F, you ask why the liberal canon of bien pensant causes serves to soothe the consciences of the Hollywood lefties, when they could be espousing ideas that actually work. It’s what economist Arnold Kling describes as the difference between C-type and M-type arguments, namely consequences versus motives. All of the wishy-wshy liberal ideas have motive at their heart: the desire to be seen to care. Pragmatic, hard-headed ideas, which are generally seen to be right-wing/libertarian, are based on outcome. It is fatal to the sensibilities of the un-examined self to be seen to act in a hard-headed way. So all the posturing is essentially a form of vanity. The question the Hollywood Left asks itself is: does this make me feel better? The question a free-market pragmatist asks himself is: will this work?
