Good article about NRATV from the Winston-Salem Journal:
It turned out, however, that they didn’t understand the conservative media well enough to find a place in it.
As I’ve said, I found Cam Edward’s show watchable (usually listenable, when I even have the time). What was different about Cam’s show? It was mostly about guns. He made forays into general politics, but it was mostly 2nd Amendment issues.
There’s always a risk when a company wanders outside of what it knows. Ask the Carlyle Group about running a refinery sometime. How’d that go for ya? Ask Delta Airlines the same question. Or Cerberus running gun companies.
NRATV had one thing right: Conservatism today is indeed driven by a politics of resentment and anger, where the threats are overwhelming and there is no higher goal than owning the libs. But as the Times article notes, “The site’s web traffic was minuscule, with 49,000 unique visitors in January.”
Yeah, because that’s totally not also true about your side too.
The only thing we actually resent and are angry about is being continually blamed, slandered and libeled, outgrouped, etc then taxed, placed in a regulatory minefield, then constantly bombarded with threats of more stuff being banned, taxed, or even stolen at gunpoint by government. Exactly what of that are we supposed to be happy about? Exactly how am I to view anyone who pushes that on me while I do none of that to them as good? And the only “owning” of the other side I want is not for my own self satisfaction but to reverse the damage they have done and put a permanent end to the further threat they pose as enumerated above.
I don’t think I ever watched NRATV.
Mostly because I didn’t think it was worth it.
There is also this phrase in that article:
I almost choked laughing at that one, because I know of one gun club where that very argument was made in the process of some serious debate/deliberation about an otherwise mundane issue. Just substitute “SWAT Team” for “jackbooted government thugs.”
Sorry, I know that’s sort of a “ya hadta been there” story, but the example still tickles me. And it was after Obama was more than a year out of office!
Over the top is an understatement about comment of which you speak.
Colion Noir’s show was excellent as well.
A really big problem for NRATV was the content delivery system was atrocious. Leaving aside the question of how good the shows were, actually watching them could be nearly impossible.
A focused version of NRATV is actually a good idea. Like you said, Cam’s show is engaging. Colion is excellent. Get people who are fun to watch and put out gun-centric content that people can actually access. That would be really popular.
An idea so crazy, it just might work!
“gun-centric content”
What a concept!
There is a strain of conservatism that’s like that, I find.
Ain’t the only one, not remotely sure if it’s close to dominant, either.
(But I’m also not a conservative.
Which is another reason I want the NRA to stick to its single damned issue, not Glorious Culture War Totalism.)
Exactly. I do consider myself a conservative, but not of a mindset to constantly want to just fight with liberals. I want the NRA to stick to teaching gun safety, defending the 2nd Amendment, and educating people about America’s self defense history.
I do not want it being a branch of the Republican Party. That hurts the 2nd Amendment cause more than anything else.