10 Comments

Essential Work

Greetings Jim:

I wrote this with respect to recent labor issues in the entertainment industry. I doubt this will get posted, yet here it is for you to contemplate.

To the WGA and SAG-AFTRA:

You lost. I am sorry. But it was not now that you lost. No, it was when you agreed not to be considered essential workers 3 years ago. Now when essential workers were given classification as people that need to go to work under circumstances like a pandemic; not one artist and creative person was given that classification, nor did they seek it. And as crazy to believe, the world is still in a pandemic. Although now that pandemic is global boiling. We will one day need to revert to stay at home orders and Coronavirus pandemic policies when temperatures that we saw in Pheonix in July are nationwide and in perpetuity. Same goes for wildfires burning at all locations with no end in sight. And when that happens, the next generation of leaders will not care about one iota of the needs of the non-essential. Indeed, the solution as was implied in 2020 will one day be explicit: a Ready Player One life. If you know, you know.

The corporations and their leading shareholders and business executives understand this. One reason is that they are aligned with the WEF. In their mind, AI and computer technology will be needed to counter global boiling, increasing and uncontrollable population growth, and a general lack of education because of these issues. And as the likes of Sir Bob Iger, Sir Steven Spielberg, Reed Hastings, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, the numerous SAG-AFTRA members needing to "clarify" their support of the strikes (read: they do not support the strikes) and others see it: the labor actions are now a fool's errand. It was not that way at the start of the labor action, which is why the WGA felt it was needed to go out on strike. A measure I supported wholeheartedly. Yet when the DGA and AMPAS negotiated their contract with the corporations and approved the new 3-year deal, that ended the need for these other strikes to continue. The continued animosity the WGA leadership and SAG leadership are showing shows no purpose other than to reverse their initial agreement to be part of the new framework and frontier of entertainment and governance. And based on IATSE and Teamster comments here, these corporate executives may very well think that the unions are filled with Donald Trump supporters for the BTL people and for the ATL people those who think that Joe Biden will easily win reelection. Well, I am here to tell you that Biden's reelection is not a likelihood; and I say that as a Democrat who has followed Pres. Biden since his Senate years. I have continued to say that we need to look at who has Not endorsed either Biden or Trump in the Hollywood community. Spielberg, for one, has not endorsed Biden in 2020 or now. It tells us something, though I am not sure what.

Now, I do not need to tell you the beliefs and mindset of these Hollywood executives and leaders. You know them already. What I will say is that many of them believe in a statement which I paraphrase as "you have the oil, but we have the matches". In this case, oil is the creative field, and the matches are the pipes, cables, directors, stars, and money needed to create these artistic content products. And with one flick of the match, the oil can burn away. All I am saying is that we all in this matter, from artists to executives to attorneys to people like me who are mere fans do not want to see the entertainment industry version of the 1979 UK general elections, the 1981 Air traffic control strike, the 1987 International Paper strike and the 1989 Eastern Airlines strike. All matters in which the result was to burn it all down. In this time, which would mean cancelling every tv show, whatever movies are supposed to be released, the Emmys, the Oscars, everything late nighttime, and to top it all off: withdrawing and/or deleting everything from public view. Do not think for a moment that the corporations are not considering this drastic measure. They are. And they can easily start again with AI technology. We are seeing this now on Twitter with AI influencers.

Yet, it appears that the WGA, SAG, and others will be looked at as not employed as soon as possible, Monday. I hope it does not happen. But I did say that they only had a short window to end this labor dispute before the NFL season began. Today was the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony. The NFL season has effectively begun. It is over. Time to either move on or come back with a loss. And one more thing: we need Medicare for all and Universal Basic Income. That is for the US Government to do, not entertainment and technology companies.

PS: go watch the new Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer. An apt parable for our times.

• The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. – George Orwell, Animal Farm

Best Wishes and Kindest Regards,

Robert Kelly

Expand full comment

Help me out if you can. Trying to remember, but blanking on which MAGA tweeted a photo from a cafe table or hotel table saying they were sitting across or meeting Q. Byrne? Kerik? Patel?

Expand full comment

To clarify, this wasn’t recently - I think it was prior to Jan 6.

Expand full comment

Hi Jim will we meet today... many questions...eager to hear your take.

Expand full comment

sunday. today is just too nuts.

Expand full comment

thanks much ... agree. Keep well. thank you

Expand full comment

Flynn questions remain? Sending support in all forms...thank you Jim

Expand full comment

chilling and then some... appreciate the blunt messaging. Will go back and read more carefully.

Expand full comment

We wait with bated breath for the Georgia and DOJ indictments of Trump. But the sad oart of that is...we’re most of us just waiting while fascist actors like Mike Flynn are activating their zombie army.

Expand full comment

We're only a heartbeat away from having Project 2025 destroying the nation.

Expand full comment