The movie about abortionist Kermit Gosnell cracked the box office top ten in its first weekend. Despite showing on only 668 screens, the near-total lack of media attention, the shoestring budget and the minimal marketing, “Gosnell: The Trial Of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” managed to pull in over a million dollars in three days. That’s not much compared to blockbusters showing on 4,000 screens with hundreds of millions in marketing behind them, but it’s very good compared to other small films with barely existent advertising budgets.
Yet, mysteriously, the movie was dropped from 200 theaters heading into its second week. It was dropped from theaters with 15 or 30 screens, even though it was a top ten earner in those specific multiplexes. The film’s producer says he’s never heard of a movie getting the boot in its second week after such a strong showing in its first. On top of that, moviegoers across the country have reported that even some of the theaters still showing the film are preventing people from actually seeing it. Showings have been canceled with no explanation. Other showings have been called “sold out” despite open seats. There would appear to be an active effort to blackball “Gosnell.”
The censorship should not surprise us. The movie has met roadblock after roadblock, every step of the way. Most news outlets refused to even review the film. As of this writing, the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes has only been able to find ten write-ups of “Gosnell” across the entire media landscape. Robert Redford’s movie about an old guy robbing banks, which made not much more than “Gosnell” in its opening weekend, has been reviewed well over 100 times.
And this is all in keeping with how the media and the Left treated the actual events that the film is based on. That is to say, they didn’t treat the events in any way at all. The serial murder of hundreds of infants at a “medical clinic” in a major American city was steadfastly ignored by the Left and the media. They didn’t put their own spin on it. They didn’t create a narrative to explain it away. They didn’t engage in any arguments about it. They simply ignored it. There is something about Gosnell the person and “Gosnell” the movie that absolutely terrifies the Left. The story is so hazardous to their agenda, it so contradicts their narrative, that all they can do is shove the whole thing in a closet somewhere and pretend it never happened.
Why? What are they afraid of? Well, I think deep down they know that Gosnell’s defense attorneys were right. They defended their client on the basis that he’s no different from any other abortionist. Sure, his methods were a bit unorthodox. Sure, his standards of hygiene were a bit lax. Sure, he kept the corpses in buckets and jars rather than throwing them in a dumpster out back like any self-respecting abortion would. But so what? Abortionists kill infants. That’s their job. Every abortionist does it. Gosnell never denied doing it. He wasn’t on trial for killing babies; he was on trial for killing babies in the wrong location. Rather than murdering them seconds before emerging from the womb, he murdered them seconds after.
Now, Gosnell didn’t admit to killing the babies seconds after they’d been born. He claimed he killed them seconds earlier. But what does any of this matter? The baby is dead either way. It seems that if you really stop to think about the Gosnell case, if you give it even a moment’s thought, you’ll be forced to ask yourself a serious question: Am I okay with what Gosnell did? And if you answer “no,” then comes the follow up: I’m not okay with what Gosnell did, so why am I okay with what every other abortionist does every day in this country? If the murder of babies upsets me, why should I feel better about it as long as the murder happens before the baby makes it into the open air?
A moment’s thought about the Gosnell case is all it takes to send a rational person down this rabbit hole. So, the Left is determined that you do not give it a moment’s thought. And each leftist individually is determined not to give it a moment’s thought themselves. The pro-abortion position requires an enormous amount of cognitive dissonance. Every day becomes a minefield which must be deftly navigated. One wrong move and your whole ludicrous political and moral philosophy will be blown to smithereens.
C.S. Lewis once remarked that a young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist can never be too careful in his reading. The same can be said for a young man who wishes to remain soundly pro-abortion. His position is tenuous. He has built his worldview on a tower of cards. One strong gust of truth and reason will knock it all down, and he knows it. So he plugs his ears and hides in a corner and repeats talking points to himself like an incantation, hoping it will make reality go away. Pro-aborts are ignorant, but willfully ignorant. Their ignorance is the greatest indictment against them because it stems from their incomprehensible cowardice.
Perhaps that should be the next movie someone makes and the media pretends doesn’t exist. “Ignorant Cowards: The Story of the American Left.” It could be a sequel, of sorts. Or perhaps a prequel.
Either way, it would be a hit.