Re: Gay-rights backers don't want 'Dr. Laura' on TV

[Brian Vita <brian_vita@cssinc.com>]

At 10:54 PM 9/7/00 -0400, Dib9@aol.com wrote:

>Come on.  The pro-gay side of the argument gets plenty of play in the
>mainstream media.  Dr. Laura stands out because she is out of step with the
>politically correct view on these issues that is usually reflected in media
>coverage.
>
>-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine

I often wonder what is going through the minds of the protesters.  If they 
had kept their mouths shut, a certain audience would look for the show 
because they are Dr. Laura fans, a certain amount would stumble upon it by 
accident and a large majority would be blissfully ignorant of its very 
existence.  Now, thanks to them trying to prevent people from seeing it, a 
much larger audience will tune it to find out just what is so objectionable.

I can draw a similar parallel to my industry, the movies.  Many years ago I 
ran a movie in one of the theatres that I managed (no control over the 
booking) called something to the effect of "Silent Night, Deadly Night" 
where Santa Claus was portrayed as an axe murderer.  A few years later one 
of my customers played "The Last Temptation of Christ".  Both of these 
movies were, in my critical opinion, crap.  In both cases we, as theatre 
managers, received calls from some irate groups who protested our 
respective theatres with picket lines, media coverage, etc.  Had these 
folks kept their mouths shut the movies would have quietly come and gone 
attracting virtually no audience.  Since these folks were trying to forbid 
the rest of the world from seeing something, the movies did far better than 
they deserved.

Could it be that a shrewd marketing department at Paramount is behind these 
protests or are the protestors so naive as to not realize that they are 
actually increasing the demand for the show?

Brian

Hey, does anyone know how to tell if I'm using a "straight" computer? 
(Sorry, just having fun from my previous response).




Brian T. Vita, President
Cinema Service & Supply, Inc.
75 Walnut St.
Peabody, MA  01960-5626 USA
Sales:  (800)231-8849/Sales Fax:  (800)329-2775
Business Office: +1-978-538-7575/Business Fax:  +1-978-538-7550
Visit us on the web at "www.cssinc.com"