John Oliver takes on the deeply strange world of NRA television

On Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver dives into the gun happy, weird world of NRATV, along with dangerous bears and a little something called Satan’s cupcakes

The latest episode of Last Week Tonight is all about the National Rifle Association’s television channel, which may immediately conjure the taste of bile in your mouth. It likely has, anyway, due to the NRA’s vehement defense of gun ownership in the face of tragedies like the school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut and most recently Parkland, Florida. You may have even seen commentator Dana Loesch defending the NRA on television.

Companies have made headlines by cutting ties with the NRA after the Parkland shootings, which took the lives of 17 people. These include Delta, United Airlines, Avis, Hertz and more, which generally took the tack of cutting benefits and discounts for NRA members.

However, not all large companies have immediately backed away from the NRA. John Oliver focused on those that host the NRA’s television channel, NRATV. These include Amazon, Apple, and Roku.

Now, you may not be familiar with an entire television channel devoted to gun ownership. You may even be moved to utterances of profanity in the midst of your confusion. But, said Oliver, chances are you’ve already seen some footage from the depths of NRATV.

Let’s look back to Dana Loesch, who has risen to ill-earned prominence through her defense of the NRA after Parkland. She has even turned her particular brand of “feminism” towards the use of the NRA. As quoted on Last Week Tonight, Loesch has said, “The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom is to fight this violence of lies with the clenched fist of truth.” That is just the tip of the iceberg.

The depths of NRATV

Beyond the videos “that are essentially just trolling for your attention,” said Oliver, there is a bevy of really, really strange shows. To start, there are three separate knockoffs of Antiques Roadshow, that gentle PBS standby wherein people either discover hidden treasures in their homes or are told that their “priceless antiques” are just junk. Only, under the banner of NRATV, the presenter is enraptured by “the womb-like paradise of a firearm,” in Oliver’s words.

There’s also Media Lab, a very testosterone-rich show where host Dom Raso reenacts gun-heavy scenes from film. On a somewhat unrelated note, Oliver was compelled to include Raso’s response to a viewer question about the his most treasured possession. Was it a piece of memorabilia from an important event, like a wedding or birth?

No. No it wasn’t. Raso said his most treasured possession was a cross made out of human bone. His grandfather created it while a prisoner of war. NRATV is definitely not helping its case when one of its presenters sounds like a serial killer.

Perhaps even more interesting is the realization that a large amount of content on NRATV is aimed at women. Said one presenter quoted on the show, “If you get the woman, you get the family”. Even taken in the context of encouraging gun ownership, that is deeply creepy.

Maybe your tastes run to Love at First Shot. On that show, women are encouraged to become more comfortable with firearms by a friendly presenter. One in particular shoots an AR-15 as her first gun-handling experience. The presenter comments on the light kickback of the weapon, saying that it is like “a light ploof of happiness”. An AR-15 was also used in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland.

Fear, hunting, and profit

Naturally enough, there are quite a few NRATV programs that focus on hunting. One clip included on LWT talked ominously of “anti-hunters” while showing gorgeous flyover shots of the American wilderness. “Death is an undeniable fuel of life,” intoned the narrator. It all seemed to be an attempt to justify hunting to, well, fellow hunters.

Listen, are we absolutely, totally sure that NRATV isn’t employing a serial killer right now?

“That flowery vaguely threatening tone is a key feature of NRATV,” said Oliver. In one seemingly unrelated clip, another narrator goes full metaphor about the dangers of marijuana. “She is a harlot, and her name is Mary Jane,” he said.

But why is NRATV even talking about drugs? Because as Oliver notes, it wants everyone to think that America is full of horrors, threatened by “urban riots and domestic ISIS sympathizers”. Wouldn’t you know it, there is only one solution to these seemingly rampant issues: guns. More specifically in many cases, an AR-15

Never mind that the statistics of self-defense and gun ownership are hardly flattering to the NRA or its agenda. These are also blatantly racist tactics that draw on a fear of an ill-defined “other” to sell firearms.

“To watch NRATV is to watch a constant stream of stories like those,” said Oliver. “[They are] amplified to terrify you and sell you profits”. Tellingly, many of the shows on NRATV are sponsored by arms manufacturers like Sig Sauer. “It’s just a vessel to sell America guns,” Oliver argued.

Echo chambers

It’s difficult to say whether or not this tactic works. NRATV won’t release viewership numbers. It is possible that practically no one is watching. Certainly, it seems as if NRATV viewers have already made up their minds on issues like gun ownership. It’s an echo chamber par excellence.

For all of the blatant silliness and self-serving nature of NRATV, though, it’s not what should ultimately hold our attention. Oliver compared it to a raging bear wearing a beanie, where the beanie is NRATV. It’s dumb and surreal, sure, but perhaps you should be more concerned about the claws and teeth coming your way.

If you need a palate cleanser, then enjoy the mock NRATV tactics Last Week Tonight uses to lambast muffins. Monstrous as that thought may be, phrases like “we tremble before Satan’s cupcakes” are pretty good. Rest assured that my next house guests will be asked if they want “Satan’s cupcakes” on the next lazy weekend morning.

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