Some years ago, a friend of mine, on reading the then-new Harry Potter book’s line about a ‘wretched American President’ declared he was done. And that Rowling had, in intending to insult Bush, instead insulted Clinton, the whole of the series (excepting Philosopher’s Stone) being set in the Clinton administration. Seems she forgot her own timeline.

Anyway, I then expressed my opinion that a liberal bent in an author is not exactly a shock. Wedging in an attempted insult for no good reason is a sign of being a hack, to be sure, but the political leaning is to be expected.

And it continues. Every election cycle, we get the hoary trope of the current crop of popular actors making the usual impassioned plea to elect whomever the Democratic party is running, lest the world end, movies all become ‘Birth of a Nation’ (the original), and art wither and die. And, like a Pavlovian response, conservatives decry this as spoiled, irrelevant, and likely highly uninformed twits mouthing whatever pabulum they have been instructed to. Which isn’t wrong, but is very, very tiring.

Look, unless you live in a fantasy world, which far too many conservatives seem to, you can safely assume that every single actor, writer, singer, dancer, artist, et-fraking-cetera is a leftist. Seriously. It is like assuming fire is hot. You just do it.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. The political left is usually aligned with the concerns of the arts community, so it makes sense to support those who support you. Duh.

Can we stop pretending this is a surprise, and move past it. Constantly rehashing the same tired nonsense is one of those things that hurt the conservatives more than anything, and we, as a body, need to stop. And to those in the arts, please look critically at the policies and practices of the Democratic party before doing as they ask, and blindly supporting them. You might be surprised at just what it is they are supporting…