Hollywood is infuriating in many ways. They roll far to the left, then make movies about war, violence, and pretty much every ill they claim to be against. That’s especially true with regard to guns.
After all, guns have been part of the film industry since the beginning. Yet, as movies became more violent, there have been bigger issues with violence in this country.
That’s led many to argue that violence in film is at least part of the problem.
Anti-gun zealot and actress Julianne Moore, however, disagrees.
Julianne Moore thinks that violent movies are “not to blame” for gun crimes.
The 62-year-old actress – who has children Carl, 25, and Liv, 20, with husband Bart Freundlich – is seen handling a weapon in new Apple+ movie ‘Sharper’ but insisted that while she is not a “fan of violence” on screen, it is “important” to remember that Hollywood is not to blame for rising shootings in the US.
She said: “It’s really important when you talk about gun safety and people blame entertainment to realise that the entire world consumes the same entertainment as the US, but the US has easy access to weapons. So I am not a big fan of violent movies, but I also don’t blame gun violence on entertainment.”
Now, understand that I don’t actually disagree about movies. I don’t think film, television, or video games are at the heart of our issues with violence. In fact, if you track the rise in popularity of video games, it correlates nicely with the drop in the homicide rate.
Correlation isn’t causation, mind you, but causation should lead to correlation, yet we don’t see that.
So on that, I actually agree with Moore.
However, it seems oddly self-serving to argue that her industry isn’t to blame while simulatenously ignoring anything other than her anti-gun agenda.
Yes, much of the world consumes the same media we produce and lacks the issues with violence we suffer with.
That’s only part of the equation, though, and for that, I will fault Moore.
For example, her argument requires that we ignore the fact that our knife homicide rate is higher than many European nations’ total homicide rate. If it was just about access to guns, that wouldn’t be the case. Those without guns would kill on a similar rate as in other nations on a per capita basis, only that’s not what’s happening.
Further, Moore’s argument requires that we not look any deeper at the other profound differences between the United States and other nations. Our inner cities don’t typically look like the inner cities in other nations, and it’s in those inner cities where the violence typically happens.
In other words, Moore is looking very superficially at the issue and declaring herself an expert.
As such, she should forgive people who think her assertion that Hollywood isn’t to blame is a little lame. After all, we’ve already seen how little thought she’s giving the issue. Sure, she can parrot anti-gun talking points until the cows come home, but that doesn’t mean she’s really tried to understand the total issue of guns.
Then again, she’s an actress. She’s a performer who isn’t cast based on her understanding of complex issues. All she really has to do is voice the right platitudes to keep her from being blackballed and she’s golden. There’s absolutely no reason to take anything she says seriously.
Unfortunately, millions of Americans respect her because of her half-formed opinions on issues she doesn’t understand. After all, her opinions mimic their opinions, and that’s all that matters to some of these people.
Which is a shame, because it’s a terrible reason to respect anyone.
