I’ve never really watched either of the programs involved but both of them strike me as the wrong place to foster political views on anything. Here’s why. Both tend to rely on slapstick humor and exaggerated views of society with an emphasis on the ridiculous. The Simpson’s bit simply wouldn’t happen in the world, background results portrayed would be a denial; end of purchase. The other bit portrays a gun nut in the extreme, a view just waiting to be spread by the more “progressive” members of the political spectrum as an example of someone who shouldn’t be allowed near a firearm. Multiple firearms stashed under the nose of the family screams paranoia and could equally be viewed as a dangerous personality for gun possession. (The rest of the footage, in the Simpson clip, is just propaganda and poorly juxtaposed to send an anti-American and anti-gun message.)
The second half of the “family guy” (?) bit actually holds a grain of truth and I have used the exact method of defusing an anti-gun rights activist, two of them really. A simple camping trip in the middle of the PRK with my leftist college friend and a deep cover carried .44mag Super Blackhawk, I left my apartment keys with another leftist friend who was collecting my mail and watering plants and such.
A weeklong trip holding several amusing stories and mini-adventures was brought to an abrupt halt when the gun was discovered, conveniently on the last night. An intense discussion followed and I simply asked the question, “the gun’s been with us for a week, did it kill anyone in your presence?”. He stuttered and stammered the usual platitudes and then slowly had to admit that without human intervention a gun couldn’t do anyone harm. An hour later a bear wandered through the campground and I had to stop him from asking for the gun out of fear for our safety, I firmly told him that as long as the bear went about it’s business the gun wasn’t to see the light of day. A changed man seemingly, his philosophy altered with a single instance of rational thought, the bear helped a just a little. (It was scared off by banging a hammer and shovel together.)
On returning home, to my dismal apartment, I pulled the small duffle with the gun and walked over to my other friends’ door to collect my keys and drop off several small gifts in thanks for her stewardship of my belongings. We chatted about Sequoia/ Kings Canyon for a while and then she launched into a tirade about guns. She was in a complete tizzy over her husbands desire to buy a shotgun for home defense, they had been fighting over it for three days. She proclaimed a gun would never cross her doorstep. I immediately apologized and offered to leave confessing my burden in the bag. She froze in horror and I asked a simple question, “do you think it can open the bag and hurt you by itself?” An hour later I was able to leave for my own apartment, I didn’t change her but I was able to convince her that only human intervention with evil intent could make a firearm a lethal weapon.
Burying a message inside a joke or a silly cartoon negates the message or makes a mockery of it. Only by honest effort and rational conversation will anyone be taught to reason for themselves instead of accepting a predetermined dogma generated by a political or socialist agenda.
}
>
Stupid propaganda.
