Those who have been watching “Designated Survivor,” the show about a low-level cabinet secretary who suddenly becomes president of the United States when most of the government is slaughtered when the Capitol was blown up during the State of the Union have noticed a not so subtle change in storylines. The show has moved away from terrorism to political propaganda. Now the heroic President Kirkland, played by Keifer Sutherland, has left off hunting for the terrorists to ramming through “common sense gun safety” of the sort that has always failed in the real world because of Americans’ jealous adherence to the 2nd Amendment.
The show devolved into science fiction by depicting such a measure as passing the Senate.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, we have the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to thank for the new storyline. The Brady Campaign has been active in trying to persuade Hollywood to weave Gun Control storylines in its television and film projects. For instance, the group was a consultant for the box office bomb “Miss Sloane” about a hard-bitten, cynical Washington lobbyist who campaigns for an anti-gun measure.
The great film director Frank Capra once noted, “If you want to send a message, use Western Union.” One supposes that the modern version would be “use Twitter.” Capra was warning filmmakers against using their product to try to drum up political messages.
People watch TV or go to the movies for entertainment, not to be flogged with a political message. Besides, any political issue is likely to offend a good part of the audience no matter what position is taken. The same would have been true if President Kirkland had pushed for a national concealed carry law, though that would have been so out of left (or maybe right) field coming from leftwing Hollywood it might go over well just from the sheer novelty.
A big problem with how films and TV handle political issues is that they only come from the left. Conservative audiences, which make up a plurality of Americans, are left fuming when some character or plot twist offends them by whipping out a political viewpoint they find offensive. That sort of thing is very hard to deal with when they are trying to watch the cop catch the criminal or whatever after a long day at the office. A pro tip to Hollywood folks. That is how you get people like Donald Trump elected.
Indeed, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the president were to tweet about this problem?
