Penn Argues Gun Control on Wendy Williams

For those who don’t know me well let me just say this. I love Penn and Teller. I love their magic, I love their TV shows and I love their commentary on current events on society. I’m a liberal Democrat, I think that gay marriage should be legal, I don’t think we should spill our blood for oil, I think we need alternative fuel sources and get rid of gasoline, and I think a lot of corporations are evil mother fuckers. But I’m not for gun control, so I think that throws people off. “Wait, you can’t be a democrat! You’re not for gun control!” To that I say, “Go fuck yourself.”

I used to be for gun control after I watched “Bowling for Columbine” with a friend while in high school. I thought it made so much sense at the time, but I was just young, stupid, and idealistic. Sure, it would be great if guns just suddenly disappeared and world peace commenced, but I’m a realist and I know that is not going to happen. When I started to get older I started to realize that maybe, just maybe Michael Moore was wrong. So I watched “Bowling for Columbine” again and after the movie and I walked away with a completely different view on gun control.

I think Michael Moore makes some good points and I don’t believe the entire movie and its content should be thrown out. It’s like the movie “Zeitgeist”, it has some good information in it, but don’t just follow the whole movie and what it says, pick and choose what you think is best, rather than taking the whole thing as truth.

I do the same with Penn and Tellers show, “Bullshit”. It’s a great show and it has great arguments and information. I sometimes agree with everything they say in any one of their episodes, but there are some episodes that I think are bullshit and some things they say which I don’t agree with. They even say in their show to not take what they say as the absolute truth, that they are just two assholes who have a research team and want to rant about subjects they think are crazy. So do the thinking yourself, don’t let them do it.

I came across this Youtube.com video last night that has Penn on the Wendy Williams Show debating gun control. The video starts off with Penn saying that most people who have guns don’t use them. This is true, but mere facts don’t stop these ladies at all. They continue to say that the old saying “if you have a gun you better know how to use it” translates to “if you have a gun you use it all the time.” The argument that if you have a gun you’re going to use it holds no water.

My favorite line from Penn is at the beginning when he says, “most people are overwhelmingly good.” And I believe that, because if it weren’t true then what type of society would we be living in today? Most likely one that is not very friendly. It would be a society where you would really be afraid of absolutely everything.

The idea that there are 320 million people in America and 310 million guns does not translate to “almost everyone owns a gun.” The numbers don’t work out that way, we all know that, and we shouldn’t say stupid things like that.

Then the argument about violent movies and video games came up. These women actually believe that violent video games and movies encourage or inspire kids to commit school shootings. This bullshit is so far out of left field, there is no proof to back up the claim that violent games and media create killers.

Penn brought up a great point about this too. He says you can’t blame Shakespeare’s work for the violence that happens in the real world. For hundreds of years people have been trying to blame things in art for the violent crimes that are committed. Shakespeare’s work has suicide and murder and is shows the darker side of human nature and a beautiful side as well. He makes the comparison to art and says these violent video games are forms of art, and you can’t blame art for making people go crazy and wanting to kill people, it just doesn’t happen.

Penn got real upset by the middle of the debate when of the women said that Adam Lanza was border line aspergers and that he was inundated with violence from games like Call of Duty and decided to just go on a rampage. Penn stopped her and said that we shouldn’t be attacking people with aspergers and that they are not violent people and video games certainly don’t make them any more violent than people who don’t have aspergers.

But of course they still pushed the issue that violent video games make kids crazy by arguing that Adam Lanza’s favorite video game was Call of Duty. Penn immediately lays the smack down on them by simply stating that many peaceful people play Call of Duty.

“Call of Duty is the most popular game there is. Everyone’s playing it so of course bad people are gonna play it too. To try to blame Shakespeare and the violence in Shakespeare and the violence in art for violence that happens in the real world is something that’s been tried for years and is always wrong. People must take responsibility. We must stop blaming society and start blaming the perpetrator. Call of Duty is something young people like and enjoy and it’s a game and most of those people aren’t violent, most of the people are good and we have to stop disliking our children. We attacked comic books we attacked monster movies, now we’re attacking video games. Love our children, take care of our children and let them play.”

Wendy goes on to say that Jamie Fox says that there can be no doubt that violence in movies and video games has an effect on our children, to which case Penn replies, “Well Jamie Fox is wrong.” And besides, who the fuck cares about what Jamie Fox has to say? Has he done any research? No, it’s just a good thing to say on a TV show because he is a celebrity; therefore he CAN’T be wrong, right? Fucking morons.

“Blame the killers, not the artists,” Penn cries during the show after the incredibly stupid comments made by Wendy Williams about violence in movies and games. “Why are you blaming artists for something that bad people did? Shakespeare is not a bad person, he wrote beautiful stuff. It has suicide, it has murder, and it tells us something about our hearts and people who watch Shakespeare don’t kill, and Call of Duty is art, it is not some sort of propaganda thing.”

I think Penn is right on the money with this one. We have to stop blaming our society, our artists, our film makers, our video game designers, and start loving our children, taking care of them, make sure to listen to them and not blame the artists for the crimes committed by a bad person.

We act as thought the mere existence of guns and violent content in our society is the main cause for mental illness or aggressive behavior when they are not. The people who committed the crimes, regardless of whether or not they are mentally ill or narcissistic, or psychotic, or none of the above should be the ones who we blame, not society!

I think Penn did a great job, but unfortunately the shrews on the Wendy Williams show would barely let him speak and he had to speak over them many times to get his valid points across.

I think if Wendy Williams wants to blame video games for violent behavior then she should blame her show for making people agree with her stupid comments because she has an applause light that flashes every time she makes her point. During the entire video the audience claps for both Penn’s comments and Wendy’s comments, but how can that be when Penn and Wendy are on two opposite sides of the argument? If the audience confused, or are they just being inundated with an applause light that makes them clap when stupid comments are made? I think if she can make the argument that video games make kids aggressive then I can make the argument that she show makes people stupid and forces people to agree with her because she can flash a light which triggers human beings to agree with bullshit comments.

In the end you could tell Penn was upset with the idea that people who have aspergers syndrome can become violent by playing video games, simply because they have issues with what is socially acceptable or not. He ended the video by interrupting Wendy as she was about to go to commercial break by saying, “Aspergers syndrome people don’t become violent, there’s no evidence of that. They’re friends of mine, I love them.”

All I can say is, you rock Penn, and I love you for trying to set these women straight, even though they tried to shut you down multiple times. It is time to stop blaming guns and society and start blaming the perpetrators and stop ignoring our children.