It's a regular topic of discussion by the pundit class that America is a nation with a growing number of 'silos' or 'bubbles.'
The argument is that people only read and watch certain things that cater to their interests and are ignorant of the views and lifestyles of others.
Since the argument is typically lodged by left-leaning pundits and columnists, it creates the false impression that it is the American right that lives in a silo, unencumbered by the opinions of the left or the reporting of the New York Times.
Of course, if you think about it for two seconds, you'll realize the opposite is true.
While Fox News is huge and powerful and there is a whole universe of talk radio hosts and news media outlets, which espouse conservative and libertarian views, the truth is that America's media is dominated by left of center views.
And those who work in the mainstream media ignore everything that challenges their perceptions.
It's one reason so many people expressed shock at the victory of Donald Trump in 2016, or more recently, at the outcome of the Kyle Rittenhouse case in Wisconsin.
They just never paid attention to the other side of what their cohort of friends, media outlets, and lefty celebrities were saying -- so they were taken by surprise.
While left-wing political dominance is a problem across the media, nowhere is it more pronounced than in Hollywood.
While there are actors and creators with right-of-center views, they have to hide their beliefs or risk the end of their careers.
Even the slightest wavering from the marching orders of the woke left is likely to result in a huge penalty.
Take the example of Patton Oswalt, who recently felt compelled to write a huge apology just for taking a picture with his old friend Dave Chappelle – who isn't even a conservative but tells insufficiently-woke jokes about transgender issues.
There's no question, of course, who is the more popular comedian.
Chappelle is arguably the biggest name in comedy -- not just in America -- but in the world. But putting him on the cover of magazines would still be controversial.
So too it is with the most popular show on cable television, Paramount's Yellowstone.
I love the show Yellowstone so much that this year for Halloween my husband and I dressed up as the main couple on the Dutton Ranch, Beth Dutton and Rip, with our daughter going as 'a Dutton ranch deer.'
It just set a new ratings high with its Season 4 finale.
It stars hugely talented actors, averages 10.4 million viewers an episode, and is the most-streamed series in America.
It drives conversations among Americans to levels unseen since The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones – but from the perspective of Hollywood's leftist media, it might as well not exist.
It's a Western, after all, and it's mostly about white people.
A few years ago, when an old friend of mine, who is an actress, told me about a small part she had landed on a show about 'land grabbing on a ranch in Montana starring Kevin Costner by the guy who wrote Sicario,' I knew before it even started that I was going to love it.
Of course, I had to try and figure out where and what the Paramount channel was to find the first episode.
I love the show so much that this year for Halloween my husband and I dressed up as the main couple on the Dutton Ranch, Beth Dutton and Rip, with our daughter going as 'a Dutton ranch deer.'
People recognized who we were when we went to our local town Halloween parade, and I don't think it is just because my husband resembles the actor who plays Rip, it's also because everyone we know watches Yellowstone.
Three years after its launch, the show has turned into nothing short of a cultural phenomenon and a full-blown mass commercial success.
However, it is not the type of cultural phenomenon media critics and commentators value as much as say, an HBO show like 'Succession.'
Yellowstone (scene from show is above) drives conversations among Americans to levels unseen since The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones – but from the perspective of Hollywood's leftist media, it might as well not exist. It's a Western, after all, and it's mostly about white people.
'Succession' is written by avowed leftist Adam McKay -- director of the new climate change movie 'Don't Look Up' -- and it is loosely based on his preferred perspective on the Murdoch family.
We live in an era where what is considered a critical hit often ends up on one cover after another, winning Hollywood awards many times over, while at the same time barely breaking over a few million viewers.
At the same time, Yellowstone is a bonafide commercial success even at a moment when options abound on cable and streaming to an unprecedented degree.
This type of tent-pole show is not supposed to happen anymore, but it has. Now it's spawning spinoffs like 1883 – because apparently, the appetite among Americans for tales of the West is still alive and well.
I love Yellowstone for a variety of reasons, it is a western soap opera set in what I consider one of the most beautiful locations in the entire world.
The acting is fantastic, the characters are rich and flawed and Kevin Costner is the perfect main patriarch to run their family Dutton Ranch.
It is executed authentically without losing a bit of the campy melodrama which makes it fun to watch.
When I was growing up, my Dad used to sit our family together and watch episodes of 'Lonesome Dove.'
It is a western series, starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, about two former Texas Rangers on the border town of Lonesome Dove along the Rio Grande, and based off the novel by Larry McMurtry.
I remember going home to visit my boyfriend from college at his family's home in Prescott, Arizona, and seeing Lonesome Dove playing on the television as I walked in and noting what a huge impact the show continued to have almost two decades after its premiere.
'Succession' (scene from show is above) is written by avowed leftist Adam McKay -- director of the new climate change movie 'Don't Look Up' -- and it is loosely based on his preferred perspective on the Murdoch family.
So why after all of Yellowstone's success is it still not given the same bona fides that series like Succession receive. Succession is a show I also watch and enjoy, but it has not achieved the commercial success of Yellowstone.
You aren't seeing the cast members of Yellowstone host Saturday Night Live or trend on Twitter for long.
The New Yorker is not writing complicated profiles of the cast like what recently happened to Succession's Jeremy Strong.
The show hasn't won any major critical prizes and sadly most likely won't be nominated.
The show isn't woke, it isn't trying to lecture anyone about everything that is wrong with our culture. It doesn't portray the elitist perspective of coastal television writers and where they think America should be going.
What is critically celebrated in Hollywood and the media is more determined by the values and tastes of television writers, than the tastes of the masses.
The dominant Hollywood, left media cohort should be asking: Why does something like this happen?
A major part of the answer is that Americans love Westerns, and people in the heartland like having their culture, lifestyle and history reflected in entertainment – and not to just have it denigrated.
The Wall Street Journal just recently published an article about how the show first became popular in small towns and red-leaning states -- places in the country where a lot of mainstream critical hits don't do well.
Most Americans don't live in the blue bubbles of urban communities where Hollywood focuses their energies.
They enjoy entertainment with values that they share and characters that they can relate to – and if that's something you'd rather ignore as a leftist in media, well, then maybe it's you who is living in the bubble.
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