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The author of Bloomberg's Saturday smear of the massively successful anti-child-trafficking film "Sound of Freedom" was penned by a radical LGBT activist who has argued in favor of destigmatizing pedophilia.
Noah Berlatsky's apparent eagerness to brand the film's popularity as "ominous" has prompted others online to both consider his possible motivations and review his past writ on the subject of pedophilia.
The critique
In his July 15 Bloomberg article, entitled "QAnon and 'Sound of Freedom' Both Rely on Tired Hollywood Tropes," which has since been republished by the Washington Post, Berlatsky suggested that the film "has been embraced by the far right and Christians" in part because the "far right is motivated by myths of corrupted innocence and corruption avenged."
Berlatsky rehashed claims advanced in a similar hit-piece by a senior writer at Rolling Stone, intimating that the film's presentation of trafficking is "misleading."
As if to reassure, Berlatsky claimed that the majority of children sexually trafficked are actually between the ages of 15 and 17, adding that "in 41% of the cases, a family member was involved. Behind those numbers are often stories of addiction, disowned LGBTQ+ people and trading sex on the street to survive."
"That's why experts worry that Sound of Freedom's stranger danger narrative, and the way it centers on victims who are as innocent and as sympathetic as possible, may make it more difficult to organize help for less perfect victims when they are targeted by those close to them," he continued.
Just as the depiction of victims as innocent or sympathetic are allegedly problematic, so too are the Hollywood depictions of good and bad — where the "bad guys are unremittingly evil, and the good guys are sensitive and unfailingly virtuous."
"Is Sound of Freedom a QAnon dog whistle, or is it just another thriller? The answer is that — whatever the filmmaker's intentions — it functions as both," wrote Berlatsky. "These narratives do little to help victims. But they can create coalitions of feeling, disgust and righteous rage that connect conservative conspiracy theorists with the mainstream. That's why Trump's screening it. And that's why its popularity is ominous."
The critic
Noah Berlatsky of the "Everything Is Horrible" Substack is a prolific writer of LGBT agitprop and leftist screeds, often finding "fascism" lurking behind opinions he doesn't like.
TheBlaze previously reported that Berlatsky made a fuss earlier this year about his "queer family" after his wife came out as "bisexual and nonbinary" and his son determined that he was a lesbian transgender.
In addition to writing "Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism," advocating for pandemic school shutdowns, and smearing then-student Nick Sandmann in 2019, Berlatsky has written a number of articles for the Protasia Foundation.
The Protasia Foundation touts itself as a "child protection organization" that allegedly seeks novel ways of curbing child sexual abuse, while admittedly working with pedophiles. It also differentiates on its website between "pedophile" and "minor-attracted person," claiming that "not everyone who experiences attractions to minors is a pedophile."
The organization's values include "sex positivity" and "kink awareness."
In a Dec. 13, 2021, article for Protasia, Berlatsky argued that "treating pedophiles as monsters who are chiefly responsible for abuse actually makes it more difficult to recognize and combat [child sexual abuse]."
"Stigmatizing pedophiles or MAPs makes it harder for pedophiles to seek help, which puts children at risk. And it distracts our attention from the most prevalent forms of child abuse and child sexual abuse, which also puts children at risk," wrote Berlatsky. "As long as we are focused on stigmatizing pedophiles, we will fail to sufficiently recognize and condemn the actions which harm children."
In an April 4, 2021, article, Berlatsky compares the historic curtailment of women's voting rights to prohibitions now on children's ability to do certain things, claiming, "If we refuse to let young people advocate for themselves, or refuse to grant them bodily autonomy, it is not because there is something wrong with their decision-making capacity. It’s because there is something wrong with ours."
Writing for the blog LiberalCurrents in 2021, Berlatsky denounced the "tyranny of parents" and suggested ways the state can help "liberate children" from parental care.
In a July 2021 interview, he discussed one feminist's exposure to pornography at the age of eight and characterized it as a "positive experience."
Andy Ngô, senior editor at the Post Millennial, noted that in 2017, Berlatsky wrote, "Pedophiles are essentially a stigmatized group. Certain people get designated as deviants, people hate them."
"Sound of Freedom," the popularity of which Berlatsky characterized as "ominous," has demonstrated that Americans still don't mind the "stigmatization" of pedophiles. After all, the film has sold over 7 million tickets, exceeding 300% of Angel Studios' stated goal. It has a 100% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes with well over 10,000 verified ratings.
Sound of Freedom | Theatrical Trailer for July 4 | Angel Studiosyoutu.be
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