Bill Whittle: Family Guy Programming Young People to Hate GOP

[pbrauer]

I've alway felt this guy was full of it, now I am positive. See the video at the link below.

Conservative blogger and screenwriter Bill Whittle called out the show Family Guy as a symptom of America’s decadent liberalism, and said that conservatives needed to regain the power of narrative in order to win elections.

At the RightOnline Conference in Orlando this weekend, Whittle charted the decline of American muscular values through the history of television.

“Any audience of people that grew up with classical Superman automatically love this country, because Superman is about the best America we can be,” he said. “When Superman was all over the pop culture, we were a nation that loved this country. Now, twenty years after the peak of Superman‘s popularity, along comes Gilligan’s Island. That’s pretty neutral in terms of politics. Really about the only message you can get from Gilligan’s Island is if you want to get off the island all you have to do is kill Gilligan.”*

“But if you’re a young person out there today and you can finish the theme song from Family Guy, then all the anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Christian, anti-morality messages of Family Guy are in your head as completely and thoroughly as that theme song is,” Whittle said.

He argued that conservative electoral success was tied to the ability to successfully weave narratives around conservative beliefs. “You’re programmed by the pop culture, you’re programed by story,” he said. “It’s all about stories, and if we’re the villain in all of the stories that are told we’re never going to win another election again.”

Bill Whittle: 'Family Guy' Programming Youth Against GOP | Mediaite
​

 

[Spriggs05]

I've alway felt this guy was full of it, now I am positive. See the video at the link below.

Conservative blogger and screenwriter Bill Whittle called out the show Family Guy as a symptom of America’s decadent liberalism, and said that conservatives needed to regain the power of narrative in order to win elections.

At the RightOnline Conference in Orlando this weekend, Whittle charted the decline of American muscular values through the history of television.

“Any audience of people that grew up with classical Superman automatically love this country, because Superman is about the best America we can be,” he said. “When Superman was all over the pop culture, we were a nation that loved this country. Now, twenty years after the peak of Superman‘s popularity, along comes Gilligan’s Island. That’s pretty neutral in terms of politics. Really about the only message you can get from Gilligan’s Island is if you want to get off the island all you have to do is kill Gilligan.”*

“But if you’re a young person out there today and you can finish the theme song from Family Guy, then all the anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Christian, anti-morality messages of Family Guy are in your head as completely and thoroughly as that theme song is,” Whittle said.

He argued that conservative electoral success was tied to the ability to successfully weave narratives around conservative beliefs. “You’re programmed by the pop culture, you’re programed by story,” he said. “It’s all about stories, and if we’re the villain in all of the stories that are told we’re never going to win another election again.”

Bill Whittle: 'Family Guy' Programming Youth Against GOP | Mediaite
​

South Park

As far as I know has only lampooned Republicans once and Democrats many more times.
South Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Stone and Parker are the creators of South Park)

While Stone has been quoted saying "I hate conservatives, but I really ****ing hate liberals"

[Stone and Parker have explained that their drive to lampoon a given target comes first from the target's insistence on telling other people how to behave.[165] The duo explains that they perceive liberals as having both delusions of entitlement to remain free from satire, and a propensity to enforce political correctness while patronizing the citizens of Middle America.[

 

[ttwtt78640]

So your point is? Are you saying that Family Guy is not biased or that it is biased but people should not care? It is obvious that many in the entertainment business tend to lean left, but is it not OK to point that out?

 

[shrubnose]

So your point is? Are you saying that Family Guy is not biased or that it is biased but people should not care?

It is obvious that many in the entertainment business tend to lean left, but is it not OK to point that out?

Not only is it OK to point it out,I believe that you should point it out.

People's attention needs to be drawn to these things.




"Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred." ~ Jacques Barzun

 

[soccerboy22]

Family Guy should just disappear because it has run its course.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

Are not shows like Family Guy, a more of a guide on how not to live your life rather then how to live your life.

Peter is a drunk who gets in trouble from excess drinking and being a moron. Harming his friends and his family, certainly no one with some intelligence is going to see that as a guide for the American public to live

 

[radioman]

South Park

As far as I know has only lampooned Republicans once and Democrats many more times.
South Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Stone and Parker are the creators of South Park)

I dunno.
South Park takes shots at everyone.
I know they make fun of pop culture relentlessly.
Pompous windbags are prime targets....Bill Whittle is next.

 

[Einzige]

The conservative in this country has a martyr complex: he sees conspiracies against his values, when in reality the decline of his values are a result of the failure of those values themselves. If white heterosexual monogamy has fallen, it's not because of any outside force acting against it - it's because white heterosexual monogamy has itself failed as a basis for society.

Values rot from within.

The strong man takes the shears to them and prunes what is useless: so much dead wood in this society could be gotten rid of if it weren't for weak sentimentality, an attachment to useless values. A strong dose of nihilism - not liberal moralizing, mind, about the brotherhood of man and the equality of citizens, but a rejection of all higher morality, "Left" and "Right" - is what the doctor has ordered.

 

[radioman]

Are not shows like Family Guy, a more of a guide on how not to live your life rather then how to live your life.

Peter is a drunk who gets in trouble from excess drinking and being a moron. Harming his friends and his family, certainly no one with some intelligence is going to see that as a guide for the American public to live

Good points.
However, I would point out that certain pundits thought the TeleTubbies were promoting the homosexual "lifestyle".
Somewhere in America, someone is up-in-arms about something......always.
I'm not sure intelligence is involved.....ever.

 

[Grant]

I've alway felt this guy was full of it, now I am positive. Conservative blogger and screenwriter Bill Whittle called out the show Family Guy as a symptom of America’s decadent liberalism, and said that conservatives needed to regain the power of narrative in order to win elections.

At the RightOnline Conference in Orlando this weekend, Whittle charted the decline of American muscular values through the history of television.

“Any audience of people that grew up with classical Superman automatically love this country, because Superman is about the best America we can be,” he said. “When Superman was all over the pop culture, we were a nation that loved this country. Now, twenty years after the peak of Superman‘s popularity, along comes Gilligan’s Island. That’s pretty neutral in terms of politics. Really about the only message you can get from Gilligan’s Island is if you want to get off the island all you have to do is kill Gilligan.”*

“But if you’re a young person out there today and you can finish the theme song from Family Guy, then all the anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Christian, anti-morality messages of Family Guy are in your head as completely and thoroughly as that theme song is,” Whittle said.

He argued that conservative electoral success was tied to the ability to successfully weave narratives around conservative beliefs. “You’re programmed by the pop culture, you’re programed by story,” he said. “It’s all about stories, and if we’re the villain in all of the stories that are told we’re never going to win another election again.”

The question should be 'is he correct?'. Did Americans love their country more when Superman was at its peak? I think so, otherwise they wouldn't elect someone like Obama to change it. When America was at its peak so was Superman and Americans loved their country.

Now I'm not so sure.

 

[Simon W. Moon]

Family Guy is not a show for children.

I think we should start there.

Then we can ask if a tv show, Superman, molded a "collective consciousness" of the country or if the "collective consciousness" of the country molded Superman.

In either case, I'd say that we should err on the side of not trying to force entertainment to be ideologically pure. Let the "invisible hand" of the market deal with the likes of Superman and Family Guy.

And finally, Whittle's panties are knotted.

 

[Grant]

Family Guy is not a show for children.

I think we should start there.

Then we can ask if a tv show, Superman, molded a "collective consciousness" of the country or if the "collective consciousness" of the country molded Superman.

In either case, I'd say that we should err on the side of not trying to force entertainment to be ideologically pure. Let the "invisible hand" of the market deal with the likes of Superman and Family Guy.

And finally, Whittle's panties are knotted.

Interesting until the last line when you succumbed to the Family Guy influence.

Superman and Family Guy themselves are not really the issue but more of an analogy of how America has changed during the intervening years.

 

[Simon W. Moon]

Superman and Family Guy themselves are not really the issue but more of an analogy of how America has changed during the intervening years.

That's not the case which Whittle is making when he says, "“You’re programmed by the pop culture, you’re programed[sic] by story.”
Nor is that the case he is making when he says, “Any audience of people that grew up with classical Superman automatically love this country, because Superman is about the best America we can be.”
He is clearly describing a cause and effect relationship.
In light of this cause and effect relationship, he is calling for shows which are ideologically to his liking to assist the political goal of his party/affiliation. It's fine to want shows which share or promote you ideology. But one must bear in mind that those shows have to compete in the market place. If those shows don't resonate with Americans, then no amount of panty-knotted hand-wringing will change that.

The fact is that prominent members of the GOP have said and done some stupid **** in the past decade or so. Comedians call them on it. And ameericans find it funny. bfd

Imho, Whittle is looking in the wrong direction. We should focus more energy on doing smart things than on chastising comedy writers.
But that's just me.
I am an odd duck.

Whittle's panties are knotted.

 

[tererun]

I was watching a video on youtube yesterday that hit the reason why thic complaint is absurd. The video was about atheists vs creationists and went through why it was actually harder to mock science than it was to mock religion. The right wing is easy to mock. There are times you do not even need to write a joke about what they say because it is just that stupid and funny. There is just so much more humorous idiocy from the right wing that there will be more satire and mocking of it than the left. The left has it's areas of pompous stupidity and programs like south park do go after it, but right wing humor is so absurd and not terribly funny. You can make funny jokes at the left and many people do, but right wing humor tends to play to a right wing audience while left wing humor tends to play to a wider audience which makes it a bit more popular because you get both sides.

When the left wing goes purely for the left wing audience we find it pretty much fails like right wing humor for a right wing audience. For example Little Bush was a comedy central program that I don't think made a second season. It was all pretty much left wing anti-bush jokes and that was it. Family guy is not a hard core anti-right comedy. It makes pop culture references and because of that the group that makes an ass out of itself more often gets ridiculed more often, but family guy is certainly not above making fun of the left. Just look at the episode where brian met rush limbaugh. Brian, the leftist hipster icon, was basically shown to be a weak willed follower of trends who had no backbone. Though Rush was played as an ass, he came off at least being an honest and necessary ass. Family guy is not just left wing humor, and that is why it has made itself an audience.

Some people need to pull the stick out of their ass and stop trying to nail themselves to it. Oh, and it might help certain groups to keep the mental midgets who make outlandishly ignorant and stupid statements on the internet and away from big media. It is one thing to have an asshole like Bill O who can do a decent job of supporting his point, and it is another to have a bunch of sarah palin types running around doing stupid **** for everyone to see. Akin, Bachman, West, Sanford, Cruz, Perry, Cain, and the Pauls all belong on the internet not in office. Get some better quality people who have an internal censor that keeps them from spitting out every stupid thought that passes through their little brains. There would be a lot less left wing humor out there if you guys didn't let trump speak for your party. I won't say it will all go away, but there is a reason the right gets mocked so much more often.

 

[Hatuey]

Family Guy has an entire episode in which they basically show Rush Limbaugh as a level headed person and Bryan (a Democrat) as an extremist. I wish people actually watched the show.

 

[Grant]

That's not the case which Whittle is making when he says, "“You’re programmed by the pop culture, you’re programed[sic] by story.”

Is there any doubt about that?

Nor is that the case he is making when he says, “Any audience of people that grew up with classical Superman automatically love this country, because Superman is about the best America we can be.”

Not a great point but not bad.

He is clearly describing a cause and effect relationship.
In light of this cause and effect relationship, he is calling for shows which are ideologically to his liking to assist the political goal of his party/affiliation. It's fine to want shows which share or promote you ideology. But one must bear in mind that those shows have to compete in the market place. If those shows don't resonate with Americans, then no amount of panty-knotted hand-wringing will change that.

Of course. But he is saying that because of the changes in American society over the last generation or so many of these changes are also changes in the media and the message. Your hyperbole doesn't advance your argument.

The fact is that prominent members of the GOP have said and done some stupid **** in the past decade or so. Comedians call them on it. And ameericans find it funny. bfd

Politicians, among many other groups and occupations, say stupid things. You must have noticed that before.

Imho, Whittle is looking in the wrong direction. We should focus more energy on doing smart things than on chastising comedy writers.But that's just me.I am an odd duck.Whittle's panties are knotted.

Maybe you should look down yourself for any tightening in that area.

 

[Grant]

Some people need to pull the stick out of their ass and stop trying to nail themselves to it. Oh, and it might help certain groups to keep the mental midgets who make outlandishly ignorant and stupid statements on the internet and away from big media. It is one thing to have an asshole like Bill O who can do a decent job of supporting his point, and it is another to have a bunch of sarah palin types running around doing stupid **** for everyone to see. Akin, Bachman, West, Sanford, Cruz, Perry, Cain, and the Pauls all belong on the internet not in office. Get some better quality people who have an internal censor that keeps them from spitting out every stupid thought that passes through their little brains. There would be a lot less left wing humor out there if you guys didn't let trump speak for your party. I won't say it will all go away, but there is a reason the right gets mocked so much more often.

It's good we have well educated people like yourself, unaffected by low-brow media, who can add a well thought out riposte to those who claim that the American culture has become more coarse.

 

[ReformCollege]

I've alway felt this guy was full of it, now I am positive. See the video at the link below.

Conservative blogger and screenwriter Bill Whittle called out the show Family Guy as a symptom of America’s decadent liberalism, and said that conservatives needed to regain the power of narrative in order to win elections.

At the RightOnline Conference in Orlando this weekend, Whittle charted the decline of American muscular values through the history of television.

“Any audience of people that grew up with classical Superman automatically love this country, because Superman is about the best America we can be,” he said. “When Superman was all over the pop culture, we were a nation that loved this country. Now, twenty years after the peak of Superman‘s popularity, along comes Gilligan’s Island. That’s pretty neutral in terms of politics. Really about the only message you can get from Gilligan’s Island is if you want to get off the island all you have to do is kill Gilligan.”*

“But if you’re a young person out there today and you can finish the theme song from Family Guy, then all the anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Christian, anti-morality messages of Family Guy are in your head as completely and thoroughly as that theme song is,” Whittle said.

He argued that conservative electoral success was tied to the ability to successfully weave narratives around conservative beliefs. “You’re programmed by the pop culture, you’re programed by story,” he said. “It’s all about stories, and if we’re the villain in all of the stories that are told we’re never going to win another election again.”

Bill Whittle: 'Family Guy' Programming Youth Against GOP | Mediaite
​

Well, being fat and stupid is pretty anti-american, but also pretty hilarious.

 

[Thrilla]

well, back in the day, most TV shows used to be predicated on the virtuous.. heroism, patriotism, chivalry, bla bla bla

now we have family guy, housewives of who-gives-a-****-where, the kardashians, and duck ****ing dynasty.


thank god for sports and good movies.... TV is chock full of brainrot and idiocy.

 

[Starbuck]

The question should be 'is he correct?'. Did Americans love their country more when Superman was at its peak? I think so, otherwise they wouldn't elect someone like Obama to change it. When America was at its peak so was Superman and Americans loved their country.

Now I'm not so sure.

I'd argue that Superman reached it's peak in 1978, with the release of Superman in the theaters. . . oddly that was at the time that President Carter was installing solar panels on the White House.

Currently the icon is seeing a resurgence. . . along with other comic book heroes. . . oddly President Obama is in office.

Now, I didn't vote for him and I'm not a huge fan of many things that he's done, but I think it's a stretch to correlate these things.

Kind of like when Meg Whitman tried to paint a pretty picture of the California she moved to and how she wanted to return to that, during the Governors race in California a few years ago. Sadly, that time she was talking about was when her opponent was the Governor of California.

 

[Starbuck]

I'd argue that America wasn't a better place or even at its peak when Superman was popular (either in the 40's or the 70's).

The America that we see today is the same America that we saw back then.

I'd add that we've jumped further onto the xenophobic bus in the past decade than might've been prudent though.

 

[X Factor]

I was watching a video on youtube yesterday that hit the reason why thic complaint is absurd. The video was about atheists vs creationists and went through why it was actually harder to mock science than it was to mock religion. The right wing is easy to mock. There are times you do not even need to write a joke about what they say because it is just that stupid and funny. There is just so much more humorous idiocy from the right wing that there will be more satire and mocking of it than the left. The left has it's areas of pompous stupidity and programs like south park do go after it, but right wing humor is so absurd and not terribly funny. You can make funny jokes at the left and many people do, but right wing humor tends to play to a right wing audience while left wing humor tends to play to a wider audience which makes it a bit more popular because you get both sides.

When the left wing goes purely for the left wing audience we find it pretty much fails like right wing humor for a right wing audience. For example Little Bush was a comedy central program that I don't think made a second season. It was all pretty much left wing anti-bush jokes and that was it. Family guy is not a hard core anti-right comedy. It makes pop culture references and because of that the group that makes an ass out of itself more often gets ridiculed more often, but family guy is certainly not above making fun of the left. Just look at the episode where brian met rush limbaugh. Brian, the leftist hipster icon, was basically shown to be a weak willed follower of trends who had no backbone. Though Rush was played as an ass, he came off at least being an honest and necessary ass. Family guy is not just left wing humor, and that is why it has made itself an audience.

Some people need to pull the stick out of their ass and stop trying to nail themselves to it. Oh, and it might help certain groups to keep the mental midgets who make outlandishly ignorant and stupid statements on the internet and away from big media. It is one thing to have an asshole like Bill O who can do a decent job of supporting his point, and it is another to have a bunch of sarah palin types running around doing stupid **** for everyone to see. Akin, Bachman, West, Sanford, Cruz, Perry, Cain, and the Pauls all belong on the internet not in office. Get some better quality people who have an internal censor that keeps them from spitting out every stupid thought that passes through their little brains. There would be a lot less left wing humor out there if you guys didn't let trump speak for your party. I won't say it will all go away, but there is a reason the right gets mocked so much more often.

One thing we should not do for sure is take the advice of someone who has done nothing but show a completely left wing partisan agenda since they've joined. If you think the left is free from people saying stupid **** it's because, in your own partisan mind you're incapable of seeing it.

 

[Spriggs05]

I dunno.
South Park takes shots at everyone.
I know they make fun of pop culture relentlessly.
Pompous windbags are prime targets....Bill Whittle is next.

Politically though, south park targets the dems more than republicans.

 

[Simon W. Moon]

Is there any doubt about that?

Any doubt that Whittle said it? Or doubt that it's true?
The assertion that we're "programmed" by pop-culture is not a fact.

 

[Grant]

I'd argue that America wasn't a better place or even at its peak when Superman was popular (either in the 40's or the 70's).

The America that we see today is the same America that we saw back then.

I'd add that we've jumped further onto the xenophobic bus in the past decade than might've been prudent though.

Then there has been a change.