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Wednesday thru Sunday
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Over 30 Years in Eugene Serving Great Mexican Food
610 E. Broadway (corner of Franklin & Patterson)
541-686-TACO (8226) • missionmexican.com
Oregon Humanities Center
Celebrating 20 years!
2008-9 Kritikos Professor in the Humanities
KENNETH R. MILLER
Professor of Biology and the Royce Family Professor
for Teaching Excellence, Brown University
Time to Abandon Darwin?
Evolution and the Battle for America’s Soul
Wednesday, May 27
7:30 p.m.
150 Columbia Hall
1215 E. 13th Ave., UO campus
living out
BY SALLY SHEKLOW
Be Very Afraid
Fabulous parodies spin off ad campaign
I
f you’re a fan of the camp classic Reefer
Madness, you’ll love Gathering Storm. This
new TV ad alerts Americans to one omi-
nous and terrible peril, even more menacing
than marijuana.
Yes, folks, scarier than Reefer Madness’s
warning of societal destruction by wacky
tobacky, Gathering Storm prophesies
impending doom to Our Way of Life if we
don’t stop the grotesque monstrosity of
which Gathering Storm warns.
(SPOILER ALERT!)
Beware the unimaginable terror threatening to
destroy the world as we know it, known as none other than
— wait for it — gay people getting married.
It’s laughable, I know, and thank God(dess) it is. Gathering Storm’s attempt
at shock and awe is inspiring a spate of spoofs, relentlessly popping up all
over YouTube.
So far I’ve watched Gathering Storm of BS, Gathering Storm of Lies,
GAYthering Storm and Gathering Storm Chasers — the original ad intercut with
scenes from the Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers (“OMG! OMG!”).
These creative clips include high production value exact look-alike parodies
with real actors, home-puppet shows, crude animation and a few solo acts of
someone talking into a webcam. All great fun.
The original Gathering Storm, with its dark clouds swirling in the
background, features a crop of overly sincere actors pretending they’re
doctors and mothers and church personnel, all scared out of their wits over
gay people getting married (now that’s acting!). In carefully delivered dialog
they recite why they’re afraid of the so-called storm.
“I’m a California doctor who must choose between my faith and my job.”
“I am a Massachusetts parent, helplessly watching public schools teach my
son that gay marriage is OK.”
“I’m part of a New Jersey church group punished by the federal
government because we can’t support same-sex marriage.”
What they mean is federal laws might soon — gasp — equally protect
everyone. Doctors would have to apply their do no harm oath to — God help us
— GAY people. School kids might learn about — gulp — two-mom and two-dad
families. Churches will face fi nes when they don’t observe — horror of horrors
— non-discrimination laws in renting their public facilities to the public.
Shaking in your boots yet?
Gathering Storm says you should be. You should haul out your credit
card and join their new “rainbow coalition” — their exact words (WTF, right?).
Defend the institution of marriage from, er, people who want to get married.
Meanwhile, fair-minded Americans celebrate marriage equality victories
in Iowa, Maine and Vermont —and probably pretty soon New Hampshire, New
York, New Jersey and Maryland, if recent polls hold true. That’s why Gathering
Storm is mobilizing their trepidatious troops, and why creative YouTube
responses are coming so fast and hilarious.
Gathering Storm entertains us because, like the marijuana scare of the
1930s, it’s such heavy-handed over-the-top transparent propaganda. It’s funny
in its own right. But the parodies are utterly faaaaab-ulous.
Go ahead, Google “YouTube Gathering Storm.” Watch the original and all
the spoofs. You’ll smile, you’ll giggle, you’ll ROTFL. Be careful about laughing
too wildly, though. Someone might think you’re suffering from the scourge of
Reefer Madness.
Award-winning writer Sally Sheklow lives and laughs in Eugene. She welcomes kudos, kvetches and Gathering
Storm parodies at sally@wymprov.com
This event is free and open to the public.
Book sale and signing to follow lecture.
For more information, or for disability
accommodations, please call (541) 346-3934.
uoregon.edu/~humanctr
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