I have great admiration for Sean Penn's accomplishments as an actor and hold his talented and versatile performances in
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Sean Penn
geckomeister-442-680055 — 13 years ago(August 06, 2012 11:20 AM)
I have great admiration for Sean Penn's accomplishments as an actor and hold his talented and versatile performances in high esteem. It is therefore difficult to accept that such a seemingly intelligent individual should fall victim to the rantings of a buffoon such as Hugo Chavez.
Perhaps Penn is keen on studying the more deviant aspects of Chavez' personality in order to cast himself as the leader of the "Bolivarian Revolution" in a future film production. Maybe he enjoys his appearances with Chavez and feels a need to identify with this hoodlum in order to maintain his "bad boy" image. What I simply refuse to believe, out of respect for the talents he has displayed in numerous films, is that Sean Penn endorses what is probably the most repressive, corrupt and inefficient regime south of Cuba.
Over 160 thousand people have lost their lives to an ever-increasing crime rate since Chavez came to power in Venezuela. The productive sector has been decimated by illegal confiscations and expropriations; the same can be said of once-productive farms throughout the country. Over 20,000 workers of PDVSA, the state-run oil company, were summarily fired from their jobs for disagreeing with Chavez's pro-Castro political views and many more have suffered professional apartheid for opposing Chavez' persistent attempts to turn Venezuela into another communist regime.
The Chavez administration has received over $1 trillion in oil revenues (from sales to the much-maligned "Empire", the U.S.) and, nearly 13 years later, Venezuelans lack adequate medical care as public hospitals have collapsed, do not receive a proper education as the school system in which failing students for their poor academic performance constitutes an act of "discrimination", thus fostering mediocrity, and entrepreneurs who do not toe the party line are subject of arbitrary and unpaid expropriation of their business and even their homes. Meanwhile, the country's infrastructure is falling to pieces and a new breed of wealthy corrupt government officials, aptly named "boliburgueses" (the Bolivarian bourgeoisie)has pilfered billions of dollars of the country's money.
The separation of power, a keystone to any democratic system, has been undermined and in today's Venezuelan political environment, both the Legislative and the Judiciary are but pawns to an all-powerful executive branch, which rules unchecked, unsupervised and exercising unmitigated repression over all dissenters. The National Assembly (Congress), the Supreme Court, The Attorney General's office and any entity designed to maintain the checks and balances among these powers are in the hands of corrupt officials who answer only to Chavez' whims and live in constant fear of losing their jobs or prerogatives.
In the midst of all this chaos, Mr. Penn prances in praising Chavez's "accomplishments" and "democratic" ideals. I believe it is time for him to see things for what they are and, in order to protect his own reputations, steer clear from Chavez's circle of friends, which include sinister characters such as Lukashenko, Ahmadinejad, Mugabe and the Castro brothers (now that his "buddies", Saddam Hussein and Moammar Khaddafi are out of the picture). -
bishops64 — 13 years ago(August 06, 2012 03:06 PM)
I understand what you're saying, but I get the impression that when Sean Penn believes in something or someone he's loyal no matter what. I'm not sure what the deal with Chavez is, but I would have less respect for him if he capitulated and didn't do want he wants to do, and supporting Chavez is something that he wants to do. I'm not that concerned with his politics, people are allowed to have their beliefs and opinions whether I agree with them or even understand them,I just want him to make movies.
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bishops64 — 13 years ago(August 07, 2012 01:12 PM)
People are entitled to their beliefs even if I feel that their beliefs are bigoted, racist, sexist,anti-Jewish,anti-gay, etc. I don't agree with national socialists, socialists, racists, or radical Islamists, but they are entitled to those beliefs. No ifs, ands, or buts. I didn't say it was acceptable to endorse Chavez or bin laden or Hitler or anyone else, all I'm saying is if that's what he wants/needs to do then that's his prerogative.
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geckomeister-442-680055 — 13 years ago(August 08, 2012 07:07 AM)
Let's just agree to disagree, then. I am a libertarian as well and respect other people's views on racism, sexuality, religion, etc., but I believe there's a distinction between tolerating those views and ignoring their sometimes tragic consequences. If we as humans feel that it is acceptable or we are willing to turn a blind eye to those views that consider the eradication of ethnic groups and /or the imposition of repressive political systems a necessary step towards the achievement of their goals, we are accomplices to their acts in pursuing those beliefs.
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Camargue — 13 years ago(March 06, 2013 12:54 AM)
bishop: DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCEPT OF SUPPORTING A MASS MURDERER????
Dismissing Sean Penn's "SUPPORT" of an evil, totalitarian, murderer, and manipulator like Chavez as "LOYALTY" is incomprehensible!!!
Those MURDERED CITIZENS are REAL people, with real wives, and real children, and real parents, who are left to MOURN in private because to "criticize" EL COMMANDANTE will just lead to MORE murders of their family members.
Do you not have ANY limits?
Do you not have ANY standards?
Do you accept "evil" as "just another choice?"
Do you accept MURDERING his countrymen as "just a political matter?"
IF you had a friend, and you found out that he had MURDERED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, and STOLEN THEIR MONEY, and STOLEN THEIR PROPERTY, and GAVE THEIR PROPERTY to his family members, and RAPED the wives of others, and RAPED the daughters of others, and TORTURED their family members. . . . . . . would it cross your mind to stop being his friend?
Or, would "dropping" him be disloyal?
Do you actually believe that "changing your mind" about supporting a mass murderer, thief, liar, manipulator, and horror of a human being, is "capitulating?"
Your support of Sean Penn is WORSE than his stupidity! He was "approached" by that evil old monster and was flattered by him, and was "fooled" by him, but YOU are supposed to be smarter than that! -
Galley_WormFilledSkull — 13 years ago(December 08, 2012 05:45 AM)
democracy is not the bastion of freedom and goodwill, i lived in ex yugoslavia, with a "dictatorialship" of josip broz tito and honestly, about 70 % of common people would say that they loved every second of it.
When you're never allowed to see your rich neighbor's garden you'll think that your backyard is the most beautiful place in the world.
Fascist troll.
'What goes around comes around. Just like a kangaroo.' -
Camargue — 13 years ago(March 06, 2013 01:04 AM)
ismar:
Your understanding is incorrect. While you may want to rewrite history, you will have to redefine words at the same time.
He was NOT "democratically elected to be president" unless you change the meaning of every single word.
Chavez was a TOTALITARIAN DICTATOR, and MASS MURDERER, and THIEF, and LIAR, and MANIPULATOR and that is just the beginning of his evil deeds!
The most intelligent woman was asked: "What is the most important concept?" She replied, "TRUTH" (because there isn't a darn thing you can do about it).
You can tell story after story, tall tale after tall tale, but, eventually, the truth will out, it always has and it always will. -
franzkabuki — 11 years ago(May 03, 2014 02:39 PM)
Chavez most definitely was democratically elected to power. And what "mass murder" are you talking about? Various human rights organizations, while often critical of certain aspects of Chavez
s rule, have never made any mention of any murders - and killing on a mass scale isnt something you can hide from the world. Venezuela under his rule was hardly a model society, but it would seem at least towards the beginning of his presidency, he had largely rather noble intentions, battling poverty, improving health care & education system etc. If you`re looking for truly evil leadership, better look in the direction of Washington DC during the GWBush years.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan -
geckomeister-442-680055 — 13 years ago(October 16, 2012 04:47 PM)
You obviously do not have the slightest clue as to how Chavez "won" these elections. Imagine that next December's elections were held in the US and Obama held sway over the Supreme Court, the Attorney General's Office, Congress, the Electoral College and used your tax dollars on lavish campaign advertising. Imagine if Obama could force all networks to broadcast all of his speeches and public appearances while forcing those same networks to even mention Romney's campaign. Lastly, imagine over 1.5 million Americans being threatened to vote for Obama or having their businesses confiscated, their relatives imprisoned or the promise of free housing coerced by such measures. Who do you think would win the US elections? Think again, or better still, read more.
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geckomeister-442-680055 — 13 years ago(October 17, 2012 11:38 AM)
You will have to take that up with the US government and/or the Latin American governments and dictatorships that connived with them to exploit the land and its people. That does not exempt your idol Penn from being yet another victim of Chavez' wily and deceitful ways.
Governments, just as people, are invariably flawed and also have certain virtues. Your comments about the Americans (and I hope you are referring to the U.S. Go5b4vernment, not the American people) contain a grain of truth, but the same can be said of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Macedonians, Persians, etc. as well as their modern Spanish, British, French, Italian, German and Belgian counterparts. Your comment really adds very little to a self-evident truth. -
geckomeister-442-680055 — 13 years ago(October 17, 2012 02:20 PM)
Yes he did. That was 14 years ago. A lot of water under the bridge since then. During that period, he has squandered some $1.3 TRILLION without diminishing poverty or improving health and education or the standard of living in any way. The country's infrastructure is collapsing and the few vestiges of democracy disappearing through gradual encroachment of a totalitarian regime he now heads.