Dobson's World

I was planning only to do Iraq War posts today. But this is too good not to post.

From Art, not propaganda by Gene Lyons Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 02/08/06, a column about Brokeback Mountain and the reactions to it:

The inability to tolerate ambiguity defines the authoritarian mind.

To control freaks, there's no such thing as art, only propaganda. Every story must have a didactic message, the simpler the better. In that regard, self-styled "Christians," in the politicized sense, are much like Marxist advocates of "socialist realism." Hence, the success of a complex, deeply humane film like "Brokeback Mountain" can't help but induce anxiety. The movie’s recent Oscar nominations brought out the usual hired scolds to peddle cant about the film industry’s alleged promotion of the dread "homosexual agenda." I saw a particularly inane report on ABC's "World News Tonight" claiming Hollywood was "schizophreni[c]" because it can’t decide whether to make films about "gay cowboys" or fantasies about African lions that are allegedly Christ symbols.

Is it possible for TV news to get any dumber? (my emphasis)

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