I am a big Tom Hanks fan. I think he has done great work and is pretty classy in the work he has done. He's one of the few people in show business who doesn't mind aging naturally (let's not get into the weird Da Vinci Code haricut). Today I was disappointed to find out that Tom Hanks was a producer for Big Love. In and of itself, I am not too bothered but more annoyed at the perception it gives the world about polygamy. But whatever, I can live with that. But then during an interview, he said this:The truth is [Big Love] takes place in Utah, the truth is these people are some bizarre offshoot of the Mormon Church, and the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen. There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America, but here's what happens now. A little bit of light can be shed, and people can see who's responsible, and that can motivate the next go around of our self correcting Constitution, and hopefully we can move forward instead of backwards. So let's have faith in not only the American, but Californian, constitutional process.He must have his facts wrong because he says that Mormons gave money to their church. This is not correct. The Church encouraged members to donate time and money to the campaign. Members were free to decide whether they agreed or not.
I am not the type to go and throw away DVD's after learning the person I like in a movie holds opinions that differ much from my own. However, my faith in classy Hollywood actors has definitely been shaken. Perhaps I should have expected it.
8 comments:
I deleted the previous comment because it was SPAM from an anti-Mormon website. Particularly, the content of the message twisted the true message of the Gospel.
Contrary to what the message tried to convey, there is a great secret to the Gospel; one which the author evidently did not understand. Jesus Christ will share his perfection, his sinlessness, his righteousness, his merits with us. In his mercy he offers us the use of his perfection, in the absence of our own, to satisfy the demands of justice. In the short run we are considered perfect, accepted as perfect, by becoming one with a perfect Christ.
From the moment our partnership with Christ is formed in good faith, from the moment we have sincere faith in Christ, sincerely repent of our sins, and receive baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost - from this moment the partnership is celestial. From then on, it is only our choice if we want to remove ourselves from celestial-status.
A good succinct post. My sentiments exactly. I couldn't help myself, and posted an open letter to Tom this morning, on my own site. Great blog! Keep the faith. - MoSop
What's un-American about people giving money to support a political cause? Makes me wonder how many political causes Tom Hanks has donated to and whether or not he felt that was un-American.
Comments like this always make me laugh. It is much easier intellectually to throw down an ad hominem attack than it is to try to understand the other side's point of view.
Both sides of this fight have a good point. One side thinks it is about family and a productive society. There are more than enough studies to support the notion that traditional family is just flat out better in every way shape and form.
The other side thinks it is about discrimination. And they are correct in having strong feelings about that as discrimination should be minimized.
It comes down to which principle you feel is more important in this case. Figure it out, and vote. Don't cry after the fact...the opposing sides are not arguing from a position of ignorance and arrogance; rather a sincere belief that the thing they want it right.
Thanks mosop, I appreciate your comments. I like your open letter and agree with the way you address TH. Nate puts it in the best terms. Ad hominem attacks of the pro prop 8 crowd will not win any arguments. That said, I can see where he is coming from and why he feels strongly. But he should be prepared to back that up for why he thinks we are un-american.
I understand that Tom Hanks doesn't want to be to Mormons what Mel Gibson is to Jews, so he apologizes. Just convenient that just a few short months later, Playtone is working on an episode of Big Love that is very, very, very offensive to Latter Day Saints.
I guess this is what happens when you vote your conscience and fight for what you think is right. You'll give us ours, won't you Tom.
Now that the 'Big Love Temple Ceremony' has turned to yesterday's ham. We can openly and honestly talk about Tom Hanks. You see, Tommy is throwing a hissy fit at this very moment. Tommy's plan was to get the church in a big uproar and turn the whole thing into a big firestorm of revenge.
Revenge for California's Proposition 8 of course. There is no doubt in my mind that after the Gay-Marriage initiative crashed and burned in California, Tommy decided to stab the Mormon Church right in the heart. He tried. He tried and he failed. The Church leadership handled his attack 10 times better than he and the rest of Hollywood handled the democratically decided Proposition 8 election. As always, good job Salt Lake City!
And me, well I didn't handle it as well as Salt Lake City did, I have only one Tom Hanks DVD in my Library; Saving Private Ryan. That shall remain the only Tom Hanks movie in my DVD library.
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