The Golden Compass Boycott
The atheist reactions to the boycott called for against the movie "The Golden Compass" are amusing. (I had a link in here, screwed up the formatting and now lost the link - and I'm too lazy to find it)
Funny, I thought liberals liked boycotts. Boycotts were the answer to "non-dolphin safe tuna" and South Africa, right?
But now those that think boycotts are the answer to punishing companies for bad behavior are calling this instance "censorship". Which only reveals their ignorance. Boycotts are not censorship. Censorship is only done by the government and its agencies. Boycotts are the free market in action.
So really their bleating amounts to: "Waaaaaaaaaaahhhh! Christians won't want to pay for entertainment they find offensive!"
Gee... Go figure! Really? And in other breaking news, water is wet. Finding truth not in advertising is so wrong?
"Go see the movie before you judge!" seems to be the typically whinging. You mean, AFTER collecting the $$$ for admission and giving the film money... got it. Perfectly sensible.
Telling folks that they might not want to financially reward a writer deliberately trying to offend believers is wrong... how, exactly?
This is exactly why JK Rowlings didn't trumpet the whole "Dumbledore is Gay!" thing until AFTER the last book was safely a best-seller.
She weasel-ish-ly did so after the fact, and is lauded for being brave. When in fact it was quite cowardly. She didn't have the courage of her convictions. At least not enough to risk losing a few million pounds UK.
This Pullman guy at least had the balls to write books about actually killing God (according to the Urban Legends page). He's not a cowardly pussy like Rowlings.
I'm sure the film's studio execs are sweating some bullets now. Serves them right for not thinking things through. There are very few secrets anymore. Stuff like this is sure to come out.
Funny, I thought liberals liked boycotts. Boycotts were the answer to "non-dolphin safe tuna" and South Africa, right?
But now those that think boycotts are the answer to punishing companies for bad behavior are calling this instance "censorship". Which only reveals their ignorance. Boycotts are not censorship. Censorship is only done by the government and its agencies. Boycotts are the free market in action.
So really their bleating amounts to: "Waaaaaaaaaaahhhh! Christians won't want to pay for entertainment they find offensive!"
Gee... Go figure! Really? And in other breaking news, water is wet. Finding truth not in advertising is so wrong?
"Go see the movie before you judge!" seems to be the typically whinging. You mean, AFTER collecting the $$$ for admission and giving the film money... got it. Perfectly sensible.
Telling folks that they might not want to financially reward a writer deliberately trying to offend believers is wrong... how, exactly?
This is exactly why JK Rowlings didn't trumpet the whole "Dumbledore is Gay!" thing until AFTER the last book was safely a best-seller.
She weasel-ish-ly did so after the fact, and is lauded for being brave. When in fact it was quite cowardly. She didn't have the courage of her convictions. At least not enough to risk losing a few million pounds UK.
This Pullman guy at least had the balls to write books about actually killing God (according to the Urban Legends page). He's not a cowardly pussy like Rowlings.
I'm sure the film's studio execs are sweating some bullets now. Serves them right for not thinking things through. There are very few secrets anymore. Stuff like this is sure to come out.
Labels: liberal douchebags, movies, propaganda, religion
posted by mmaier2112 at 11:46 AM
6 Comments:
This is actually kind of interesting:
This past week at church, the Minister (at a Christian Church) called out other Christians for talking about this - and said that it's things like these "boycotts" that give Christianity a bad name.
The Minister said that we should read the books and better inform ourselves before just following everyone else and boycotting for boycotting's sake. He said that it's uniformed Christians, doing things like this that draw negative media attention towards us.
I liked when he said that. I think it took a lot of people by surprise, but that's why I really dig this minister.
On top of that, my personal opinion: It's all FICTION anyways! it's not real. It's made up. It helps people with escapism. There is no harm in entertainment. Stuff like this "Golden Compass Boycott" is as dumb as the "Video Game Make Kids Killers" crap. It's all entertainment, and people need to escape reality from time to time. I know I love killing me some Grunts, but I know I can't go out and do that in my back yard. Yet...
Actually, this was more about the silly reactions by atheist morons to the boycott than about the boycott itself.
But:
Why in the world should any Christian care what the media says about them? And why should Christians financially support someone that insults God? This "get to know it" mentality is PC-BS run amok. The very central message of Christianity is foretold as being unpopular!
You don't uphold your faith to be liked or to get along. Jesus himself said "Get ready for the shitstorm if you follow me!" (Of course, I'm paraphrasing!)
If the boycott was based on a lie, that would be one thing. But it's apparently not. And therefore, foregoing the purchases of the books and/or movie tickets should be an aim of Christians.
Would you tell a black man "buy KKK literature before you criticize it"? I really somehow doubt you would.
I don't want any government agency prohibit books such as this from being published.
But it is silly to suggest that any Christian should buy (therefore financially helping the writer) books from authors that are outright hostile to the very idea of God. And not even media-savvy enough to avoid saying so in public.
Christians are slammed all the time in popular culture and yet they do almost nothing about it.
Look how Law & Order and other shows slam religion (and ESP. Catholics). I never really noticed how marginalized the writers try to make Christians feel. It's very pervasive. You just have to look for it and you see it everywhere.
If Christians actively boycotted every company that sponsors the slamming of Christians, you'd see a huge change in popular culture.
But you won't.
That's because most of Christians don't care if someone insults God.
But... whatever. It's not my problem, other than not buying certain products or clicking to change the channel.
These guys have someone higher than me to which they will answer.
He he he "Pull (da) man"...
For the want of a link! Not that I couldn't Google it, of course - but you know...
From what I have read on Pullman, his work is more actively atheist - as opposed to the passive Christian voice in Lewis and (to a lesser extent) Tolkien. Pullman's "Dark Materials" trilogy is also widely praised as fine fantasty fiction in the vein of the aforementioned Lewis and Tolkien. "The Golden Compass" is on my shelf, I just haven't read it yet - but plan to before the movie comes out. Narnia and LOTR I have already read.
Probably those objecting to the boycott would prefer that folks boycott not because they are encouraged to, but because they themselves believe it is the right thing to do. Thus the "don't knock it till you try it" schtick. And it doesn't mean that they have to go buy the book. There are things called libraries.
Also, not all atheists are morons - just like all Christians are not evangelical right-wing homophobes.
Sorry - left an incomplete thought.
About borrowing the book from the library as opposed to buying it - they can avoid paying Pullman for the movie OR the book by borrowing it and thereby making their own personal decision on the content.
Boycotting something just because someone says you should is silly. Boycotting something because you believe in the boycott is, as you correctly noted, the free market in action.
I just think the "backlash" of the boycott is hypocritical and silly.
I don't think atheists are by definition moronic. But a good number are hypocritical and nonsensical at times.
But, really, who among us ain't?
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