More ‘Bowling for Columbine’ Fun
So, I finally rented and watched Bowling for Columbine. It’s funny to me how something that’s been built up in my mind for so long by so many people can end up seeming so… different when I finally meet it face-to-face. I felt like telling the movie, “Huh. You’re a lot smaller in person.”
Which isn’t intended as criticism. The movie is what it is, and I think it makes a great point, and deserves to be watched and talked about. If I had my way, though, I guess I’d prefer that the talk actually be about what the movie is about, rather than being the strident meta-discussion over whether or not Moore “told the truth” in making it.
Yeah, well, I’d like to serve under Captain Picard aboard the Enterprise and take an extended vacation with the riders of Rohan and go fishing on the Grand Banks with the crew of the We’re Here, too. But none of those things are ever going to happen, except in my head. We live in the real world, and the subjective nature of reality notwithstanding, it is what it is, too, regardless of our wishes.
And what it is lately is a place to talk about Moore’s truthfulness in making Bowling for Columbine. He himself has a really nice treatment of that at his web site: How to Deal with the Lies and the Lying Liars When They Lie about “Bowling for Columbine”. And Brendan Nyhan at Spinsanity has his own counterspin on Moore’s comments: Moore admits to altering “Bowling for Columbine” DVD.
Thanks to Adam at Words Mean Things for the link.
September 25th, 2003 at 11:05 pm
It’s Easy
[…] If you, reader, are an opponent of Moore’s politics (and even we “fans” don’t agree with everything he says) tactics like this are not going to work long term. A reign of error speaks for itself. But when the criticisms are fabricated, one has to…
September 26th, 2003 at 12:33 am
A lot of people really miss the central theme of this movie, which is less about guns, and more about racial divisions in America, and to some extent illegal immigration.
These racial divisions aren’t going to go away until we get rid of things like Affirmative Action and other forms of institutionalized racism and sexism.
Society at large isn’t going to get a lot better until we get rid of the government as substitute husband as well. Moore wont talk about that, but the evidence of it’s destructive power is all around us. 81% of the people who end up in prisons are raised in a single mother home. Is it a wonder that the black community has a crime problem? Now the white community is following the example laid down, and we are seeing the results here. Whether it be out of wedlock births, no-fault divorce, and a family court system that works to seperate fathers from their children — the ones that grow up without living with dad end up worse off regardless of income. No one wants to talk about it, or face it, it doesn’t fit in a nice PC box.
I would wager (and have good evidence to back up) that a lot of societal problems would go away if we started giving custody to the fathers as children would be more likely to have the benefits of both parents. They would learn accountability, responsibility, and rationality.
One of my friends who grew up in the worst neighborhood in St Louis had this to say: Yeah, a lot of my friends went to jail, and we all did stuff that was wrong, but they were worrie about getting caught by the police, I was worried about getting caught by my father. It’s the reason I’m here now and not in jail.
June 20th, 2004 at 7:55 pm
He micheal moore calls this BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE truth well i understand where one of the stars in it feels that moore cheated him just to make a buck and frankly the accademy awards has become too darn political they always reward the movie that it the most far left and antiamerican it stinks and i no longer even watch the oscars and im with the good folk who booed moore off the stage moore is no different then joseph gobbels