"Coming up... a billboard for an upcoming movie sparks a community backlash."
I had the TV on in the other room and heard that tease for an upcoming story and I was shocked.
Shocked!
Shocked to learn there's a movie billboard somewhere in Bakersfield.
I've lived here two years and never seen one. Far different from LA, the epicenter of the Entertainment/Industrial Complex. In LA, every public surface is plastered with movie ads... buses, bus stops, billboards, buildings... you name it. I know from experience... I used to design them.
This was a story I had to see, and it came up first after the commercial break.
So, here's the offending billboard...
As you'd imagine, it's a combination of rightwing outrage and born-again victimology, their deeply held moral truths being attacked and smothered... by a billboard.
But it's more than that.
Much more.
They interviewed one of the leaders of the protest...
"It's going to confuse people. People are going to be confused. They won't know whether nuns are good or evil. They are trying to deliberately confuse people."
WTF?
I'm not Catholic, so I won't wade into the whole "Nuns: Good or Evil?" debate.
But still... WTF?
Is that the threshold now? We have to ban anything that might possibly confuse the poor lost souls of Bakersfield?
I guess we can kiss check-out lines and left turn lanes good-bye. Same with ATM's and drive-up windows. NPR... 8th grade reading... science... math... all gone. If we ban everything that might confuse the locals, all we'll be left with is country music and lottery scratchers. And even the scratchers are kind of borderline.
Oy vey.
