Last night on 60 minutes, Mike Wallace did a piece on the first amendment rights of the publisher of a lot of the soldier-of-fortune type books on bomb-building, etc. - specifically, the uproar was about a book that tells you in great detail how to commit the perfect murder, which was copied by some maniac. The publisher and a "first amendment spokesman" of course defended their right to publish the stuff under the 1st Am, etc. But the plaintiffs in a case whose family member was killed won a legal battle in federal court which said that the 1st Am does not protect that particular book, so they won a $5 million settlement from the publisher, and he agreed to remove the book from the "shelves". What shocked me greatly was the "spokesman's" comment about this fact. He said the court case did great damage to the Constitution (1st Am) because now everyone and their dog will start suing every Bruce Willis and Arnold film, etc., in which there was any type of violence. Then he said that (paraphrasing) "all the attention given to hollywood and books etc. does nothing but shift the focus away from the real issue - the GUNS, GUNS, GUNS." Then he went on about how the entire school shootings/violent society problem is all about gun availability. I actually had had a smile beginning to form on my face when he said the words "real issue..." because I thought of course he would talk about family values, partental guidance & discipline, etc. So I was shocked that this staunch defender of a civil right (the 1st Am) would turn right around and attempt to obliterate another (the 2nd Am). In retrospect I should not have been shocked, because most all media and ACLU types are liberal knee-jerk idiots who misunderstand the second amendment and bad-mouth guns at every opportunity.
Now what occurred to me about all this is that while the Hollywood/media crowd is going on the all-out offensive to try and lay all the blame on guns to divert focus away from all the senseless violence in their offerings, we on the other hand, as freedom supporters, do not usually engage in the same tactic. Typically, 2nd Am supporters do not overtly try to lay the violence blame on movies, books, video games, etc., because that is nothing more than blaming things that without more are themselves harmless (just like blaming a gun), and thus shifting the attention away from the real problem: lack of individual responsibility. So, my point is we need to fight fire with fire. Though it may not be fair and may not make perfect sense, the antis have never fought fair. We ought to, IMO, at every turn, blame the books, movies, hoollywood etc. The truth is all the violence does indeed affect kids growing up in a negative way, and hollywood could care less about anything other than making money. Comments are welcome.
Now what occurred to me about all this is that while the Hollywood/media crowd is going on the all-out offensive to try and lay all the blame on guns to divert focus away from all the senseless violence in their offerings, we on the other hand, as freedom supporters, do not usually engage in the same tactic. Typically, 2nd Am supporters do not overtly try to lay the violence blame on movies, books, video games, etc., because that is nothing more than blaming things that without more are themselves harmless (just like blaming a gun), and thus shifting the attention away from the real problem: lack of individual responsibility. So, my point is we need to fight fire with fire. Though it may not be fair and may not make perfect sense, the antis have never fought fair. We ought to, IMO, at every turn, blame the books, movies, hoollywood etc. The truth is all the violence does indeed affect kids growing up in a negative way, and hollywood could care less about anything other than making money. Comments are welcome.
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