Robert Towne

Born: November 23, 1934 in Los Angeles, California, USA

Died on July 1, 2024

The [American] dream was more “If you can be similar in that way, you can be American and have equal opportunities.” Whereas today it’s, how can I put it? It’s kind of Balkanized: Black pride. Gay pride. White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant pride. All of these things, you know, they’re more polarized, aren’t they? The red and blue states. Christians, that’s the most insidious aspect of it, giving into this great Christian image of America. That’s the most frightening thing of all. Whereas [in the past] they’re trying to find things that unite us, to minimize the differences. Whereas today there’s this belief in empowerment and entitlement by maximizing differences. I’m not so sure that that’s healthy. I don’t mean that it’s not healthy to want to hang onto your culture. But I think it’s unhealthy to set it up against somebody else’s and say “ours is better.” Then there’s the Christian Right saying that this is a Christian country when it’s not.