Making It to the Top in America

(Written June 11, 2015, edited October 21, 2015)
for The Bold Pursuit

In America, the ideal of success is embodied in the young person who is born into poverty, sets a worthy goal, and pursues it relentlessly through difficulties and setbacks, until at long last his efforts pay off, and he (or she) is rewarded handsomely.  He needs no agent.  She is her own woman.

Of course that ideal is realized countless times in America, but it is not the whole story.  All too often, it really is, “Whom you know,” not what you know, that lifts some people from anonymity to fame.

My first encounter with this reality was many years ago, when a good friend of mine, Jack (not his real name), was an aspiring rock and roll musician.  He was good, very good, at what he did, and we (all his friends) expected to someday see him on stage and television, just as we had seen the Beatles, Mick Jagger, and other big names of the era.

In later years, I lost contact with Jack, but I noticed that many of the singers in church choirs are stunningly good.  It is no exaggeration to say that they are at least as good at singing as any celebrity that makes thousands of dollars per performance.  I wondered, what separates the uncelebrated but melodic nightingales from the rock stars?  Why aren’t these choir singers famous?

In answer to this, after a few years, I encountered Jack once again, who by then was working as a union construction laborer (I am disguising this part of the account).  I asked if he was still into music, but he told me that there is this thing called the musician’s guild, a trade union that controls the career tracks of most musicians.  The only way around the guild bureaucracy is to have powerful connections, someone who will “mention” your name in high circles.  Indeed, Jack had gotten his well paying construction job because he had a relative who was fortuitously placed in the union hierarchy.  You’ll never see Jack in the top forty, but he probably still plays guitar well enough to be there.

Jack’s story explained a lot to me, as did that of another acquaintance, an artist.  (I’m also disguising this story, but you probably know such people yourself.)  She produced what most would consider top quality artwork.  She was able to command impressive prices for her works, but the key to career success as an artist seems to be to gain a “showing” in a museum or prestigious gallery.  Picasso’s worst painting ever, or even one of his notebook sketches, can sell for more than her best work.  People who pay large sums for works of art pay for the name, not so much the quality.

All this might sound like sour grapes, but the people who tell me of these experiences are neither angry nor bitter.  They recognize that their talents and skills are not unique, but that many thousands of people possess them, and there is only so much room at the top.  They do not feel entitled to rise above their equals.  While they deserve to be at the top, so also, they will tell you, do those who are already there.

This ordinary fact of life becomes pernicious when people who have deservedly risen above the crowd, are then blacklisted.  This can happen in Hollywood, in music, and in academia— and it can happen for the seemingly most trivial of perceived infractions. 

For example, Jim Caviezel, star of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ claims that he has been blacklisted, barred from being cast in further movies.  He also says that Gibson warned him that this would happen.  Gibson reportedly told him, “You’ll never work in this town again.” Caviezel reportedly replied, “We all have to embrace our crosses.”

Michael Medved, a politically conservative Jew and radio talk-show host, has been outspoken about Hollywood’s rejection of Christian-themed movies.  This discrimination occurs despite the fact that conservative and family-oriented movies make more money than the vulgar and sex-themed movies that populate the R ratings in theaters.  It seems that the motives of Hollywood are more ideological than financial.  One must never rock the boat, or else, he will find himself off the boat.

In academia, politically liberal professors sometimes discover that they are not liberal enough.  The slightest departure from liberal dogma is enough to get one fired.  Even an innocuous observation, at worst a politically incorrect opinion, can be fatal to one's academic career.  Mere students fare even worse. 

Nowhere is blacklisting more vicious than in political reporting.  The most recent example is the attempt by the New York Times to smear Republican Senator (and presidential candidate) Marco Rubio as reckless, both in his personal finances, and in his driving record.  So ludicrous was this hit piece that even comedian Jon Stewart, known for his politically liberal views, featured it on his television show as a farce.

Note that the Times is utterly without curiosity concerning Barack Obama’s ties to the convicted real estate swindler (Tony Rezko) whose schemes included Obama’s heavily discounted purchase of a house in Chicago.  The nature of blacklisting is to smear only those with whom you disagree, and to cover up for those you like.

America remains the land of opportunity, and continues to encourage people to rise to the top.  It continues to be a fact that those who apply their talents, who work hard, who avoid destructive behaviors— those people are far more likely to have success than those whose lives are marked by indolence, self-indulgence and self-destructive lifestyles.

But one must never blame poor results on poor choices.  If you do, it could get you blacklisted.

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