Sunday, January 24, 2010

How many are there?

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival has begun here in Utah, along with all the craziness it produces. One of the most talked-about films is 8: The Mormon Proposition, a documentary about the LDS church's involvement in the passing of Proposition 8 in California. I'm going to see it tomorrow in Park City, so I'll be able to comment on it soon.
I work in the same building as the Sundance Main Box Office. On Friday morning someone dropped off a flier at our business condemning the makers of this film for "promoting hate" against the LDS church and Utah Sen. Chris Buttars, who has been an outspoken critic of gay rights. It was a fallacy-ridden screed lamenting the "homosexual agenda" and their desire to turn our nation against God. At the bottom of the page was a invitation to watch the Obama Killer Song at the organization's website. I couldn't resist, so I looked it up after I got home. It's a mangling of Simon and Garfunkle's The Sound of Silence. To give you a taste of the level it's operating on, it refers to President Obama as "darkness" and a "donkey god", while portraying him stabbing a pregnant woman's belly as she sleeps with a Bible on her chest and taking aim at political enemies with an assault rifle.
Of course I rolled my eyes at its absurd hyperbole. But then I started to wonder: how many people that I encounter don't? This little think tank is located just down the road in Sandy, UT. I am somewhat buffered from the rest of this state's stridently-red politics by living in the relatively tolerant Salt Lake City, but how far do I have to ride the train before things like the Obama Killer Song pass for valid commentary? I would like to think trash like this would be laughed at anywhere, but this is Glenn Beck country.

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