Click the headline above for Cult of Mac’s take on how and why Apple should use it’s billions to crush Hollywood, then come back for my take.

Ready? My take is “Yes, but…”…

I agree that Apple should use some ofnthe money they have tucked away to stomp on the dimwits who have held back the video entertainment industry for better than a generation. But build a TV set? Buy or start local cable companies? Give an all-or-nothing ultimatum to the industry? Wrong to the 3rd power.

I do agree with the first step here — buy Netflix. Boom. Giving Netflix the advantage of Apple’s advanced tech and human I terrace expertise and Apple an instant streaming service already adopted so widely would terrify the morons who control Hollywood policy-making.

But Apple doesn’t need a better DVR or a 50” plasma attached to an Apple TV box. Instead, spend money on compelling content. Go directly to the best and brightest in movies & TV and make deals to finance the creation of top-drawer exclusive content. Start with a number of Apple-only TV series by known hitmakers, with weekly episodes to which you can subscribe or buy/rent individually. Create a couple of killer movies that the Hollywood middlemen never get their hands on.

What could be created if Apple handed a group of creators around one billion dollars and said “make something insanely great”? What would a Ron Howard or a Tom Hanks or a Joss Whedon be able to do with cash in hand and the knowledge that they didn’t have to sell their souls or deal with one more Hollyweird dolt who couldn’t make a movie or TV series if his life depended on it, but who has the power to cripple one on a whim?

How many people would fork over $99 for an Apple TV just to watch even 2 or 3 killer series a year from such creators — especially if they knew the purchase would help drive a stake through the heart of the vampires at the MPAA?

Apple-created content alone will not bury Hollywood’s idiot elite, but it could force them to compete by trying to reach the same audience instead of thumbing their noses at it. And it may teach more creators that the “system” is not protecting them but rather just holding them back. And that could be, dare I say it?, revolutionary.