Many individuals are pleading for someone to "do something" in the aftermath of horrific shootings in Buffalo and Texas. Yet, when it comes to establishing an environment that promotes violence among the feeble minded, some of the loudest voices in that chorus are among the biggest hypocrites.
In his Friday Real Time on HBO, Bill Maher fired a warning shot across Hollywood's bow, urging the industry to examine its own culture of violence as a stimulant that generates justification for violent behavior in some minds.Before the age of 18, the average American child witnesses an estimated 200,000 acts of violence, according to Maher. "Hollywood is the most awake place on the planet," Maher added, citing the good that has been accomplished as a result of those values. "However, crickets when it comes to romanticizing gun violence."
As seen by the scores of films with that word in the title, Hollywood likes preaching retribution. "Because no impressionable young boy would ever do that," Maher sarcastically observed.
He pointed out that there's a consideration of "huge quantities of gun violence in movies and TV" on a pie chart explaining the reasons of mass shootings — concerns like mental health, easy access to guns, and social media fueling envy and hatred. Are you telling me that these cool dudes have no influence on them?"
Guns are promoted as the best solution to life's difficulties "again and over again." "They're called action flicks," Maher explained. "They ought to be called revenge films."
The theme of most action films, which are "created for and cherished by young guys," is "getting revenge on those who harmed you." According to Maher, the trope of a kind guy who is pushed too far does not result in a society of violence. It fosters "a culture of justified violence," according to Maher.
"But then they continuously generate movies with that identical narrative," Maher remarked of Hollywood's reaction to Wisconsin vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse's deeds.
"Every horrible concept in all of these movies is how to exact revenge," Maher said, while admitting that he isn't in favor of censorship or structuring society around "what crazy people could do."
Part of the problem is that the good guys can shoot an unending number of bad guys while never seeming to suffer major consequences. "The worst that can happen to you is that you'll have to sit with a blanket next to the ambulance."
Dr. Cornel West, a Princeton professor, previously told Maher that politics is all about "the superficial and the show." He also backed the teaching of Western-centric humanities programs, but was undecided when questioned whether certain subjects, such as mathematics, overly reflect white ideas.
Kellyanne Conway, former senior adviser to President Trump and author of the memoir Here's the Deal, and Josh Barro, presenter of the monthly podcast "Very Serious" and blogger for "Very Serious" on Substack, were on the panel this week.
Conway refused to say whether Donald Trump should run for president again, and the former White House adviser pointed out that the current hearings on Jan. 6 are not a courtroom. Conway countered that no one knows what was on Trump's mind, and kept turning the conversation to inflation and the Biden administration's various failures, which irritated Maher at times. Maher insisted that the Jan. 6 uprising was a "planned coup," but Conway countered that no one knows what was on Trump's mind.
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