Have you seen this video yet?
As of Monday, the first episode in PRI’s mini-cartoon series, entitled “Overpopulation: The Making of a Myth,” had garnered over 27,000 views. Of course, anything less than a million views is not a landslide by YouTube standards, but this healthy (and steadily growing) number represents real interest—interest that is being fed by dozens of blogs and web sites that have picked up the video for a variety of reasons.
It also represents a personal best for PRI. Since we started producing videos back in 2006, nothing we have done has garnered so much attention so quickly. Most of the credit for this goes to the video’s primary architect, PRI’s Joseph Powell, who wrote, narrated, and animated the video himself.
The video’s rising numbers—and the raging “flame wars” in its comments section—prove that it has struck a nerve with people on the other side of the aisle. A rant-inducing, hate-mail-producing kind of nerve.
To me, that in itself seems like a kind of victory. Pro-lifers are used to being marginalized, ignored, or ridiculed by members of the Leftist elite. We’re used to our videos and literature being laughed off or simply ignored. So it’s nice that our video has created such a stir.
And what a stir it has been. Within hours of posting the video, the emails and comments began to fly in with a vengeance. Our critics insulted our math and accused us of making up our facts; this despite the fact that the video’s science is very clearly laid out at overpopulationisamyth.com . Others tried to shift the ground of the debate, arguing that overpopulation has never really been about space at all, but resources. (We’ll tackle this argument in a future video.) But the position of the real overpopulation zealots—again, easily available on the web site—is that we’re running out of room, not just resources.
Others simply raged about the our format. Why? Because they were irritated that a message they found so clearly repugnant was being delivered in what one commenter described as “hip, computer-nerd” packaging. We took special pride in that one.
And then there are those who came to scoff and, after viewing the website, left convinced that we were on to something. We liked those too.
Having a pro-life cartoon does more than simply get the word out, as important as this is. It also represents a new front in the struggle for Life. A video that angers pro-choice radicals enough so that they publicly rail against it is, we think, a good thing. These people aren’t simply angry because of our message, which they have presumably heard—and dismissed—before. These people are angry because, in some way, we’ve invaded their turf, appropriated their language, and borrowed their style. We have turned their tools back on them.
More videos are in the pipeline, and will be available soon. We think that this series of simple cartoons, combined with the scientific, yet accessible thoroughness of our new web site, could be a valuable tool for educating the public about pro-life issues. We are also excited about the fact that each one of these videos is easily downloaded from the web site. Power point presentations are also available, designed to make arguments against this myth easy to research and present.
We also welcome the input of our viewers to give us ideas on just how we can make these videos more effective. We want to create a series that fulfils a real educational need, and yet stays entertaining and funny at the same time. Not to mention drives the pro-aborts mad.
So, if you liked this video, stay tuned and tell your friends! This is just the beginning.
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