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Lethally Blonde

Discussion in '2003 Archive' started by Helen, Jul 21, 2003.

  1. Helen

    Helen <img src =/Helen2.gif>

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    http://www.breakpoint.org/Breakpoint/ChannelRoot/FeaturesGroup/OnlineFeatures/Lethally+Blonde.htm

    Guest Feature Article
    Lethally Blonde

    By Kim I. Robbins

    July 18, 2003

    PETA's Indoctrination at the Movies

    Taking young relatives to movies can be a dangerous thing. At Legally Blonde 2, I wasn't expecting much beyond vapid dialogue, stylish clothes and accessories, and a cute rat-sized Chihuahua thrown in for good measure. What I got was a down and dirty indoctrination in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) animal rights ideology, along with a subplot on the wonders of homosexual relationships.

    The homosexual storyline, in fact, sets the tone for the rest of the movie in several key ways. Conservative congressman Bruce McGill, walking his Rottweiler, is first seen yelling at a panhandler who was asking for fifty cents. Sweet, pretty, liberal lawyer Elle Woods gives the bum $20 and says winsomely that it's nice to help others. Meanwhile, as the two humans are speaking, their dogs' eyes meet, and with snouts quivering, they fall instantly in love. Both dogs, we later learn, are male.

    So the rules of the game have been laid down: Conservatives are mean-spirited, unenlightened, and, at first, gay-bashing (although the congressman eventually comes around and lets his dog "marry" Elle's); liberals are nice and generous; and the truth will be twisted into a pretzel to get the moviemakers' point across. (Even if there were such a thing as a homosexual dog—a Rottweiler and a Chihuahua? Talk about cruelty to animals!)

    These rules set the stage for the film's treatment of "animal rights." Elle is getting married and wants her pooch Bruiser, her "best friend," to attend, along with his mother. She hires a detective to track down mama pooch, and finds mama is a test subject used by a big bad corporation that manufactures cosmetics.

    Next thing we know, Elle is going to PETA for ideas and reading material. Armed for a war of words, she goes to Capitol Hill to "change" animal testing laws—in other words, make it illegal to use animals for anything. Dressed like a Barbie doll in all pink clothes and accessories, she is seen striding up the steps of the Capitol while a stream of roach-like people scurry around her dressed like undertakers in black suits.

    As Elle is presenting her case before the black-clad Congress and audience, she holds up a picture of Bruiser and artlessly says, "Look at Bruiser and what do you see? Yourself. We're all like Bruiser." Lovely idea, isn't it? Not exactly. What it means is that little dogs, rats, and monkeys are the moral equivalents of humans—an idea that PETA has endorsed time and again. The flip side of that, of course, is that humans are no better than animals. We see this ideology at work every time one class or race of people decides that another class or race is subhuman or otherwise inferior and can thus be treated as such. As professor of classics Bruce Thornton warns, "What we should have learned this century is that dehumanizing people by reducing them to the merely material or natural is the first step on the road to mass murder."1

    If you think that's overreacting, take a look at some of PETA's real-life activities. The movie is putting a sweet, bubbly face on a violent agenda. Bruce Friedrich, a director in PETA, says plainly, "If we really believe that animals have the same right to be free from pain and suffering at our hands, then of course we're going to be blowing things up and smashing windows." Terror is, Friedrich thinks, "a great way to bring about animal liberation."

    As if that weren't enough, during her presentation to Congress, Elle goes on to assure everyone that medical research on animals is nonsensical because "animals do not have the same reaction to medicine that people do." In one fell swoop, our heroine discounts hundreds of years of research and medical advancements. Misinformation is the key to any successful illegitimate campaign, and PETA and their blonde representative have the tactics down cold.

    To use just one example, there have been more than 340,000 organ transplantations in the United States alone since 1986.2 Each procedure was first developed using animals. In a Reason article, Frederick Goodwin, a M.D., and Adrian Morrison, a veterinarian, say kidney transplantation was first attempted on dogs, and a total of fifteen died in the process before it was conducted on humans. Additionally, the authors go on to explain, "One cannot develop and understanding of a chemical or a gene, then try to ascertain its role in a complex human organism with billions of cells and dozens of organs, without first knowing how it works in the biological systems of animals." (Ironically, biomedical research benefits animals too. Dr. Emmanuel Mignot developed a drug that helps people who suffer from narcolepsy, sometimes called sleeping sickness, to stay awake. Veterinarians prescribe the drug to their patients.3)

    In another article, biochemist William Reville says one reason that animals are used in research is to ensure products such as vaccines or drugs are "free of living micro-organisms [and] also of fragments of dead micro-organisms." Why? Because micro-organisms can kill you!4 Would that matter to an animal rights fanatic? No. With all this information widely available, PETA still insists that humans should only experiment on other humans.

    If you do decide to let your child see Legally Blonde 2, discuss its implications with him or her. Most kids are thrilled to discuss their opinion when asked. Peter Fraser and Vernon Edwin Neal, authors of the book ReViewing the Movies, found through a mini-experiment that while watching a film, children did indeed absorb its ideas, but were "eager to apply their understanding of Christianity to the film." This is a perfect opportunity for parents to discuss the worldview shown in the movie and why Christianity makes sense.

    In this case, you can explain the difference between caring for the welfare of animals and imbuing animals with "rights." Help kids understand the difference between real cruelty and responsible use of animals. Through exercises like these, parents can teach their children to think logically and become discerning viewers.

    So when your children are asked to look at a picture of Bruiser, whom do they see: a person who is a moral agent and created in the image of God, one who is given the responsibility to maintain stewardship of the earth—or a dog? The answer is a lot more important than Hollywood seems to realize.

    Notes:

    1. See also Scott Ott, "PETA Defends Ball Player Who Hit Sausage," Jewish World Review, July 11, 2003, about PETA's support of a man who hit a female team mascot with a baseball bat.

    2. Statistics taken from United Network for Organ Sharing.

    3. Lynne Lamberg, "Researchers Urge to Tell Public How Animal Studies Benefit Human Health," Journal of the American Medical Association 282, No. 7 (August 18, 1999): 619-621. One in two thousand Americans suffers from this debilitating illness.

    4. William Reville, "Should We Experiment on Animals for Science?" Irish Times, 19 June 2003.

    ================

    I am not endorsing everything said in this article, but it is worth nothing, I think.

    Helen
     
  2. Brett

    Brett New Member

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    I agree, it is worth nothing. Nobody is gonna watch a movie and think that a dog is more important than a human, methinks. [​IMG] Unless you're already a PETA-leaning wacko. ;)
     
  3. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    Ahem!!!!! I am a member of PETA and take great offense at that remark. :mad:

    You know, P eople E ating T asty A nimals.... [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Joseph Botwinick ;)

    My personal favorite is the 14 ounce Ribye from the Butcher Shop Steakhouse here in Little Rock. That's some good eatin there... [​IMG]
     
  4. Brett

    Brett New Member

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    I also enjoy a good steak. We have a place here in Saskatoon called John's that has absolutely amazing steaks at sorta-reasonable prices. It's great. I also love Fuddruckers (dunno if you have those where you live, although I think there's a few locations in the states), which has the best hamburgers ever. :D
     
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