eclecticism

02/27/2004 |

Interesting ruminations from Alan today…

Group One blames violence in video games and movies for the behavior of today’s youth.

Group Two buys out entire theaters for church groups, youth groups and families to see Mel Gibson’s “The Passion”.

Any bets on just how separate those two groups really are?

I’m guessing that while there are definitely people solidly in one camp or another, there are probably quite a few people in both groups (and I’ll be damned if I can remember the name of that kind of diagram — you know, the two overlapping circles…) that see absolutely no conflict between the two positions. How they would manage that, I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

iTunes: “Mission Accomplished” by DJ Wüdi from the album Difficult Listening Hour (2001, 27:41).

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6 Responses to “Violence is ( bad | good ) !”

Alex Says:
February 27th, 2004 at 4:31 am

It’s the Venn Diagram

paul Says:
February 27th, 2004 at 6:46 am

Hey, just remember the overlap between churchgoing and 2nd amendment activism/gun ownership (at least in the south) …

I did find it interesting that religious groups are defending a film with an R-rating: apparently, the right kind of gore — gore with a purpose — is acceptable. There was a piece on NPR about a guy who bought $42,000 worth of tickets and arranged for a 22 screen multiplex to the show The Passion on all acreens. He seemed pretty reasonable and thought it would strengthen the faith of believers and reinforce the faith of those whose faith was shaky. Of course, when churches are putting up reader board messages proclaiming “Jews killed Lord Jesus Christ” we may see something other than devout faith as a result.

Arcterex Says:
February 27th, 2004 at 8:33 am

I also saw mention that a lady died of a heart attack around the climax of the film. Sad in an ironic sort of way. Or ironic in a sad sort of way.

A friend of mine went to see it last night and I’ll have to see what he said.

Michael Hanscom Says:
February 27th, 2004 at 10:13 am

Alex — thanks!

Paul — I’m not sure what amazes me more…the fact that he put that message up in the first place, or the fact that he’s professing suprise that it provoked the reaction it did.

Arcterex — very interesting. Of course, there’s no real way to know whether it was the movie that triggered the heart attack, or whether she would have keeled over no matter where she was at the moment, but that’s likely not going to matter to a lot of people. Poor woman, though…I hope that when I get to that point, my last hours are spent in a more enjoyable way than sitting in a movie theater, no matter the subject matter of the movie!

Dan Says:
February 27th, 2004 at 12:43 pm

I think what you mean is “Violence is (bad|good)!”

regular expression alternation.

Michael Hanscom Says:
February 27th, 2004 at 12:47 pm

(laughs) Probably so — my only defense is that I’m no programmer, and was just drudging that up out of memory from what I’ve seen here and there over the years.