TPM
After the December killings in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association’s chief lambasted the the evils of violent movies and video games, saying they, rather than guns, were a source of the nation’s woes.
Now, less than six months later, the NRA’s “flagship publication,” American Rifleman, is celebrating cinematic savagery with a list of the top 10 “coolest gun movies” that unabashedly praises Hollywood depictions of death and crime.
“This movie made shooters realize the importance of firepower, and that preparedness might be needed in the future,” Rackley wrote about “The Terminator.” “That is what this movie is about — the future — and how anything is possible, even the creation of cyber units that are a mix of man and machine, which isn’t that unbelievable since recent news reports reveal that scientists have built a bionic man that utilizes a working heart, a set of lungs and a face. Let’s just hope they don’t come for us.”
American Rifleman’s top 10 list is a far cry from the remarks NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre made at a >press conference a week after the Newtown shooting. In that statement, LaPierre decried Hollywood as a “a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.”
“Isn’t fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?” LaPierre said. “In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes.”
Here’s the NRA’s full list of gun flicks:
1. Red Dawn
2. The Terminator
3. The Alamo
4. Die Hard
5. The Godfather
6. Zombieland
7. The Matrix
8. The Delta Force
9. The Road Warrior
10. Tremors
I love that Red Dawn is number one. Gun owners are often overgrown adolescents who pretend to be serious. There's no movie on that list which brings out the gun-nut fantasies like Red Dawn.
What do you think?
RE: NRA hypocrisy--Yes, it's hypocritical for a Second Amendment organization to attack First Amendment protected speech to deflect attention from themselves. Of course, it's also hypocritical for First Amendment supporters to toss the Second Amendment under the bus.
ReplyDeleteRE: Red Dawn--C'mon, Mike, it's just a fun movie. Full of 80's Cheese, encouragement for people living during the M.A.D. days of the cold war, dated silly fun for those of us happy to have survived and not be living under that threat anymore. Heck, I know progressives who are pink verging on red who love this movie.
C'mom, man, Red Dawn was more than that to many gun owners. It is sometimes referred to as a "cult classic." You know what "cult" they're talking about.
DeleteWe would have prevailed in event of such a conflict.
DeleteRed Dawn is one of a type of film or show that includes The Black Hole or even, gasp, Star Trek--namely, an interesting idea done with cheap sets and acting of variable ability.
ReplyDeleteBut Mikeb, tell us how you'd react if someone were to say that Muslims are often violent thugs who pretend to be peaceful? Your naked bigotry is no less offensive.
What bigotry is that, Greg, my observation that "Gun owners are often overgrown adolescents who pretend to be serious?"
DeleteHere's proof that self-awareness ain't all it's cracked up to be...
Delete....So after a tour in Sinai, Egypt and Israel I am a bigot when I KNOW that Fascist Muslim try their best to harm me?!!
Delete...and you are showing your bigot thoughts about gun owners....
ReplyDeleteHypocrisy, as usual, from the NRA. Anything to confuse the issue.
ReplyDeleteYes, violence in movies is detrimental toward building an understanding society, but it's not the main issue by any means. Studies have shown that watching violent movies and playing violent games does lead to those people being desensitized to violence, and possibly more likely to act out violently themselves, but I would hardly use them as a "boogyman" for the violence we see in the States. Other countries watch the same, pathetic, violent gore movies and games that we do and don't have nearly the same level of violence or shootings. The biggest difference is availability of guns.
Again, Oregonian gets confused about studies. The ones I've seen say that there is no definite link between movies, music, or games and violent behavior.
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