In a free society, everyone is entitled to make their own personal choices as long as they don’t infringe on the rights of others or hurt anyone. If you’re not violating someone else’s “God-given space” or breaking the law, you can do and believe as you wish in America. Our founding fathers wrote a lengthy constitution to guarantee it.
So, in America, people are free to love and commune with whomever they wish. While alternative lifestyles are not the majority, in the U.S., people are free to believe what they want. One such lifestyle choice involves the decision to be gay. Most Americans believe exactly that, that it’s a personal decision.
A recent Gallop poll found that just slightly more than seven percent of Americans identify as LGBTQ+. That number has reportedly doubled since 2012. Some think it’s because the non-heterosexual lifestyle has been promoted as morally acceptable. Many strongly believe that it is not. Again, just as the LGBTQ+ people can do as they wish, others have the right not to.
Most Americans would politely apologize for believing this way, but they shouldn’t. People have the right to believe whatever they want. It’s a personal choice not to be twisted or manipulated by a government or even a film director. A large majority of Americans do not find the gay lifestyle acceptable.
They likewise shouldn’t belittle or condemn those who make such choices for their own personal reasons. However, people aren’t beholden to some “woke culture” that insists that they must accept everything. So, what happens when individuals in the entertainment industry try to trick people into watching something they otherwise wouldn’t pay to see?
HBO Max recently released a new show. “The Last of Us” is an apocalyptic drama. The show’s director is a gay man. Director Peter Hoar said he wanted to “trick” the audience into watching a gay love story. During an episode, Hoar said he wanted to trick his viewers into watching a gay love story.
The director is gay, which is fine for him. Hoar is known for his work on the British LGBT+ miniseries, “It’s a Sin.” He thinks that people need to understand that the “same love” exists between straight people, but just between two guys. The Independent UK reported that Hoar said, “Sometimes you have to sort of trick the rest of the world into watching these things.”
But the show is primarily about an apocalyptic future where people find dead zombies. Many reviews chastised the director for deviating from the show’s theme, based on a zombie-fighting video game. One person wrote, “They didn’t respect the existing story in the game with this episode 3, terrible!”
Others noted that otherwise good reviews after this surprising third episode totally ignored the actual storyline in the episode. That seems fairly convenient. But the problem isn’t with the plot; it’s with the trickery. Parents might otherwise watch something based on its perceived storyline.
When a show is purposefully used to trick someone into watching something they otherwise would not, it’s wrong. Hopefully, viewers will show their displeasure with Hoar’s chicanery and stop watching the show.