Useful Idiots

What do Sean Penn, Danny Glover and Oliver Stone all have in common? Sure, they are Hollywood A-listers whose talent has allowed them to exist comfortably in the reviled (by the left) 1 percent. ironically, they're all committed Leftists. And to a man, they had expressed outright support and love for Venezuelan dictator, Hugo Chavez. I suspect that each of these men would be outraged if they were told that their role had been that of a "useful idiot" (Google it!), but that, of course, is what they are.

Sean Penn is representative. In December of 2012, the Huffington Post quoted Penn as saying:

“He’s [Chavez] one of the most important forces we’ve had on this planet, and I’ll wish him nothing but that great strength he has shown over and over again. I do it in love, and I do it in gratitude," responded Penn. “I just want to say, from my very American point of view, of my friend President Chavez: It is only possible to be so inspiring as he is, as a two-way street. And he would say that his inspiration is the people.”

Penn has long supported Chavez, a leader revered by some and reviled by others since first being elected in 1999. In 2010, the 52-year-old actor condemned the U.S. media for tarnishing Chavez's good name.

"Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it," Penn told Bill Maher for an episode of his HBO show, according to the Guardian. "And this is mainstream media. There should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies." Adding, "We are hypnotised by the media. Who do you know here who's gone through 14 of the most transparent elections on the globe, and has been elected democratically, as Hugo Chávez?"

The interesting question is whether Penn, Glover and Stone, among many in Hollywood, look at the wreckage of Venezuelan economy and the repression of the Venezuelan people and regret their comments. My guess is that they do not. Useful idiots process only the information they want to see and hear. When reality intrudes, they look the other way.