Bowling for Columbine

[Equality 7-2521]

I just watched this film documentry by Michael Moore. This guy is a dam smart man. He went in search for the answer to why America has, by far, more gun related murders than any other country.

He found evidence that it had nothing to do with the amount of guns within the country or the violent history of the country. Countries like Germany and UK measure up in those common catogories.

He found that, among some other things, the media control was distinctly different in America compared to other countries. By installing fear into the minds of citizens, the media scares people into killing each other. This fear started when whites first came to America and has carried through to the present day. A very convincing argument.

Go hire it from the video shop and watch it. Very informative, interesting and funny. Well worth the watch. (2003 academy awards winner for best documentry)

peace

 

[vitaminman]

Hey,

I haven't seen the movie yet...my two cents:

1. America has a unique perspective on guns. It is a 'God-given right' to have one, not necessarily a privilege. Because of this, guns are readily available, anyone over the age of 18 can buy one, provided you pass a background check. And those are EASY to get around.

2. America has a unique perspective on violence. While violence is not protected by the constitution, it is glamourised in film, television and print; THIS is protected by the constitution under the guise of 'free speech'. The fact that violence is so part of what people see and read, they become desensitized to it and see it as a viable solution to problems. That, and kids not being brought up properly to know the consequences of their actions, it becomes a vicious cycle.

All countries have their violence, but the methods used to carry out that violence is different in each country. In England I noticed that there were more occurences of violence at close-range with weapons such as knives, bottles, bricks, etc. At a soccer game in Germany I saw fans from Stuttgart and Frankfurt get into it with whatever they had laying around, the same with fans from Lille and PSG (Paris).

I believe that if guns were more readily available, they would be used instead of knives etc. because 1. it causes more damage and 2. it can be used at a distance. I'm sure that the Turkish guys I ran into in Stuttgart would have LOVED to shoot me as I was a white foreigner, but I was lucky that I could outrun them. I couldn't have outrun a bullet, though...

Look at hip-hop culture for example: guns are ALL OVER THE PLACE, and many people feel that the only way to resolve a problem is to 'bust a cap in his ass'. While I may be accused of being a wimp, I would sooner sit down and discuss the problem or even get into a fist fight than risk being killed by a bullet or have someone else be killed by a stray bullet.

It's a shame that artists sometimes get 'street cred' for shooting someone, or even having been shot. I look at people like 50 cent, TuPac and BIG and shake my head...first, what the HELL were they doing associating with people who carry guns? Second, what the HELL were they doing shooting people? I mean, that's some pretty cold shit, to deny someone the right to live because he made you mad.

I really liked the movie Friday, and at the end when Ice Cube and Zeus got into that fight, Cube's dad encouraged him to drop the gun, get his ass beat like a man, and live. Words to live by.

As for the media scaring people into killing each other...I find that hard to believe, I'll have to watch the film to get a better understanding. My take is that in the US the media has made it acceptable to use violence, and people happen to use guns as their method of execution because they are available.

Take care,

Nick

 

[Copenhagen]

I would have to agree with Nick here. Of course the amount of gun related murdes has something to do with the availability of guns. In Denmark, there is no gun culture and basically only the police, Hells Angles and guys like that have guns. For the same reason, there are pratically no gun related murders. Instead people use knives, strangling, axes whatever...and then again, Denmark has approx. 5.3 million citizens and I think only 70 murders a year, where I think only 5% go unsolved.
If americans didn't have guns, I believe you'd see less accidental deaths (as you see with guns), less deaths off stray bullets and less murdes because it's not as 'easy' to just kill someone with a knife than it is with a gun (unless you're determined to kill someone), spontaneous killings would decrease.

 

[Equality 7-2521]

actually Micheal Moore found that in Canada there is something like 7 million guns for 10 million households. Yet they have a miniscule percentage of the murders in America. Thats what made Michael Moors quest for answers so interesting....

 

[Ash Holmz]

in switzerland evryones packing but they got one of, if not the lowest, gun violence percentage..i guess its all in the culture like vitaminman said

 

[soundboy2]

A lot of Americas problems with everything including the excess of gun violence, in my opinion goes back to the family sturcture, espeacially in my case and people similiar to my case. Growing up, I used to be like, I don't need no dad, cause my moms was kick ass, but as I got older , I see the benefits of having a male figure in the home. I would have not been in half the shit I was in if I had two parents. A half ass man can guide an young boy to being a man better than a top of the line woman. IT takes a real man to walk away from a fight,or to get in a fight with no gun, but if a woman tells you that, you think she making you a sissy. So we listen to the streets and these rap songs that say, bust first ask questions later. Most homes, their is no father to guide the youth and mode their minds. So T.V. , movies, and music , the streets, become guides and role models for the youngsta. If my dad would have been spot checking under my mattress, I would have thought twice about having that .380 under there. Some mothers do good without a father in the home, but thats the exception not the rule. Along with the easier access to guns, I know we in America probally got the highest divorce rate and single parent home rate. Thats one of the reason, ohter countries with just as much gun acces don't have the the murder rate we have. I don't think its the main cause but I bet it has a effect on it. Of course their are cases where all that is in place and shit still happens but it has to have something to do with it. Its really not one reason , but an accumilation of a lot of factors, but the family structure is in there

 

[Copenhagen]

Well, I still say that the amount of gun related murders have something to do with the availability of guns, but of course there's also mentality, values etc
Damn, I feel my english vocabulary has gotten worse the past days, I'm having a hard time explaining myself.
One thing I can see here in Denmark is, one knife murder has lead to another knife murder etc, these things can start a whole avalanche...same thing goes with guns. If you notice a lot of killings by guns over a short period of time, you feel you have to get one too to secure yourself, and with the US it already started back with the wild west, which is the foundation of America...and then it just rolls from there...or what?

 

[J-UK]

It's a really interesting film, Michael Moore writes really good books as well.

 

[Guevara]

yeah the film is really good, my girl always gets on me for taking her to wierd movies which i enjoy and she may not and even she liked it (Editors note: Go see Pirates of the Caribean...lol) it was funny but it was informative to the point where michael moores actions speak and he doesnt have to say anything, and he dumbs himself down and still gets over on people, like the time he went to the bank at the begining of the movie and he opened an account (the deal was any custome who opens an account gets a free rifle) and he couldnt answer simple questions and they still gave him the gun despite his incompetence...its a good movie if uhavent seen it u cant have an opinion, go see it.

 

[N.U.G.]

"Bowling For Columbine" is a great documentary in my opinion and a must see for basically everyone. America has some really fucced up issues going on that Michael Moore brings attention to in this film such as the glorification of violence by the media. Other things that I think contibute to this include massive poverty issues, gun laws, troubled educational system, and major emotional problems for many U.S. people. Hopefully things will improve.

Another good film that I recommend of Micheal Moore's is "Roger & Me" about GM Motors and how their actions negatively effected many of it's former worker in Detroit, where the company was originated.