He was vilified for his intolerance of Americans and his abhorrence of the Second Amendment. His ratings sank lower and lower until he was shown the door.  He was the subject of a petition signed by over 100,000 people asking for his deportation from the United States. He was reportedly abusive to his staff and crew. Yet, in spite of these achievements – or perhaps because of them – a commenter at frontpagemag.com relates that Piers Morgan brought positive change to a number of people in his life . . .

Olorin writes:

I think he was terribly useful and served an outstanding niche: I know six liberals who changed their mind about gun control (pro —> questioning —> anti) as a result of listening to his gibberish. It led them to come to me and my household and ask us questions they might not otherwise have about things he said. That led to asking about life and death stuff. Hard stuff. Policy, history, and experiences. 

We could then have a quiet, honest, interactive set of discussions about RKBA and the Second Amendment. Then took each one of ‘em shooting, at different times. Four have since joined various pro-2A organizations. I took one (a self-proclaimed progressive feminist lesbian) to her first gun show, where she decided upon her first pistol and her first rifle, to be purchased as soon as her CCW arrives in the mail. Two more joined two of my gun clubs, and yet another is researching becoming an NRA certified RSO. 

Thank you, Piers Morgan, for opening minds by showing yours to be so closed!

So we find that even closed minds and a bombastic, insufferable personal style that made people cringe can be turned to good purposes. No less than John Lott, at nationalreview.com related one of many similar comments he received from a reader:

As noble as he thought he was, Piers did a disservice to his cause. I will buy your book and read it, and if I find your conclusions credible by my own standards, I will write Mr. Morgan and let him know. 

 I may end up disagreeing with you, but tonight, you have certainly won my respect.

Perhaps civility, courtesy, rational discourse and fair play still mean something in America.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Gun Watch

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82 COMMENTS

  2. “Piers Morgan brought positive change to a number of people in his life . . .” Ask any of his exes, I’m certain they would agree!

  4. I’ve had similar experiences with people finding their way to me via Piers Morgan, Maddow, and others. Several trips to the range later we’ve got a few new RKBA gun owners on our side. An argument for a state monopoly on the credible threat of force, an argument to turn millions into “paper criminals”, doesn’t really “ring” with a lot of 20 and 30 somethings. We’ve been watching the system fail for our whole lives.

  6. I sorta hope he comes here to Norway, he could show how silly the anti-gun arguments are an win over some more people on our side.

      • Yes, ask comrade Ivan. He has some that…fell of a truck.

        Seriously, select fire is illegal (except for collectors, which is hard to become). Though in my homeland (Bosnia) people kept weapons after the war (“never again” is an important saying). You can also get pretty much anything through illegal channels in my homeland(also in Norway, but a bit harder and lesser selection).

        • When I was in your homeland, I remember people saying how easy it was to get AKs. Forget the going rate back then, but was envious of their affordability.

          What part of Bosnia are you from? If you don’t mind saying that is.

  7. I guess even Piers Morgan can serve as a bad example during a “Teaching Moment”. I say we send him packing & let Jeremy Clarkson have another go at him.

    • “So we find that even closed minds and a bombastic, insufferable personal style that made people cringe can be turned to good purposes.”

      Perhaps not what CNN intended with Piers Morgan, but I always thought Fox News was using this exact ploy when Alan Colmes was on, and now that he is occasionally back. I can thin of few better ways to convert people to conservatism than giving them a few minutes of Alan Colmes. Same goes for PM and converting people to pro-2A.

    • BTW Clarkson had a laugh this last _Top Gear_.. I’d pay to see him knock some sense into (m)Organ..

  8. He brought changes to positive changes to peoples lives? So has religion, enough said about that.
    So did Hitler, so did Bernie Madoff. I’m sure out of the 100s of millions of people around, you can find someone who was positively changed by the worst of the worst.

    I can honestly say though, Piers Morgan caused a positive change in me also, although somewhat temporary. Every time I saw that man on TV and listened to him for a few moments, I had to take a bowel movement.

    • Every time I saw that man on TV and listened to him for a few moments, I had to take a bowel movement.

      Damn. And all these years, I’ve been wasting my money on Miralax.

      • Looks like you are going to have to keep with the Miralax since he’s been shown the door.

    • Mine generally sliced and diced them with a Claymore.

      Net effect is the same, however. I won’t miss him when he’s gone. That’s assuming he actually goes away, and doesn’t surface on Al Gorezeera or some such other network.

      • He’s actually Irish by blood. His original name was Piers Stefan O’Meara; he’s widely beloved to have changed it to appear more English and in doing so gain social favor.

        • We had our issues with the Irish, too, but the Ulster Plantations came along after the Claymore passed out of fashion. Knowing that he further prostitutes himself by doing that takes my already low opinion of him even lower. I didn’t think that was possible.

  11. Lesson learned. No matter how annoying and useless something seems, it can always be used as a bad example.

  12. Not unlike thanking someone for your clean bathroom after they shat all over your floor necessitating the need for a major cleaning.

    • Well put, if a little bit crass. Or perhaps because it was a little crass. Either way, nicely done.

  14. Pretty, pretty, pretty please, don’t send that twat back to Britain! We don’t want him here. God forbid, he’ll get a chat show and attempt to take away what little guns we Brits have left. What a c**t.

  15. Yes, I agree, he HAS changed lives for the better. It is now easier for many people to identity someone who has no interest in anything other than his own agenda. He has shown journalists how not to act, the wrong way to interview and what unethical actions are like. He has shown young network executives what does not work on tv and he has shown his competitors what failure looks like. There’s a lot to learn from Mr. Piers Morgan, I am barely scratching the surface here.

    • With all due respect, why can’t he be extradited back to the UK and brought up to Justice? Has he actually been charged with anything yet? If not, why should he be afraid to go back? oh, wait…

      Tom

    • Isn’t the Falkland Islands in need of a local television “personality?” I should think his constant “Don’t need guns for self defense” diatribe would go well down there.

  17. The proverbial fool who opened his mouth. Good story.

    I just read a linked article on Drudge from some show biz site. Piers seems to think he will stay at CNN and do 20-25 shows a year. Big name interviews and such. I hope he is mistaken.

  18. I’m sure he made it quite clear how far the lame stream media goes to to make gun owners out to be criminals. He probably helped to get pro 2a people up in arms (pun intended) about their rights.

  19. It’s long over due, but I’m glad to hear even CNN thinks he’s an idiot.. I think I will sign that deportation petition as well.

  20. Loudly voiced extremist views lead thinking, otherwise neutral people to look into the opposite viewpoint more carefully. Those of us on this side of the argument would do well to remember that.

    We will never sway the hardcore antis, but they’re not important. We CAN sway the vast middle, the folks that don’t really think about guns much, but have been exposed to folks like Morgan and think that anyone behaving that rudely and irrationally is likely wrong.

    We win when we are calm and rational and mellow. We lose when we rant and holler and scream and call our opponents names. Act like a boob and sensible people shut you off.

    We need those sensible people. Be polite and logical. It feckin’ works.

  21. Mom, always positive, said, “People can always effect a positive change in others’ lives, some do it by entering, some do it by leaving.”

    I would say Mr. Morgan has effected more net change turning pro gun control people to anti-gun control people by his utter silliness and stupidity. Have not heard where someone has said, “Thank you Piers, for showing me the light!” Must be because his head is where the Sun don’t shine.

  22. Not even the UK wants him back. He has no purpose for being here. CNN waited too long to rid us of his gibberish. Send him to Russia and let them take care of him. They have ways of making problems disappear.

  23. The goal in a debate over any controversial issue is to persuade the “mushy middle” and that is never done by bombast and “over doing it.”

    That’s what Morgan proved.

    Everyone can learn a thing or two here.

  26. Cheer up piers, I’m sure theres a job here for a man with your special insight….why here it is now “wanted, doorman for outhouse”, better hurry.

    • I could use a personal assistant. If he accepted, he could stand at the ammo counter at Walmart and text me when they get 22Lr in.

  27. This reminds me of something I read MANY years ago. In the early days of computer scientists working on Artificial Intelligence they were, of course, looking for algorithms that would reliably give them the right answers. After a while they noticed that some programs would reliably give them wrong answers. They were able to improve the total output of their programs by inverting the output of those algorithms that were consistently wrong.

    It would appear that Morgana is providing that function for the POTG.

    • My former bossed called that concept the McNamara Predictor after the former Ford executive that created the Edsel. A McNamara predictor is as useful as someone who is right all the time. The nature of life is such that there are far more McNamara predictors than wise men.

  28. I want to know when his last show is so I can sneer at him. I want to watch him try to be eloquent in the face of knowing how much dislike he’s earned while he wallows unapologetically‎ against the very thing most Americans hold dearest, our constitution. There are things you just don’t mess with, a man’s dog, his car or motorcycle, his kids and his guns. Piers Morgan used his unpopular British accent to diminish the very thing Americans hold dear. And for that, he will find very few tears shed for him and indeed, most will bid him good riddance and hope a taxi hits him.

  29. The only good and intelligent thing I EVER heard from Piers Morgan’s mouth was his praise of Jackie Evancho on America’s Got Talent, and even then it tended to be personally self-centered and narcissistic, not so much about how great she was, but about how felt about it, and he was called on this point by Howie Mandel.

    He was right about Jackie, about everything else he is a complete twit.

  30. Hey maybe he will become a “commentator” on FOX snooze. Hell, I can not believe any Media source these days.

    • The main reason the Obama campaign spurned Fox was the way the promo ads read:

      Obama! Fox NEWs! (Read it quickly.)

  31. “The period of emotional capture is followed by a regression to the mean, in part because many of those new supporters of gun laws “ask themselves if the purpose of these legislative moves was to stop the actual crime that occurred, or to advance a broader agenda they may not be comfortable with.”

    Looking at polling data from the last few shooting cycles, Blackman and Baird conclude that there isn’t just a regression to the mean, but that “the mean is in fact declining. In other words, after each spike subsides, support for gun control is even lower than it was before the shooting.” They don’t think this pattern is inevitable, but for now, “Less support for gun control laws after tragedies is the normal reaction to mass shootings. Not the other way around.”

    http://reason.com/blog/2014/02/12/why-mass-shootings-havent-ushered-in-a-n

  32. So does this mean that maybe my charm is working on Shannon Watts? Can I change her mind?

    • Never mind the sneers, the rejection, the “no no, not ever..don’t even think about it” in the same sentence, I certainly don’t. Go for it counselor.

    • No means no, Time to move on and starting courting that gun toting British Babe who was featured on TTAG a few days ago.

  34. piers had that special something, that certain je ne se qua… so did the miner that didn’t take a bath for 30 years, yeah they both stunk. I think he helped our cause though.

  36. “Perhaps civility, courtesy, rational discourse and fair play still mean something in America.” DOES IT…. IT GOES BOTH WAYS… Tea Party?….. Remember that next time you want to launch into mindless Obama bashing. As far as that Limey…. Good riddance.

  38. Still think you have 2a rights . . . wrong, you have 2a privilege and a privilege can be taken away . . .

  40. “Piers Morgan Changed Lives – For the Better”

    He most certainty did. He showed us exactly all of the bogus arguments that made up the anti-gun cadre’s arsenal. It was really easy after that.

  41. I worked for a guy who was as rude, abusive, arrogant and overbearing as PM, apparently is/was, and though I hated him (and still do), in the end I realized I learned a lot from him. I learned how NOT to treat people, how not to make ill-conceived business decisions, how not to profess I understood I have some challenges then belie that confession in the next moment. Working for him finally drove me to quit the job I had and start a new career at age 46, with the same Company, and loved the last years I worked. The learning from that person served me well, so I am grudgingly grateful to him, but will be happy to never set eyes on the SOB again.

    As for PM, himself, I suggest he go to Russia and offer his services to Vladimir Putin, with any luck PM will end-up in one of Putin’s gulags….

  42. It must be difficult being the only man in the world with the gravitas, the insouciance, the charm and passion, able to sway legions of adoring fans to his viewpoint. The lilt of his ringing Home Counties accent, the cut of his tailored suit, the crisp click of his bold stride onto the world stage. If only he could run the country, nay, the world, be an emperor! Then justice would prevail, the little peasants would fall at his feet in worship, nations would offer him awards by the bushel.

    “What, Security is coming for me? Unhand me you brute! Aaargh! You’ll pay for this! Mark my words, when I make my comeback it won’t be for this pissant little network, you’ll never work in Showbiz again!!”

    (Thoughts and words running through PM’s mind).

    Clearly his only future career move is to become the next James Bond villain.

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