Some people on Facebook are beginning to rave about a new movie called “The Sound of Freedom” starring Jim Caviezel. The movie purports to be the true story of Tim Ballard, a former Department of Homeland Security agent who rescues children from sex trafficking in Colombia. Caviezel and others have claimed that the movie, which was partially crowdfunded by conservative Christians, exposes the “global cabal of pedophiles.” That “cabal” supposedly includes U.S. intelligence agencies, liberal politicians, and Hollywood executives.
This narrative echoes the QAnon conspiracy theory. QAnon originated from the 2016 Pizzagate conspiracy theory that claimed that a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor was a front for a child sex ring involving Hillary Clinton and other Democrats. It is telling that this movie has been heavily marketed on right-wing media outlets such as Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire and Glenn Beck’s Blaze TV, and has attracted a cult audience among those who believe in the QAnon fantasy.
Lying for profit
I posted on Facebook that the film was Q-Anon propaganda and that people should not support it. I got back the reply, “Are you claiming that sex-trafficking doesn’t occur?” I, of course, had claimed no such thing. I responded back, “Are you saying that lying for profit doesn’t occur?”
My problem with this film is not that a work of fiction is highlighting a real problem in the world. This is one of the purposes of fiction.
My concern is that the film’s financial backers, internet boosters, and Jim Caviezel himself are using it to promote a false, conspiratorial, QAnon-supportive, political worldview. They are deliberately using, oversimplifying, and exaggerating a very real evil in the world in order to stir up moral indignation in the American people for financial and political gain.
Moral indignation
Moral indignation is often used as a political tool by right-wing media and it’s pundits to manipulate their audiences and advance their agendas. They do this by creating or amplifying moral panic over issues such as crime, immigration, race, sexuality and education. They use overgeneralization, sensationalism, misleading or false information, ad hominem attacks, and belittling ridicule of opponents to provoke emotional responses and rally support for their causes.
The similarities between the Pizzagate conspiracy and the promotion campaign for “The Sound of Freedom” are striking. Both rely on unsubstantiated claims of widespread child sex trafficking by powerful elites. Both use moral indignation to appeal to conservative values and religious beliefs. Both exploit the genuine problem of child exploitation to advance a political agenda.
This type of deliberately-created moral indignation leads to incidents of violence and extremism. Examples of this include the shooting at the Comet Ping Pong pizza parlor in 2016 – and the storming of the U.S. Capitol in 2021 .
It’s about the money
A key question viewers should ask of the film, and the filmmakers, is, “Now that you have upset me and made me angry at the bad guys, what would you have me do?” The answer comes in a dramatic appeal from Caviezel during the closing credits.
What they want is for viewers to send them money. (Surprise!). Caviezel announces that they have “boldly” set up a “pay it forward” program for people to “pay for someone else’s ticket” to see the movie.
During Caviezel’s plaintive plea for money, he actually dares to say, “This movie isn’t about me or Tim Ballard. It’s about those kids.” (Of course it is). He also says, “We believe this movie has the power to be a huge step forward toward ending child trafficking.”
One might ask, “How can a movie end child trafficking?” Caviezel’s answer is, “If millions of people see it,” it will “bring hope throughout the world!”
A fake solution
I’ve heard of “the Magic of Hollywood,” but this claim is ridiculous. Problems are not solved by spreading outrage and indignation. Problems are solved by serious people who have knowledge, experience, and expertise.
Child exploitation is egregious, but it is not new. Local, national, and international law enforcement has long been arresting people for these crimes and continues to do so. Airlines, hotels, border patrol, and other groups have regular trainings on this topic and are always on the alert. They do not need a reckless, fame-seeking, camera-totting, privately-funded, vigilante like Tim Ballard to interfere with their work.
Stirring up moral indignation in the public has absolutely no value unless it directly leads to greater support for those who are already on the front lines dealing with the problem. In fact, stirring up mass moral indignation in the public actually makes things worse because it causes the public to lose faith in the existing institutions that are already aware of, and working on, the problem.
I shouldn’t have to point this out, but going to a movie, and then telling all your friends online how self-righteously upset and angry you are, doesn’t help anyone but the propagandists, and the profiteers, and their authoritarian political heroes.
Don’t buy into this scam.
Sources:
Nick Allen, “Review: Sound of Freedom,” RogerEbert.com, July 7, 2023.
Herb Scribner and Will Sommer, “‘Sound of Freedom’ is a box office hit whose star embraces QAnon,” The Washington Post, July 7, 2023.
Amanda Robb, “Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal,” Rolling Stone, November 16, 2017.
Cecelia Kang and Adam Goldman, “In Washington Pizzeria Attack, Fake News Brought Real Guns,” The New York Times, December 5, 2016.
— “Pizzagate conspiracy theory,” Wikipedia.
Yeah. The QAnon phenomenon has many characteristics of a fake “moral panic” like the satanic worship panic of the 1990s. The lengthy investigations of reports turned up no actual evidence. I recall one blood curdling child’s tale turned out to have been inspired by a scene in The Empire Strikes Back. Greg Smith has cited Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance, 2nd edition (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 228–229. What is most disturbing about QAnon is not just the manufactured outrage but the conspiracy-theory approach (troubling lack of evidence, not of child trafficking as a problem, but of a wide conspiracy involving public figures on the scale required. The Pizza Gate shooter’s disappointment in discovering that the supposedly offending Pizza parlor did not, in fact, have a basement where supposedly horrible things happened). The “storm is coming” is about widespread executions of public figures that is calls to mind Reign of Terror France, Stalinist purges, and the Holocaust, political bloodlust cloaked in righteous indignation. Lynch mobs run on righteous indignation and do not require evidence, just consensus. I recall during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one recurrent demand by the Russian troops of the subjected people was “Show us the Nazis!” The proper answer, alas, would be, “Look in a mirror.”
Great article! A fool and their money are soon parted. You’ve given a great example of how just bringing something forward prompts the “believers” to accuse you of supporting the very thing you are talking against. It’s also a typical way that the right wing misdirect anger without identifying the source of a problem. It’s sad that it’s so much easier get angry than it is to solve a problem. Solving problems require thinking and anger, since it originates in the reptilian brain, diminishes clear thinking.