Chapter 170 The Father of American Film
When life is not going well, people always need to find a way to vent. Moreover, California itself had very poor basic conditions at that time. The economic pressure still had a great impact. For example, a hundred years later, California's economy was the best in the country, and everyone gradually felt superior. With Hollywood and Silicon Valley as two advantageous industries, the citizens here would not have so many complaints.
Now, Latinos are only a minority here, and once the wave of xenophobia starts, they will not worry about backlash. With the continuous emergence of waves of marches, the mentality of citizens throughout California has undergone a huge change.
This wave of xenophobia appeared in California abruptly, without anyone being prepared. Through a series of fake news and fabricated events, it aroused the latent xenophobia in the hearts of local citizens. This series of changes caught everyone off guard except the parties involved.
This kind of unpreparedness was fully reflected in the California State Assembly. In the eyes of many senior politicians, although the wave of xenophobia is not new, it usually occurs during economic crises. Until last year, the wave of xenophobia was possible, and everyone could fully understand it if it happened at that time.
Harvey, who is only in his thirties and has recently gained fame, has fulfilled his promise to protest citizens and expressed the California government's dissatisfaction with the problem of illegal immigration on the border with Mexico.
"Mr. Harvey, please watch your words. This is the parliament, not a noisy street. The volume of your voice won't solve any problems!" Finally, someone couldn't help but express his dissatisfaction with Harvey's jumping around.
"Dear Mr. Claire, telling the gentlemen here the will of the citizens truthfully is the greatest respect for public opinion." Harvey held his head high and said with a dignified look, "There is no need to talk about the cause of this incident. California is close to Mexico, and there are even two Californias in Mexico. This shows that Mexicans have always remembered the war. It is completely understandable that the citizens are uneasy in this situation. They are afraid that more and more foreigners will appear in their homeland. This is normal."
It's easy to find a pretext to accuse someone of a crime, and Harvey was not lying. Mexico has two states adjacent to the United States, Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur. With such obvious names, it's understandable that they have nothing to do with California. However, ordinary citizens will feel uncomfortable after all, and it's not so easy for them to understand.
As soon as Harvey finished speaking, he immediately aroused the approval of a group of Democratic congressmen. Democrats are inherently more belligerent than Republicans, and they are two political parties in the same country. They say they are striving to serve the citizens of the United States, but how can there not be conflicts of interest? There is no need for a reason to support Harvey's speech.
In the state assembly on this day, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party had a fierce battle over the issue of illegal immigration from Mexico. After arguing for a whole day, no solution was found. However, this is very normal. The efficiency of this system is very low. It is normal for no solution to be found after arguing for a year.
As the Republicans who currently control California, they believe that the Democrats are just looking for trouble. The Republicans seek stability and do not want to see any unrest in society when they control California.
The Republicans' attitude reminded Harvey, who was watching from the sidelines, of something Sheffield said: "In my impression, the ruling party wants stability, and the opposition party's main job is to cause chaos. If Republicans don't care about the issue of illegal immigration, that's completely normal. Everyone wants stability."
The reason why the Chinese Exclusion Act of more than a decade ago was finally passed was because the California Workers Party, which emerged outside the two major parties, squeezed into the state legislature, won over some xenophobic congressmen, and ultimately passed the bill.
Use xenophobia to unite people's hearts, and then paint a beautiful picture of the future. If the first step cannot be implemented, there will be no way to talk about the subsequent pie in the sky. So Harvey did not give in at all. He launched a fierce attack on the Republicans in the state legislature and even fired a map cannon, saying that the Republicans have always been so cautious. If there was only one Republican Party in the United States, the United States today would not have California at all.
This further aroused the confrontation between Democrats and Republicans, and Harvey's proposal was naturally rejected. Both camps made sweet remarks and sent each other cordial greetings, but the matter was eventually dropped.
Harvey returned to Los Angeles and came to Sheffield Films, recounting the details of the day. Looking at the tired city councilman, Sheffield, who had not been back for long, thought for a while and said, "If public opinion is to be xenophobic, the Republicans' attitude is not acceptable. The Democrats should keep their distance from them."
The question is whether the current xenophobic public opinion is real. If a country really has big problems, even if someone is trying hard to whitewash it, or even if for some reason citizens are unable to speak directly, they will still feel dissatisfied.
Otherwise, according to any prediction, the real estate businessman would not have won against the White House. She had even set up the fireworks to celebrate her victory. She even published a book about her future as president in advance. But the real estate businessman won, which proves that political correctness cannot cover up all problems.
Sheffield also looked at Harvey who was thinking hard. He stood up and walked to the side. When he came back, he had a glass of red wine in his hand and slowly poured it for Harvey. "You have already said what the citizens want to say. There is no need to worry. Now you just need to let the public know the attitude of the Republicans. As for the details, I will think about it."
"I don't believe that the police station has no records of Latino crimes. We will slowly find out through our connections and then disclose it at the right time. But now is not the right time. Let's first let the citizens know about what you have proposed but was rejected." Sheffield spoke slowly while shaking his wine glass.
Harvey finally nodded and said, "But of course we need to observe whether public opinion really wants to exclude foreigners. Let's not hold on to this issue for a few days and see how the various cities react."
Harvey meant to wait and see what kind of people the Republican Party that controls California is like. Sheffield's eyes lit up. He was indeed a politician, and he seemed to think more deeply than he did.
If we keep encouraging xenophobia, citizens will get tired of it. There is still half a year before the election, and if we keep encouraging xenophobia, the enthusiasm for xenophobia may cool down by then.
"Okay, you have more experience in this area than me, so let's do it according to your wishes." Sheffield thought for a long time and decided not to be stubborn. After all, they were the electors and he was just an assistant, so he had to listen to them.
While California citizens were angry about the Republican indifference, Sheffield was busy with his own affairs, and he had a lot of things to do. About the establishment of farms in Southern California, the railroad branch line to the border, and the most important progress of electrification.
Everything made him anxious and anxious. In June, Sheffield had a conversation with film pioneers from all over the United States in Hollywood. The location was in the Hollywood Theater which had not yet been built. In an environment where even the windows were not installed properly, Sheffield met with early American film pioneers.
Harvey, who has been in the limelight recently, was still pulled by Sheffield to serve as a witness. Harvey himself also expressed his welcome to these film pioneers and said that he was recently proposing a bill to let the California State Assembly pass a bill to support the cultural industry, which would include a series of preferential treatments such as tax exemption.
Just last year, these filmmakers who had just started making movies were being chased by the legal department of Sheffield United across the country and were in a state of hiding, fearing that they would wake up one day and receive a court summons.
In fact, Sheffield didn't know whether these filmmakers who came from all over the country were the pioneers of the United States. As far as he knew, it seemed that American films were still far from becoming popular. These filmmakers probably didn't have any famous names, and they might just be working for themselves in the future.
As a boss who holds the film patent, his talent is limited to making special effects films and fighting monsters. Although it is not difficult to fool the citizens of this era, it is limited to this.
Faced with many filmmakers who looked nervous and didn't know what they would face, Sheffield was very magnanimous this time, saying that he had no idea about what happened last year. It was just a personal behavior of the company's legal department. Because there were too many patent disputes, the legal department had been in a busy state and did not distinguish between different industries, and was busy fighting lawsuits.
Fortunately, these early film pioneers did not have any heirs to wealthy families, otherwise this easily exposed lie would have been exposed on the spot. After lying with a red face and a calm heart, Sheffield said that he was not a person who did not know how to share. Although confused by his age, this statement still made many people let down their guard.
The boy, who was so young and should be a student, had already expressed his apologies, and everyone agreed that the matter was over. After all, the prospect of tax exemption was still quite tempting.
"I think Mr. William is also a movie lover." A man in his twenties offered himself, "Can I work for your company?"
Sheffield really liked the people in the movie. He looked at the man in front of him and asked calmly, "Who are you?"
"My name is David Griffith, and I used to be a screenwriter." David Griffith spoke. His figure standing there made Sheffield's eyes sharp. He seemed to remember that the father of American film was called this name.
A lot of people came to my house today, so I don’t have time to write during the day. I’ll see if I can finish three chapters.
(End of this chapter)
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