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Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures was set to release their so-called "thriller" film, "The Hunt," on September 27, but have now canceled it saying, "There are no current plans to release the film in theaters."
The Hunt is a movie with a storyline that follows a team of jet-setting elites who hunt "normal folk" from states like Florida and Mississippi for sport.
They hunt conservatives.
Deplorables.
Be informed.
The Wall Street Journal says, "Decisions to cancel movie releases are rare in contemporary Hollywood."
The film has been described all along as "satire"---"a satirical social thriller"---but many, including President Trump, have warned that it appears to be designed "to stoke political divisions in our country."
He and other conservatives have called the film "inappropriate" in the wake of two mass shootings, and said "its plot could incite violence."
The WSJ reviews a number of other movies that have been canceled or delayed for similar reasons.
This film, as with the others, was withdrawn "as an act of self-censorship."
However, there are two very different views within the conservative (and Christian) community.
Opening the door to further censorship.
Guy Benson, writing for Townhall---a news source I respect and often read, and a writer that I often disagree with---is questioning the wisdom of conservatives and Christians calling for the film to be canceled.
Benson says:
"Satire and art can be offensive and dark; it shouldn't be censored." And he says, "The movie suggests that the flyover country 'deplorables' are the good guys, fighting back against monstrous leftist elites who'd drugged and kidnapped them in order to hunt them for sport."
While he admits this is way over the top populist revenge fantasy, in which working-class people are treated like animals (literally) by the rich, but heroically fight back, is a message that should be seen because the public would have cheered for the deplorables---the good guys.
Benson says:
"The cancellation of 'The Hunt' is embarrassing. Conservatives who decided to target the movie as the grievance project du jour adopted the very pro-censorship, 'snow-flake' tactics they proclaim to loathe."
He continues to say, "In America, we should really avoid censoring art we don't like. If you don't like a product, don't buy it. But don't try to prevent others from making that decision for themselves."
First, it should be noted that is not what he said on Fox News a couple of days ago. He told Fox that "The Hunt" portrays the hunted characters as gun-carrying white people, and that the movie is likely to offend them. However, he says he never advocated censorship on his Fox interview.
Secondly, no-one was advocating censorship. They were advocating commonsense---a virtue lost, in great part---in our culture.
"The Hunt" wasn't censored. The market reacted and the producers pulled back. Censorship is generally when authorities forbid, ban or "burn" certain books, movies, etc. Universal had every right and freedom to go ahead and release the movie anyway. Or not. They chose not to release it.
Benson's view, as I see it, calls for conservatives to remain silent and hope for the best, which would be-- No mentally disturbed people "go hunting" and the public "gets the message" that conservatives are the good guys.
He begins and concludes with, "The Outrage mob wins: 'The Hunt' getting yanked is a pro-censorship embarrassment."
Franklin Graham has a very different take on the matter.
Franklin said last Sunday that the film about men hunting supporters of President Donald Trump...is a sign of the sickness that has infested the film industry.
He tweeted:
"UniversalPics is canceling the release of 'The Hunt', a movie scheduled to come out next month which portrayed the hunting down of 'deplorables' [ referencing Hillary Clinton's description of Trump's supporters]. The very filming of 'The Hunt' shows just how sick the liberal left in Hollywood are. That they would spend money to make such a violent [ rated R] politically charged film like this, considering the state our country is in, is inconceivable. To plant the thought in someone's mind that its okay to shoot a person because they wear a MAGA hat or hold conservative viewpoints that may differ from theirs is reckless and reprehensible. That's not satire or entertainment---that's sowing seeds of discord and violence."
Franklin is right. Here's why.
Liberty and personal responsibility are related.
Our Founding Fathers had a burning desire to establish a country of unprecedented liberty. That desire had been fueled by King George III and his demands. And by the God-given desire in everyone for liberty and freedom.
From then to now a vast bureaucracy has grown. It's a bureaucracy that has become devoted to centralized control of every part of our life.
The solution doesn't lie primarily in our ability to elect the "right" politicians, it lies with us electing leaders who will preserve and expand liberty.
Over the past century, the ideals of liberty and personal responsibility have drifted apart.
Personal responsibility cannot exist without liberty, and liberty will not endure without responsibility.
Liberty without responsibility is license.
Liberty without responsibility has taken over our culture. It manifests itself in many ways, including in desires for freedom to do anything without restraint and without cost---let someone else pay the cost. Example: About two dozen Democrats who want to be the next president of the United States are all offering free everything.
The survival of liberty requires personal responsibility. Without this connection, our political institutions become a means for the shifting of blame, for compelling others to fix our problems, and for living off the efforts of others.
For liberty to remain and thrive, a nation must possess certain qualities of character.
This is why Founding Father and second US President John Adams said:
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
This generation of young Americans are showing an alarming interest in socialism because as they have been indoctrinated to demand rights that are not rights, liberty has become license.
And in this belief, linked to our passion to strip God from the culture, we have lost our moral and religious moorings. And that is corrupting our culture.
Back to Franklin Graham--"The Hunt shows just how sick the liberal left are in Hollywood," and it shows how liberty has become "license"---without restraint.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.