VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, [5], 6, 7, 8 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 12:52:54 04/19/03 Sat
Author: Gwydion
Author Host/IP: ip68-102-241-63.ks.ok.cox.net / 68.102.241.63
Subject: Bowling for Columbine

I finally saw it. I don't know what the deal is, if it isn't out on video or if the stores around here just don't sell it, but I ended up downloading it from Kazaa so I could watch it.

I think an in-depth analysis of the movie would be redundant, but I will say that he had an interesting point about media coverage of tragedies and fear fads in America. It's too bad that message was marred by Moore's politics, his penchant for distorting the truth, and his hypocrisy. Did anyone else wonder that he criticized people for scapegoating Marilyn Manson while he himself implied that our government's policies and Lockheed-Martin might be responsible?

I'd also like to address a couple of specific issues, the first of these being ethnicity in our nation. Moore made the statement that 13% of Canada is not white, but he didn't quantify America's ethnicity, I believe because it hurts his point. About 1/3 of America is of a different ethnicity. Blacks and Hispanics each comprise about 1/8th of the population, about the same percentage as Canada's entire ethnic population. These two groups forming about 1/4th of our population are responisble for 50% of our homicides, both as victims and killers. Why? I don't know. It could be that racism is a very big problem in America and that these ethnic groups are economically depressed by the white population. I can't say for sure, but I believe it puts a whole new spin on the ethnicity argument.

Also, Moore claimed that because many different histories had violence, that that argument was also not valid. Again, I have to disagree. While Britain and Germany both have very violent histories, these histories frequently place them as the oppressors. America was a nation conceived in violence, but that violence was a struggle for rights. Even the last war fought on our soil, the Civil War, dealt strongly with rights. As a result, America has a strong history of demanding rights, especially individual rights. European violent histories are looked at by Europeans as disgraceful, but America's violent history is looked at by Americans as righteous* because of that difference. I believe this translates into day to day decisions. To Kharn, shooting an assailant violates the assailant's rights. To me, it's defending my own rights. Maybe I'm wrong, but again it adds another spin to the violent history theory.

*Not to say that American military history isn't full of disgraces, but that's not the general perception.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.