The RightOnLine conference probably produced many moments of Derp, but this one, by Bill Whittle (advertised as conservative writer and TV editor), has emerged as one for the ages. One of the real holy grails for the conservative movement is to find some way to get their narratives captured by the “popular culture”. Even though they widely disdain much of the “popular culture” — not just because they think its politics are all wrong, but also the reason why the Kids Are Not All Right. But Mr. Whittle has a new theory — that the show Family Guy is the reason why the GOP can’t get its message heard. Family Guy.
“Any audience of people that grew up with classical Superman automatically love this country because Superman is about the best America we can be, and when Superman was all over the pop culture we were a nation that loved this country,” he remarked. “Now, 20 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.”
The message that you’d have to kill a character in a comedy to get the resolution you want is a particularly GOP-like message. And Superman would smack this guy upside his head for even hinting that he would be party to teajhadi values — values that defend the the worst behavior of the powerful, rather than stepping up to defend the regular guy being abused by the powerful. Besides, wasn’t Superman an illegal alien anyway?