My new film, "2016 Obama's America," has been in theaters for a little over seven weeks and is no longer going unnoticed. Those who make their living reviewing films are coming out in droves on both sides of the opinion spectrum and those reviewers who find the film entertaining, educational and even inspiring are not only right but now once again in the minority. Ardent partisans who somehow missed their calling as spokespersons for liberal politicians and ended up as film reviewers instead, are wont to find any film that doesn't tow the liberal line to be lacking in content, intellectual capacity or definitive reasoning. Of course we can all agree on our right to disagree with one another, but where it goes off the mark is when one side tries to defend its positions by issuing ridiculous statements, misstating facts, engaging in name calling and branding the messengers as liars and prevaricators. And when they really get their shorts all bound up in a tight wad and are obviously losing the information battle, they resort to calling the filmmakers racists and bigots and even crossing the line of rhetorical decency by likening the work to that of the Nazis.
It deeply offends me to read reviews labeling me and my fellow filmmakers as racists or bigots or comparing us to Nazis. Their obvious hatred and bias seemingly overwhelms their ability to write a negative review without resorting to the lowest of degrading observations. It raises the question "why are some on the left of the political spectrum so indoctrinated by their masters that they lose all sense of decency and/or intelligent reasoning?" This is such a loss for journalism. An example of this is the recent article in Entertainment Weekly that informed its readers that our film "2016: Obama's America is "fundamentally racist." Really? And this editorial judgment is made by whom? It really speaks highly as to the quality of people making decisions that affect all of us, doesn't it?
To paraphrase a historical figure whom I do respect, Gandhi, first they ignored us, then they called us names and now we’re winning at the box office because the truth always wins out.
For those so inclined and without the intellect to debate the issues as reasonable citizens, I can say only 'sorry, you lose and bring such disgrace to your profession.' There are those of us only concerned about truth and the future of our country. Maybe, just maybe, one of these days their enlightenment will include a dose of anger management and a sprinkling of historical reality. We can surely hope so.
Thankfully, the people are very smart and they won’t be dissuaded by smear merchants who seek destruction through character assassination. The mistake that these people make is in not realizing that when they label my movie racist, they're also labeling the millions of Americans who enjoyed it and found it informative as also being racist, and generally speaking, people don't take too kindly to being called disgusting names like that. The folks, not liberal film critics who are out of touch with the people they purport to serve, will decide the fate of our movie. I’m calling on all fair-minded Americans to respond to this hate-speech with the most effective tools they have: their feet, and, oh yes, their social networks. I hope they will send a message to liberal film critics by going back to the theater to watch 2016-this time with friends, and refuse to be bullied or kowtowed into silence.
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