laws

Today in my book I learned more about how someone can literally get blacklisted just for being falsely accused with no evidence.

Today I learned that even I could be convicted of this if I was alive then. They didn't need evidence just witnesses.

Today I learned that the most the committee did was instill fear and paranoia in its citizens.

Today I learned that people were blacklisted for having any relation to any communist propaganda.

Brilliant point made by "Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America.... It was impossible for the film industry to defend itself against a generalization."

A theme of the book is voiced through actress Myrna Loy, "We question the right of Congress to ask any man what he thinks on political issues."

Reminds me of the CA exec who had to resign because of his stance on proposition 8

Through the mouth of one of the "unfriendly' nineteen, the author admits more oppression by the Soviets.

At the same time, this point is well made: that the antics of HUAC seem just as oppressive.

Author, Larry Brimner, lists various congressional committees investigating threats in a time of rising Fascism, Nazism, and Communism. Some of these committee members made accusations, which opponents said were unsubstantiated.

Thirty-six pages in, the author finally acknowledges that Russia's communist revolution was violent. Yet, within a paragraph he plays down that violence by claiming that a special Senate committee was responsible for "painting communism and communists as barbaric because of the violence that had occurred during the Russian Revolution."

Although the author does not use footnotes, he does list sources for quotes. For other claims and accusations, however, he gives no sources. For example, he claims that the real motive behind Jack Warner's "friendly" witness testimony was to smear screen writers whose guild had demanded more money for writers than "conservative...moguls" wanted to pay. No source cited for this.

The only thing the author says about communism itself is that "the government owned all industries and property as part of its attempt to create a society where everyone was equal; private ownership of property was forbidden." That's it. No admission of the millions imprisoned, tortured, enslaved, and killed under communist rule. What is this author up to?

Disappointed. The beginning makes the "Red Scare" sound like nothing more than social hysteria. Neither on the inside front flap, nor in the introduction is any mention of the USSR's betrayal of the allies in its refusal to release East Germany from its grasp. The author does not acknowledge USSR take over of eastern bloc, nor the violent suppression of anyone who might even hint at disagreeing. I'm disturbed