Golden Hound
Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
- Messages
- 778
One of the biggest mistakes that I see on this forum is people saying the following, or some variation thereof, with regard to some anti-gun message in a film or television show:
"It's just a movie, so it doesn't matter."
I touched on this same issue, although in a different way, in the thread about Henry Rollins. There, people argued that Rollins's opinion on guns was not relevant because he's "just" an entertainer. I contended that the opinion of an entertainer carries a tremendous amount of weight because of all of the fans of that entertainer who are going to be influenced by it.
The same concept applies to movies. And television, and cartoons. The thread about the Simpsons had a number of people saying that the anti-gun messages in Family Guy, The Simpsons, American Dad and other shows don't matter because "they're just cartoons."
Anyone who thinks this way is missing the point, big time. What do you think 99.9% of American kids and teenagers spend their time watching on TV? Do you think they're watching Fox News or CSPAN? No, they're watching The Simpsons and Family Guy. Millions of viewers are getting their information from these shows, even if they're "just" cartoons. The cartoons in question incorporate enough real-life ideology that if someone knows NOTHING about guns, and they hear Lisa Simpson or that dog on Family Guy say that most gun owners end up shooting themselves, or some other completely absurd and insane piece of anti propaganda, then this is the "fact" that they are going to come away with. If the overall message about guns that they get is "guns are bad," it doesn't matter WHERE that message is coming from as long as it's getting through their heads. It makes no difference whether the message is coming from a cartoon or a serious drama. The fact of the matter is, that people in America spend their lives glued to the television and WHAT COMES OUT OF THAT TELEVISION, GOES INTO THEIR BRAINS. And that is all there is to it.
The phrase "pop culture" is deceptively innocuous-sounding. The truth is that "pop culture" has the potential to be EXTREMELY powerful propaganda. Look at what happened with the presidential election this year. Barack Obama is going to be our president because he was marketable as a pop culture icon, and John McCain was not. We made the mistake of thinking that these perceptions didn't matter, fielding an unelectable candidate with a vice-presidential running mate who was totally lampooned by the media, and now look what we've got. We're going to be paying for that mistake, big time. All of this "panic buying," the fact that a stamped WASR now costs a thousand dollars - this would never have happened if Obama hadn't gotten elected, and THAT would never have happened if pop culture was on OUR side instead of THEIR side.
You think movies and TV don't matter? Look at how the antis paint this terrible picture of "assault weapons." Their perceptions are obviously drawn entirely from shootouts in movies and TV shows. They're clearly not getting their information from reality, since reality is on OUR side - reality shows that so-called assault weapons account for almost no gun crime - so where are they getting it if they're not getting it from reality? They're getting it from movies. All of this crap about cop-killer bullets and the infamous "Glock 7" - from movies. From TV shows.
You think movies don't matter? Next time you're in a movie theater and you see some scene where some female victim pulls out a gun, and the gun either jams or is taken away from her - reinforcing the message that a gun is not an effective tool for self-defense, which is as far-removed from reality as saying that the earth is flat - and take note of all the people in the theater. Chances are there are a lot of them in there with you. How many of those people do you think are THR members? Unless there is a really uncanny coincidence, chances are NONE of them. That means that every single person in that theater, most likely, beside you, of course, is going to come away from that movie with the idea that a gun is not an effective tool for self-defense for the average person, and that the only people who can be trusted with them are police or "heroes."
You don't think cartoons matter? Read about the phenomenon of the South Park Republican. "A term that was circulated in weblogs and articles on the Internet circa 2001 and 2002, to describe what authors claimed as a "new wave" of young adults and teenagers who hold political beliefs that are, in general, aligned with those that seem to underpin gags and storylines in the popular television cartoon." That is correct, people - a political movement that is based on a cartoon. So much for the idea that "mere cartoons" don't hold any weight for our cause.
Seriously, folks. If our movement is going to go anywhere - if this country is going to maintain our second amendment freedom instead of going the way of socialist Europe - we need to do two things. We need to try to get our message promoted in pop culture entertainment. And we need to vigorously fight against anti-gun propaganda in pop culture. Every time any form of pop culture entertainment promotes an anti-gun message - be it in a cartoon, a comedy, an action movie or a television show - we need to denounce it.
"It's just entertainment" is no longer an excuse.
"It's just a movie, so it doesn't matter."
I touched on this same issue, although in a different way, in the thread about Henry Rollins. There, people argued that Rollins's opinion on guns was not relevant because he's "just" an entertainer. I contended that the opinion of an entertainer carries a tremendous amount of weight because of all of the fans of that entertainer who are going to be influenced by it.
The same concept applies to movies. And television, and cartoons. The thread about the Simpsons had a number of people saying that the anti-gun messages in Family Guy, The Simpsons, American Dad and other shows don't matter because "they're just cartoons."
Anyone who thinks this way is missing the point, big time. What do you think 99.9% of American kids and teenagers spend their time watching on TV? Do you think they're watching Fox News or CSPAN? No, they're watching The Simpsons and Family Guy. Millions of viewers are getting their information from these shows, even if they're "just" cartoons. The cartoons in question incorporate enough real-life ideology that if someone knows NOTHING about guns, and they hear Lisa Simpson or that dog on Family Guy say that most gun owners end up shooting themselves, or some other completely absurd and insane piece of anti propaganda, then this is the "fact" that they are going to come away with. If the overall message about guns that they get is "guns are bad," it doesn't matter WHERE that message is coming from as long as it's getting through their heads. It makes no difference whether the message is coming from a cartoon or a serious drama. The fact of the matter is, that people in America spend their lives glued to the television and WHAT COMES OUT OF THAT TELEVISION, GOES INTO THEIR BRAINS. And that is all there is to it.
The phrase "pop culture" is deceptively innocuous-sounding. The truth is that "pop culture" has the potential to be EXTREMELY powerful propaganda. Look at what happened with the presidential election this year. Barack Obama is going to be our president because he was marketable as a pop culture icon, and John McCain was not. We made the mistake of thinking that these perceptions didn't matter, fielding an unelectable candidate with a vice-presidential running mate who was totally lampooned by the media, and now look what we've got. We're going to be paying for that mistake, big time. All of this "panic buying," the fact that a stamped WASR now costs a thousand dollars - this would never have happened if Obama hadn't gotten elected, and THAT would never have happened if pop culture was on OUR side instead of THEIR side.
You think movies and TV don't matter? Look at how the antis paint this terrible picture of "assault weapons." Their perceptions are obviously drawn entirely from shootouts in movies and TV shows. They're clearly not getting their information from reality, since reality is on OUR side - reality shows that so-called assault weapons account for almost no gun crime - so where are they getting it if they're not getting it from reality? They're getting it from movies. All of this crap about cop-killer bullets and the infamous "Glock 7" - from movies. From TV shows.
You think movies don't matter? Next time you're in a movie theater and you see some scene where some female victim pulls out a gun, and the gun either jams or is taken away from her - reinforcing the message that a gun is not an effective tool for self-defense, which is as far-removed from reality as saying that the earth is flat - and take note of all the people in the theater. Chances are there are a lot of them in there with you. How many of those people do you think are THR members? Unless there is a really uncanny coincidence, chances are NONE of them. That means that every single person in that theater, most likely, beside you, of course, is going to come away from that movie with the idea that a gun is not an effective tool for self-defense for the average person, and that the only people who can be trusted with them are police or "heroes."
You don't think cartoons matter? Read about the phenomenon of the South Park Republican. "A term that was circulated in weblogs and articles on the Internet circa 2001 and 2002, to describe what authors claimed as a "new wave" of young adults and teenagers who hold political beliefs that are, in general, aligned with those that seem to underpin gags and storylines in the popular television cartoon." That is correct, people - a political movement that is based on a cartoon. So much for the idea that "mere cartoons" don't hold any weight for our cause.
Seriously, folks. If our movement is going to go anywhere - if this country is going to maintain our second amendment freedom instead of going the way of socialist Europe - we need to do two things. We need to try to get our message promoted in pop culture entertainment. And we need to vigorously fight against anti-gun propaganda in pop culture. Every time any form of pop culture entertainment promotes an anti-gun message - be it in a cartoon, a comedy, an action movie or a television show - we need to denounce it.
"It's just entertainment" is no longer an excuse.
First, if I am fighting with a knife it is because I ran out of bullets. In fact, if I am in a fight and all I have is a knife, my first instinct is to run.
But believing that to be the underlying truth won't help anyone understand the dynamics of our country's political evolution because it is NOT why Obama was elected...which, in turn, means that responses and strategies based on the premise that erroneous premise aren't likely to be helpful, useful, or effective when it comes to actually fixing/solving anything. :banghead:
