Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Smith: Entertainment Industry Vilifies Business

Newsmax discusses Fred Smith's latest Forbes column:

"The entertainment industry may be run by businessmen, but it does its best to tear down the U.S. business community, says Fred Smith director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's center for advancing capitalism.



He cites the recent remake of The Manchurian Candidate as an example. 



"While it repeats most of the plot of the 1962 original, the North Korean military is replaced by a private equity firm as the villain. These days, it seems that capitalists are easier to demonize than communists," Smith writes in an article for Forbes.



"Culture warriors have had many villains, but the businessman — the capitalist — has long been a favorite." It goes back to the 19th century, he says.



"Those [anti-business] themes, their flames kept burning by the Naomi Kleins and Michael Moores of today, have come to dominate our novels, movies, and TV shows. And the attacks only seem to increase in both frequency and intensity."



Business people need to respond more strongly to the attacks. "Where are the businessmen today — in America or elsewhere — with the courage and the ability to defend capitalism?" Smith asks.



"Rhetoric matters, and the drumbeat of anti-business narratives has had an impact, not only on how the public views business, but on how businessmen view themselves.""