We recently ran THIS POST about Jim Carrey’s pointed pro-gun control video, “Cold Dead Hands,” using as a take off point the late actor and NRA bigwig Charleton Heston’s “from my cold dead hands” slogan about gun control. Fox News replied in kind — with far more name-calling and vitriol against Carrey than Carrey even did in his blunt song and imitation of Heston.
GO HERE to read this Huffington Post piece and see what ran on Fox News. This is again an indication of how far what passes for American news and political discussion has sunk. There is no way that kind of name calling would have been allowed on an American cable or mainstream news network show even 10 years ago. That was the kind of stuff you’d see on Jerry Springer, or Morton Downey, Jr or, in the days before cable, on some show at 2 a.m. on some tiny UHF station.
But our bar continuously goes down — shoved down by people who simply show they can name call and display hatred for someone because they see things differently. And the rewards of displaying anger, rage, and name calling can mean career advancement and big bucks.
And, yes, a news channel is not the same as a movie star making a video on a website. Supposedly, a cable channel has a kind of “stewardship” to inform and, if it wishes, promote spirited discussion.
Supposedly.
Carrey responded to Fox News strongly.
Go to the link to read it. We won’t post it here because: a)the Fox quote is truly just someone lashing out, and we’ll pass on publicizing the person or the show in Google searches. b)Carrey does use a word that we don’t use on family-friendly, newspaper standards TMV.
But after reading the quote on what is supposed to be a cable news and opinion channel, I will requote Carrey on this:
I wish them all the luck that accompanies such malevolence.
On that may I say: Ditto?
Follow more blog reaction HERE.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.