Irony Impaired

I swear that those who post propaganda memes are suffering from a complete lack of irony.

They will post a meme how we should never forgive Jane Fonda for her stupidity of over 40 years ago for which she has apologized many times. (In fact, I did a whole blog on it.) They will forget that the president wasn't the only one trying to figure out ways to avoid the draft and not go to Vietnam. What is more that same meme poster will post a meme not even a few hours later announcing how God forgave and called prostitutes and tax collectors to serve.

Irony impaired.

Another will post a meme about how they will protect their stuff with a gun. Fight the evil government with their AR-15 or how we have to stop all those evil illegal immigrants and their "dreamer kids." Next meme posts? Love thy neighbor. Life is sacred.

Irony impaired.

Meanwhile, on another front comes how we must protect our children from the evils of "rap" music or violent movies and video games. A few hours later, it's how much they miss the good old days of big guns in gun racks in pick-up trucks or how much they miss AC/DC or Deep Purple. (I have to wonder when we will wax nostalgic about Marilyn Manson?) This is followed by a meme about guns featuring Clint Eastwood. Yep, Dirty Harry.

Irony impaired.


This is, of course, followed by a meme about how these kids who are speaking out or these women who are speaking out are eating Tide pods or lying and should just shut up. There is also the problem that if you are attacking the messenger and not the message, then you've lost the argument. You might as well announce, "I've got nothing," followed by "and so's your ol' man." Then they will turn around and complain about how their rights will be limited. First amendment much?

Irony Impaired

And then there is the news story of a gun channel,  InRange TV, moving from YouTube to PornHub because of YouTube's new guidelines on gun shows and PornHub "has a history of being a proactive voice in the online community..."  The new policy on YouTube, by the way, limits gun videos which demonstrate how to modify guns. I have a feeling typing in the search term of "gun show" on PornHub is going to get some interesting results. The owners of InRange TV seem oblivious as to what this move says about their programming.

All together now:

Irony Impaired

Memes before Matter: A Good Guy With a Gun

Reducing a complex problem to a meme only creates division. It solves no problems and only spreads propaganda.

Following the shootings in a Maryland school it was less than 12 hours before the memes about how there were no parades and no reporting about how the the "good guy" with the gun killed the school shooter. This is one of three memes, I've seen. One uses the NRA's "good guy with a gun" propaganda.  Another was a share of a status post also using the "good guy" propaganda. This was despite the fact that there was a bunch of reporting about it. It is also still unclear whether he shot the school shooter or the shooter killed himself. (Update 3/28: The shooter took his own life.) All that is actually known is that shots were exchanged. For some reason, all of the memes I saw announced that there was no coverage especially on CNN.

Let me be clear, the "good guy with a gun" did exactly what he was supposed to do. At least the above meme got that part right. He was the school resource officer, a member of the St. Mary's County sheriff's office, and a member of SWAT. In other words, he was not just some guy with a conceal-carry license with a few hours of training which is what the "good guy with a gun" memes imply. He was not some teacher who thinks guns in the classroom is a good idea. What he is, is a hero who did exactly what he had trained much of his adult life to do. Everyone agrees that his quick actions clearly stopped Maryland's Great Mills High School from becoming much worse. His name is Officer Blaine Gaskill. Much of this information comes from CNN, by the way.

I'd heard the reporting about Gaskill on CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and two local news reports. Had it received the amount of press that Parkland did? No. But then again, a hero cop stopped the shooter before 17 people died. Will there be a parade? I have no idea. I am also unsure what students are having a parade. There have been some walkouts which are not quite the same thing as a parade. Vigils? The only person to die was the shooter.(* Update, late Thursday Jaelynn Rose Willey, one of the two victims of the shooter, was taken off life support and died late Thursday. The county flag was ordered to half-staff.)So why would there be a vigil? I do know that Gaskill would be only the second School Resource Officer to shoot an active shooter since Columbine if his bullets did hit the shooter. He is not some random "good guy with a gun." He is a trained professional. He is a hero. His work is more important and more complicated than to be reduced to propaganda in a meme.

You see what bothers me about these divisive memes is that they are clearly political and agenda driven. They are using a hero to propagate something that is not true.  Here is a list of CNN news stories on the Maryland shooting:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/us/maryland-school-shooting-jaelynn-willey/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/21/us/stoneman-douglas-students-stay-home/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/us/maryland-school-shooting-resource-officer-response-trnd/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/03/20/maryland-school-shooting-governor-larry-hogan-presser-sot.cnn
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/03/20/great-mills-high-school-shooting-maryland-orig-llr.cnn
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/us/parkland-students-great-mill-shooting-trnd/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/03/20/maryland-school-shooting-sheriff-sot.cnn
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/03/20/shooting-maryland-high-school-great-mills-student-sot.cnn
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/03/20/shooting-maryland-school.cnn
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/us/great-mills-high-school-shooting/index.html


Yep, CNN had practically no coverage as long as you don't count these reports. This list took me all of a minute to find by typing in "Maryland School Shooting" on CNN.com.

If you are a gun rights activist, go for it. Try making your arguments without misleading propaganda or attacking people with whom you disagree. Reasoned argument not a meme will help others understand you. I know, far too many people want to make it simple. It seldom is. This kind of meme serves one and only one purpose: propaganda.

Try finding out the truth.

It is really quite simple if you're willing to leave the bubble.

Red Sparrow Fails to Soar

I know. I know. I've fallen down on reviewing the movies I see. Most recently, I went to see Red Sparrow. While I have not loved every Jennifer Lawrence movie, she still shows in everything she does that she is that rare natural actor. She is unfiltered in her performance and this movie is no different. Red Sparrow is meant to be a gritty, character driven spy movie. The problem is not with the acting skills. In fact, the only thing that saves the movie are the performances that the actors turn in. 

The problem with the movie is that it is unevenly paced and often muddled plot. It lacks believable cohesion.  Jennifer Lawrence turns in a credible performance as does her male counterpart, Joel Edgerton. The problem is that the two have zero chemistry on screen. Their love scenes which should be perhaps gentle and moving lack any real emotional ties and fail to juxtaposition against the grim and over-the-top sadistic Sparrow training scenes. Speaking of which, exactly how many Sadistic rape/sex scenes do we need to get the point across? Sparrow training is gruesome and hard and if the Sparrow fails, they die. We get it in about ten minutes of movie. The rest is unnecessary. 

 There is enough plot and character to hold the movie together. What hurts it is it uneven pace. The movie consists of largely talking followed by sadistic scene followed by Jennifer Lawrence walking somewhere followed by more talking followed by grim torture followed by more talking followed by Jennifer Lawrence walking somewhere followed by exciting scene followed by talking... Get the picture? 

Despite the fact that it Jennifer Lawrence is good as the Sparrow who would do anything to be sure her mother (Joely Richardson) is safe, believing that she is a premier ballerina of the Bolshoi is a bit of a stretch. With the exception of Lawrence's and Edgerton's characters and despite reasonably solid performance by supporting cast members like Jeremy Irons and Charlotte Ramping, most of the secondary characters are barely two dimensional. Even the big bad of the movie, Matthias Schoenaerts, who plays the Sparrow's evil Uncle who looks oddly like Putin, has only a halfhearted attempt to give him some depth. Take for example the sadistic hit-man and torturer Matorin (Sebastian Hülk) is a stereotypical henchman.  Most of the characters are pretty much these stereotypes.

 

I wanted Red Sparrow to be more than it was. I wanted to care about what happens to the characters. But alas, I didn't. Red Sparrow is just an okay movie. I won't be buy the DVD. 

A Little Logic

I've been contemplating the whole "fake news" thing. I want you to consider the logic of it. Put aside that since its adoption the places it most likely appears to be used besides the White House is by dictators around the world, I want you to stop and consider this idea that all news organizations except the one you listen to are out to get Donald John Trump.

Are most news organizations of a liberal bent. Some are. Some aren't. Are the news organizations often sensational. Yes. Look, there is a reason why in the news world there is the saying "if it bleeds, it leads." As long as news organizations must make money, they will lead with the sensational and salacious and grim. The question isn't really any of these things. The question is "are what news organizations reporting fake?"  "Fake news" is, after all, Orwellian double-speak for "lies."

Unlike Facebook, Twitter and a host of pundits on the web and TV, real news outlets, from the AP to Reuters to CBS to ABC to NBC and to CNN, have to meet standards. They all have standards and practice departments. Most are under control of the FCC. There are a slew of lawyers who vet stories. There are producers who look at the stories validity and interest. Even "unnamed sources" are verified by other sources. What you must do is distinguish between editorial content and news. On Facebook, YouTube and Twitter there are no such standards. It's why all those wonderful pages you use for your memes can post things that are patently untrue. Quotes that were never actually said. Events that never occurred.

When a true news organization gets it wrong, they update the story. This is a sign of not "fake news" but concern to get it right. Take the recent "fake news" awards put out by the White House. The first place award was not news it was an editorial. All the other awards were given to stories that were corrected as soon as the error was discovered, some within in hours of the mistake. Some reporters were suspended or even lost their jobs because of the mistakes. One of the "fake news" stories was a tweet. This is hardly a news story. The reporter who issued the tweet, apologized within an hour for his mistake. This is also not the only award given to a tweet. People make mistakes and some do stupid things. News organizations make mistakes. Good ones try to correct those mistakes.

For the whole fake news conspiracy to work you have to believe that not only every network, newspaper, magazine, and wire service in the US is out to get one guy. Not only that, you have to also believe that all of these same stories which are reported around the world that every independent news organization are also involved in this conspiracy. Spend just a few seconds looking at the news reported in Great Britain, France, Germany, Mexico, Canada, etc.

Whether you like it or not, you must break out of your bubble. You may not like what they report, that doesn't make it fake. It is why we have the pesky First Amendment.  To be well informed you have read beyond the  headline.

Our election was attacked. Our democracy was attacked. That attack was not just in this country. Russia has attacked virtually the election of every democracy in the world. There is simply no logic to thinking that everything you see that is negative about this president is fake news.

I am still unable to put my head around how many of the people who post the lies and quite honestly hate from their Facebook feeds were just a few months ago angry that Obama wore a tan suit. I take very little at face value. It is why I don't post "news" memes or political memes. I choose not to spread stupidity and lies.

What do you choose?

Now for the False Comparison

Yes, Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world. No, Switzerland does not have the lowest, but it is one of the lowest. I think it is currently 8th. By the way, of the countries with lower homicide rates than Switzerland, the top ones, Singapore and Japan,  have extremely restrictive gun laws. 

No, the Honduras does not have a strict gun law banning all guns. A number of types of guns are allowed, but the AR-15 has been banned. Guns and Ammo magazine also rated Honduras #10 as one of the "10 best countries" in which to own a gun in 2014.  I should point out that Switzerland was rated #3.  Care to guess who number 1?

No, Switzerland does not require everyone to have a gun. What it does have is a military requirement. They give a gun to everyone who serves but the gun is sent home with no ammo, under strictly controlled circumstances, and is expected to be returned after the service is complete, but they can also opt to buy the gun following service. The Swiss have a substantial lower gun ownership rate than the US despite their liberal gun laws. They do require extensive background and mental health checks, though. 

Switzerland has a GDP that ranks it among the top 20 nations in the world despite land-wise being 134th in the world. Honduras has nearly twice the land and two coasts on two oceans, but its GDP is 2.5% of Switzerland. It is also racked by poverty, drugs and corrupt government. Many of the homicides are inner city, poverty related, and often involves drugs. 

The fact is comparing two countries because of their population and some very inaccurate information is not a reason to compare gun laws.