Is this supposed to be education from Michael Moore ? Okay people prepare to be educated
Moore sets himself up as some working class intellectual but the gist of this documentary is based on stats , half truths and most importantly of all - Points that seem to have been missed out on purpose
For example BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE centres around " America's astronomical murder rate " insinuating that the murder rate in that country is head and above any other country when it's not . Moore misses out the fact that per head of population the USA doesn't have the world's highest murder rate . That unwanted record is held by Mexico . Both Colombia and South Africa have higher murder rates per head of population than the US . He also fails to point out that many American states do have gun bans . New York for example has a total hand gun ban and the penalty for having an automatic weapon there is life imprisonment . He doesn't come out and say that anyone , everywhere in America can pop into any shop and buy as many guns and as much ammo as they want , but he heavily suggests it which misleads the uninformed
Moore also misses out other points about the American death tolls from murder . If you study American murder rates you'll see a clear connection between the American government banning things . For example the prohibition of alcholic drink in the 1920s led to a massive crime wave of killing as gangsters fought to take over the black market due to the drinks ban . As drugs started to flood into the cities of America in the 1960s the murder rate rose as people tried to muscle in on the hard drugs trade to the point where now many US cities are battle zones . It's not the fault of guns that so many people are murdered - It's the fault of drugs and the massive profits they generate that are leading to violence in America . This information doesn't seem to creep into Moore's hidden agenda . Of course if the American government of the day decided to legalise all drugs the gangs and dealers would become instantly disenfranchised , but this suggestion would seem to be too liberterian for Moore .
We're also treated to a wonderful piece of hypocrisy by Moore when he mentions that on the day of the Columbine school massacre the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia reached its peak . You may remember that because the Serbs were engaged in a violent conflict against Islamic insurgents ( America is doing something very similar today in Iraq ) NATO decided to bomb the Serbs until they pulled their troops out of Kosovo . Moore seems to be against the bombing of Yugoslavia in this documentary . What he doesn't tell you is that the NATO airstrikes were under the command of Wesley Clark , the same Wesley Clark who later ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination and the same Wesley Clark WHO MOORE LATER BACKED FOR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION !
And being a Michael Moore documentary we are treated once again to Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World contrasting to images of human suffering. Moore has made a career out of this technique and it's not even his idea because he's stolen it from Barry Levinson in GOOD MORNING Vietnam
My own opinion of BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE is that it's polemical rubbish , uninformative and just plain misleading . I also found it stomach churning that Moore is awarded every film gong going because he makes documentaries centered around human tragedy . His fans will point out that Moore's advertising the fact that guns are responsible for a terrible death toll in which case I'll point out Moore is benefitting from this terrible death toll via this documentary and the praise and awards it received . I wonder how his fans feel about that as they rush out to watch his latest documentary or buy his latest book ?
Moore sets himself up as some working class intellectual but the gist of this documentary is based on stats , half truths and most importantly of all - Points that seem to have been missed out on purpose
For example BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE centres around " America's astronomical murder rate " insinuating that the murder rate in that country is head and above any other country when it's not . Moore misses out the fact that per head of population the USA doesn't have the world's highest murder rate . That unwanted record is held by Mexico . Both Colombia and South Africa have higher murder rates per head of population than the US . He also fails to point out that many American states do have gun bans . New York for example has a total hand gun ban and the penalty for having an automatic weapon there is life imprisonment . He doesn't come out and say that anyone , everywhere in America can pop into any shop and buy as many guns and as much ammo as they want , but he heavily suggests it which misleads the uninformed
Moore also misses out other points about the American death tolls from murder . If you study American murder rates you'll see a clear connection between the American government banning things . For example the prohibition of alcholic drink in the 1920s led to a massive crime wave of killing as gangsters fought to take over the black market due to the drinks ban . As drugs started to flood into the cities of America in the 1960s the murder rate rose as people tried to muscle in on the hard drugs trade to the point where now many US cities are battle zones . It's not the fault of guns that so many people are murdered - It's the fault of drugs and the massive profits they generate that are leading to violence in America . This information doesn't seem to creep into Moore's hidden agenda . Of course if the American government of the day decided to legalise all drugs the gangs and dealers would become instantly disenfranchised , but this suggestion would seem to be too liberterian for Moore .
We're also treated to a wonderful piece of hypocrisy by Moore when he mentions that on the day of the Columbine school massacre the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia reached its peak . You may remember that because the Serbs were engaged in a violent conflict against Islamic insurgents ( America is doing something very similar today in Iraq ) NATO decided to bomb the Serbs until they pulled their troops out of Kosovo . Moore seems to be against the bombing of Yugoslavia in this documentary . What he doesn't tell you is that the NATO airstrikes were under the command of Wesley Clark , the same Wesley Clark who later ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination and the same Wesley Clark WHO MOORE LATER BACKED FOR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION !
And being a Michael Moore documentary we are treated once again to Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World contrasting to images of human suffering. Moore has made a career out of this technique and it's not even his idea because he's stolen it from Barry Levinson in GOOD MORNING Vietnam
My own opinion of BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE is that it's polemical rubbish , uninformative and just plain misleading . I also found it stomach churning that Moore is awarded every film gong going because he makes documentaries centered around human tragedy . His fans will point out that Moore's advertising the fact that guns are responsible for a terrible death toll in which case I'll point out Moore is benefitting from this terrible death toll via this documentary and the praise and awards it received . I wonder how his fans feel about that as they rush out to watch his latest documentary or buy his latest book ?