What Vox's German Lopez gets wrong about Trevor Noah's recent "Daily Show" segment concerning pro-lifers and gun control
On Tuesday, Vox's German Lopez wrote an article about a Monday Daily Show segment, where host Trevor Noah said the following with regard to pro-lifers not being so "pro-life" after all because of their stance on firearms:
"If pro-lifers would just redirect their powers toward gun violence, the amount of lives they could save would reach superhero levels. They just need to have a superhero's total dedication to life. Because right now, they're more like comic book collectors. Human life only holds value until you take it out of the package, and then it's worth nothing."
In response, German Lopez wrote this:
"...But such an argument is unfair to pro-life, pro-gun conservatives - it misrepresents why they believe what they do. And while it's a funny argument for a comedian, misrepresenting people's views does more to confirm biases than change hearts and minds."
He continued with this:
"The facts on gun violence are, broadly speaking, on Noah's side. More restrictions on guns would save lives. The US has a higher gun death rate than other developed nations, because, according to research, Americans have more guns, and more guns mean more gun deaths."
Lopez closed his piece out with the following:
"The fault of Noah's critique of pro-life conservatives who oppose gun control lies in the fact that they don't believe gun control can save lives. In fact, many gun rights advocates genuinely believe that gun control can get people killed...
The research doesn't support this, though, and it's clear that reducing the number of guns - and access to them - would save lives. ... But gun rights advocates don't believe this research, though it's possible they would change their minds on gun control if they did.
So it's disingenuous to suggest that there's some sort of hypocrisy in the pro-life movement. It's the kind of argument that might appeal to a liberal who believes abortion isn't murder and that gun control saves lives, but it fundamentally misunderstands the genuine beliefs that pro-life, pro-gun conservatives hold. That doesn't help change minds - it just confirms biases."
This is a prime example of a media personality trying his hardest to appear nonpartisan in spite of the facts. It's perfectly fine to be nonpartisan in reporting, but the question is, what are the facts? Should it be considered liberal to believe in global warming when 97% of climatologists believe in it as well? Would one be illustrating their biases by telling climate deniers these very facts? Must we always show both sides of a debate when nonpartisan, fact-checking, scientific sources suggest one side is entirely accurate and the other is complete hogwash? As German Lopez admits in his article, the facts are on Trevor Noah and gun control advocates' side, which makes the Daily Show host's segment about the "pro-life" movement that much more humorous. While pro-lifers have every right to believe as they so wish under the U.S. Constitution, that doesn't make their beliefs valid, and it doesn't refrain them and their ironically hypocritical beliefs from being comically mocked.
The pro-life movement is one of the easiest targets for comedians, because the term pro-life seems to be used quite loosely. Let's look at it a bit more closely. A majority of pro-life individuals believe the following:
- Abstinence-only education leads to fewer unwanted pregnancies and abortions
- Less access to contraception leads to fewer unwanted pregnancies and abortions
- Planned Parenthood only provides abortions
- All cases of abortion are murder
- More guns equals less gun violence
- More wars in the short-term equals fewer enemies and wars in the long-term
- The death penalty isn't murder
However, the facts go as follows:
- Comprehensive sex education leads to fewer unwanted pregnancies and abortions (the pro-life community is against this)
- Easier access to contraception leads to fewer unwanted pregnancies and abortions (the pro-life community is against this as well)
- Just 3% of Planned Parenthood's services are abortions, while a far greater percentage of their services work toward preventing unwanted pregnancies and abortions (the pro-life community is also against this)
- More guns equals more gun violence
- More wars in the short-term equals more enemies and wars in the long-term
- The death penalty is the killing of a live human being by the state, which has proven to be quite costly, as well as undeterring
The pro-life movement has the freedom to believe whatever they want, but that doesn't refrain them from being called out on their factual shortcomings and hypocrisy. They may be unaware of their hypocrisy due to their factual shortcomings, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be exposed for such, to hopefully reach a few in their movement as well as prevent others from joining it. Comedy can be a powerful tool. There have been times when my fact-checks have been disregarded as liberally biased, however, when I shared a satiric writing or video clip to illustrate a person or movement's absurdity, that's when reality finally dawned on them. Hopefully Trevor Noah's Daily Show segment was able to do just that.
http://www.vox.com/2015/10/6/9463077/trevor-noah-gun-control-daily-show
"If pro-lifers would just redirect their powers toward gun violence, the amount of lives they could save would reach superhero levels. They just need to have a superhero's total dedication to life. Because right now, they're more like comic book collectors. Human life only holds value until you take it out of the package, and then it's worth nothing."
In response, German Lopez wrote this:
"...But such an argument is unfair to pro-life, pro-gun conservatives - it misrepresents why they believe what they do. And while it's a funny argument for a comedian, misrepresenting people's views does more to confirm biases than change hearts and minds."
He continued with this:
"The facts on gun violence are, broadly speaking, on Noah's side. More restrictions on guns would save lives. The US has a higher gun death rate than other developed nations, because, according to research, Americans have more guns, and more guns mean more gun deaths."
Lopez closed his piece out with the following:
"The fault of Noah's critique of pro-life conservatives who oppose gun control lies in the fact that they don't believe gun control can save lives. In fact, many gun rights advocates genuinely believe that gun control can get people killed...
The research doesn't support this, though, and it's clear that reducing the number of guns - and access to them - would save lives. ... But gun rights advocates don't believe this research, though it's possible they would change their minds on gun control if they did.
So it's disingenuous to suggest that there's some sort of hypocrisy in the pro-life movement. It's the kind of argument that might appeal to a liberal who believes abortion isn't murder and that gun control saves lives, but it fundamentally misunderstands the genuine beliefs that pro-life, pro-gun conservatives hold. That doesn't help change minds - it just confirms biases."
This is a prime example of a media personality trying his hardest to appear nonpartisan in spite of the facts. It's perfectly fine to be nonpartisan in reporting, but the question is, what are the facts? Should it be considered liberal to believe in global warming when 97% of climatologists believe in it as well? Would one be illustrating their biases by telling climate deniers these very facts? Must we always show both sides of a debate when nonpartisan, fact-checking, scientific sources suggest one side is entirely accurate and the other is complete hogwash? As German Lopez admits in his article, the facts are on Trevor Noah and gun control advocates' side, which makes the Daily Show host's segment about the "pro-life" movement that much more humorous. While pro-lifers have every right to believe as they so wish under the U.S. Constitution, that doesn't make their beliefs valid, and it doesn't refrain them and their ironically hypocritical beliefs from being comically mocked.
The pro-life movement is one of the easiest targets for comedians, because the term pro-life seems to be used quite loosely. Let's look at it a bit more closely. A majority of pro-life individuals believe the following:
- Abstinence-only education leads to fewer unwanted pregnancies and abortions
- Less access to contraception leads to fewer unwanted pregnancies and abortions
- Planned Parenthood only provides abortions
- All cases of abortion are murder
- More guns equals less gun violence
- More wars in the short-term equals fewer enemies and wars in the long-term
- The death penalty isn't murder
However, the facts go as follows:
- Comprehensive sex education leads to fewer unwanted pregnancies and abortions (the pro-life community is against this)
- Easier access to contraception leads to fewer unwanted pregnancies and abortions (the pro-life community is against this as well)
- Just 3% of Planned Parenthood's services are abortions, while a far greater percentage of their services work toward preventing unwanted pregnancies and abortions (the pro-life community is also against this)
- More guns equals more gun violence
- More wars in the short-term equals more enemies and wars in the long-term
- The death penalty is the killing of a live human being by the state, which has proven to be quite costly, as well as undeterring
The pro-life movement has the freedom to believe whatever they want, but that doesn't refrain them from being called out on their factual shortcomings and hypocrisy. They may be unaware of their hypocrisy due to their factual shortcomings, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be exposed for such, to hopefully reach a few in their movement as well as prevent others from joining it. Comedy can be a powerful tool. There have been times when my fact-checks have been disregarded as liberally biased, however, when I shared a satiric writing or video clip to illustrate a person or movement's absurdity, that's when reality finally dawned on them. Hopefully Trevor Noah's Daily Show segment was able to do just that.
http://www.vox.com/2015/10/6/9463077/trevor-noah-gun-control-daily-show
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