We are called upon, once again, to notice the politics of movie stars.
Why, you ask? Can’t we just enjoy the sweet diversion of a movie without knowing the actors’ views on every political topic?
Wouldn’t that be nice! But we must know about their political views because they insist on telling us.
A group of actors recently publicly endorsed Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group Everytown for Gun Safety’s positions on your freedom. Notice I don’t say they voiced their opinions, because they didn't actually do that. What they did instead was congratulate themselves on how brave they are for publicly endorsing Everytown’s wish list for restrictions on Second Amendment freedoms. In other words, they aren’t on some hero’s journey seeking answers to stop evil; they are simply backing the politics of a New York billionaire.
In truth, this ad isn’t designed to be part of a discussion.You can watch Everytown’s issue ad here. If you do, you’ll witness emotional group-think, not people looking for real solutions. You’ll hear better-than-thou judgment from our glitterati—enlightened people who have unearthed greater truths all gleaned from their worlds filled with dog walkers, personal assistants, armed bodyguards and people who think just like them.
On this video you’ll see Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Melissa McCarthy, Sheryl Crow, Laura Dern, Bill Hader, John Slattery, Cynthia Rowley, Zac Posen, Anna Deavere Smith and others. Everytown named it “How To Call Congress,” but all it actually does is parrot Everytown’s talking points, including its childish attacks on the NRA. This is part of Bloomberg’s “#RejecttheNRA” campaign.
In truth, this ad isn’t designed to be part of a discussion. This is propaganda designed to sway people—whomever it is an actor or fashion designer (there are some of those here, too) might influence, anyway—into voting away their freedom.
We should pause to point out that, despite this gathering of stars who loathe our basic civil liberties—well, maybe not their own, as they can afford paid protection—there are actually a lot of stars who understand what the tool of freedom is and why keeping it in our hands matters. But we’ll leave them out of this for now.
The basic story here is the celebrities who took part in this video are some kind of entitled hypocrites.
Julianne Moore, you played Clarice Starling in “Hannibal.” Should Clarice have put down her gun when she hunted Hannibal Lecter in the film? Do real women have the need and the right to be armed to fend off real sociopaths, rapists and murderers?
Everytown—and they say this in this issue ad—opposes “national reciprocity” legislation that would make it easier for women to defend themselves as they travel, yet you think they shouldn’t be able to carry concealed?
Now, Emma Stone you sure had fun with guns in “Zombieland.”Now, Emma Stone (loved you in “La La Land,” by the way) you sure had fun with guns in “Zombieland.” And Melissa McCarthy, you sure did some silly and unsafe things with guns in “The Heat” and “Spy.” And by doing those silly and unsafe things with firearms, you promoted guns, didn’t you?
Maybe these celebrities would say what they did on screen was only fiction—just fantasy or comedy. Maybe they’d say that in real life people don’t have to defend themselves. Their bodyguards … no, wait, that’s not the average American. The police will somehow be all places at all times and gun bans will miraculously—as this has never worked before—disarm all the gang members and other criminals. Meanwhile, in this fantasy, every 110-pound woman and senior citizen and disabled person … will all somehow have the strength to fight off any 200-pound thug that comes their way.
Sounds lovely. Too bad we can’t legislate lovely.
Back to reality—sorry, Everytown and the stars that back you—freedom is what works. I know it’s hard to accept this, as the biggest check on your egos—maybe the only real ego-check outside of box-office failure—is that so few people even care what you think.
That goes double for you, Michael Bloomberg. People don’t care because you are not “thinking,” but are simply advocating failed policy.
Frank Miniter is the author of Kill Big Brother, a novel that shows how to keep government from infringing on our liberties. Miniter is also the author of the The New York Times' bestseller The Ultimate Man’s Survival Guide—Recovering the Lost Art of Manhood, This Will Make a Man of You and The Future of the Gun. He is a contributor to Forbes and writes for many publications. His website is FrankMiniter.com
