Tuesday, March 23, 2004

People kill people.


Watched Bowling for Colombine the other night. Anyone who hasn't seen it, really should.

Bowling for Columbine" is an alternately humourous and horrifying film about the United States. It is a film about the state of the Union, about the violent soul of America. Why do 11,000 people die in America each year at the hands of gun violence? The talking heads yelling from every TV camera blame everything from Satan to video games. But are we that much different from many other countries? What sets us apart? How have we become both the master and victim of such enormous amounts of violence? This is not a film about gun control. It is a film about the fearful heart and soul of the United States, and the 280 million Americans lucky enough to have the right to a constitutionally protected Uzi.

... From a look at the Columbine High School security camera tapes to the home of Oscar-winning NRA President Charlton Heston, from a young man who makes homemade napalm with The Anarchist's Cookbook to the murder of a six-year-old girl by another six-year-old, "Bowling for Columbine" is a journey through America, and through our past, hoping to discover why our pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence.

One of the most interesting parts, for me, was when he asked Americans why they thought that the gun death rates were so much higher in America (over 11,000/year) than in, say, Canada (under 200). Their reply?

Canadians don't have as many guns. (10 million people, 7 million guns. That can't be it.)
Canadians don't have violent movies, TV, or video games. (Hello! We get all the same stuff.)
There are no poor people in Canada. (really? we have welfare, I wonder what for?)
There are no black people in Canada. ( I realize that he probably interviewed the dumbest of the dumb for effect, but please.)

It is amazing to me how much we (Canadians) know about America and how little Americans know about Canada. It's like they get all their information from TV, and that is just sad.


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