This is the article I wrote for Variety's special issue on violence in the media. (In the spirit of outlaws, I stole the above image from another blog.)
Ilive in two worlds. The right wing, gun-toting,meat-eating, Harley-riding, racist, homophobic, masochistic fantasy dynasty, thatis SOA. And the centrist-liberal, anti-gun, vegan, Tesla-driving, gay-priding,civil-minded, pro-choice existence, that is my personal life. I often struggle with how much of each spillsinto the other. For Sons of Anarchy, I struggle with not letting my personal politicspollute my creative choices. The sameway I clash with how my creative choices often rub hard against who I am as aperson. I am very aware that SOA is an imaginary world. That’s why I lean so heavily on the absurdistquality in the show. The pulp nature ofthe violence keeps me in the creative arena of fantasy. I might as well be writing about wizards and fairies. Although I infuse my characters with mydreams, desires, defects and defenses, they do not share my outlook on life.
Theawareness of my professional duality always becomes heightened and challenged inthe face of gun violence and tragedy. Iwrite a brutal show about guns, death and violence. Because of that, I have to take stock of myresponsibility as an artist and understand my impact on the viewers. Self-awareness is a bitch. It requireshumility, openness and the willingness to change. It is absolutely necessaryfor growth, individually and collectively.
Whenthe NRA broke their weeklong silence about the tragedy in Newton, and placedthe blame on Hollywood, my immediate reaction was stunned rage. Really? This is how you take responsibility? This is how you help heal the wounds? It was reckless and absurd. But Ididn’t tweet or blog about it, I did something I often have trouble doing, I paused. I realized that the NRA’s response was atactic. A familiar tactic. By creating another conflict, Guns vs. Media, the gun machine continuesto distract from the real issue, Gun Reform. So rather than retaliate, I think it’s imperativeto stick to the quest for a solution. TheNRA is not the bad guy, but they need to cooperate in our need to end the violenceto be a good guy.
Whatis the solution? I don’t know. No one does. Yet. Many people have spoken upabout the desperate need for reform. From Obama to Howard Stern, folks have shared their sympathy and hopefor change. The promising thing, andperhaps the only real different message that has landed, is the awareness that thereis not just one thing responsible for the carnage. It’s not just gun laws or bad parenting orour mental health care system. It’s allthose things and more. The truth is, asour world grows exponentially, so do our problems. Evil alwaysmanages to adapt, re-invent, circumvent and find new and extraordinary ways torip out our hearts. Good needs to follow the same path. It’s time for our solutions to get off the linear track. We cannot save ourselves working in the samesick box.
Asfar as my own responsibility in the Newton tragedy -- I made a comment afterthe shooting in Aurora, which I still believe to be true: “Man's inhumanity toman is as old as humanity itself. Some people just do evil things. Most do not.A billion people have seen Batman movies over the past 20 years, and they havebeen entertained and inspired. One man saw it as a sick entry point for massmurder. The one is tragic. The billion are not. I choose to write for thebillion."
Havingsaid that, if in this three-dimensional quest for reform, empirical data surfaceswhich proves that the violence in Sons ofAnarchy is responsible for an uptick in violent acts, I would be forced to amendmy current philosophy and take responsibility for the impact of my art. Until then, I’ll keep writing about wizards, fairiesand bikers. And if need be, I’ll bite offmy own tongue.
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