Dispatches from the Creation Wars

Ace Pryhill has an amusing post about the recent Simpson’s episode where Marge’s sister marries her lesbian lover and Homer gets ordained over the internet so he can perform gay marriages. My favorite part is this wonderful quote from the endlessly ridiculous L. Brent Bozell:

L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, criticized “The Simpsons” for addressing the issue of same-sex marriage, though he said he hadn’t seen the episode.

“At a time when the public mood is overwhelmingly against gay marriage, any show that promotes gay marriage is deliberately bucking the public mood,” he said.

Oh my god! Deliberately bucking the public mood! Why, those people should be SHOT. We’ll have none of that freedom of thought stuff here, by God. Hilarious. It’s the freaking Simpsons, people. Who on earth tunes in expecting anything but deliberate bucking of the public mood?

Comments

#1 Jon Rowe
February 21, 2005

Last night’s was a classic. Looking back, in hindsight, it was so obvious that Patty — who never expressed any interest in men (unlike her serial marrier twin sister Selma) thoughout the ENTIRE run of the show — was a lesbian.
#2 Dan
February 21, 2005

I heard an excerpt from the episode on the radio this morning…it was HILARIOUS. I almost had to pull over, I was laughing so hard.
#3 raj
February 21, 2005

…from the endlessly ridiculous L. Brent Bozell…

NB: It’s Brent Bozo

Missed the Simpsons episode, but I’ll be looking forward to it in re-runs.
#4 Reed A. Cartwright
February 21, 2005

The Simpson’s episode was a total classic. The ending is a total suprise and makes it even funnier that people will complain about the episode who haven’t seen it.

The best part of the episode is that Springfield legalized gay marriage for the money, not from any sense of social justice. What Republican can not like that?
#5 SharonB
February 21, 2005

Some people (RR) can’t take a joke.
#6 PaulNoonan
February 21, 2005

I’m with Jon. A fantastic episode last night (one of the best of the last three years or so). And really, Patty was so obviously gay that that fact should have drawn no interest at all (which was sort of an internal joke in the episode).

What a sad world we would live in if not for the Brent Bozell’s to make me chuckle on a daily business. (Incidentally, I bet he never complained about the episode in which Selma marries Troy McLure (for his fame) and it is revealed that McLure has some sort of strange Fish fetish, prompting this conversation:

Selma: Are you gay?
Troy: Gay? I WISH!)

which contributes to the end of said marriage. No, Brent only notices gay people and gay marriage (well, animated gay people). Of course he doesn’t actually watch the episode, but he’s quite sure that it “bucks the public mood.”

By the way, shouldn’t the phrase “public mood” give conservatives “the willies.”
#7 PaulNoonan
February 21, 2005

Whoops, that should be daily basis, not business. My apologies.
#8 Grumpy
February 21, 2005

The worst part of the episode was the content warning FOX attached to the very beginning.

Let’s see: the show is already rated TV-14 for Dialogue, Language, and Violence. Yup, nothing in there about controversial social topics; better toss up a special alert.

Oh, if only they had included a similar warning for the episode where Lisa became a vegetarian. Talk about deliberately bucking the public mood! They made me think about the possibility of not eating meat!
#9 Donny
February 21, 2005

Last night’s episode, which my wife and I viewed with our sons, ages 7 and 10, was one of the all-time great episodes of a great series. The mercenary aspect of Springfield’s actions was a truly brilliant twist.
#10 raj
February 21, 2005

Oh, missed this. Brent Bozo has found himself another gig? He’s now the Il Presidente of another scam referred to as the Parent’s Television Council? Previously, he had set himself up as head of the scam he referred to as the Media Research Center. Later, he also set himself up as head of the scam he referred to as the Christian, no, Conservative, no, Cyber News Service.

It would be amusing to note the wackiness of former Reagan administration officlals like Brent Bozo It would be more instructive to note who gives them money to continue their wackiness.
#11 Brock
February 22, 2005

I thought the episode was weak and disjointed. The writers didn’t seem comfortable with the subject matter, and ended up falling back on cliches (Patty’s fiance is a pro golfer) and lame jokes.

Compared to the great episode guest-starring John Waters, this one was mediocre at best.
#12 ~DS~
February 22, 2005

Actually the character Patty gave several broad hints in past episodes. One time she said something to the effect “There goes even the facade of my heterosexuality”, and that was years ago.