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Bowling for Safety
Or
Michael Moore and the Illusion of Civilization
When one watches "Bowling for Columbine", it's easy to get bogged down in the author's factual errors (which exist in almost any modern issue-based documentary), or in one's ideological differences with Moore and to ignore The Main Problem – or, in other words, the big error – the underlying problem. What is really so wrong with Mike? What made him "do it" – that is, produce a semi-demented propagandist piece, describing the USA as a nation of paranoiacs sitting in gated neighborhoods grasping Kalashnikovs with fingers damp with the sweat of fear, while The Gun Lobby™ and the Evil Corporate Pigs™ exploit their irrational fears to pump out security systems, guns, and alarms by the million? I had to watch "Bowling" four times to find out.
One of the biggest clues in the film as to that question is provided when Moore demonstrates to us a "safe home" – with bars on the entrance to prevent somebody from stabbing the owner, an armored "safe room" in the basement and a hi-tech alarm system. When Moore's guide starts introducing him to the house, he says "the robber and rapist is out there". Moore, of course, gives him the perfect Moore Answer: "Where's the robber and rapist now? I can't see him, can you?" Moore in all honesty believes that putting these safety measures in your home is a sign of excessive fear.
The same is demonstrated in Moore's discussion of TV programs – he truly believe that US television is unique in 'peddling' us fear mongering about Africanized Bees, the Y2K bug, criminals, and terrorists. Newsflash: As a viewer of Israeli, British, Russian, and US television, I can tell you that they're all alike in that aspect. Israelis where as big on purchasing emergency equipment during the various Gulf crises as the Americans after 9/11 – and I better not talk about the price tags on the field generators some dudes here bought in expectation of Y2K.
Obviously, the same pattern continues in Moore's discussion of guns, gated neighborhoods, and other such things. Moore sincerely believes these as a sign of excessive fear – which, he believes, is the cause of US violence (minor point: to demonstrate US' violent nature, he uses absolute numbers (NOT rates) of gun murders only. Sweden's total murder rate is higher than that of the US.).
To a degree, Bowling for Columbine is the sign of one of great illusions of the 20th century West: that we live in a safe world. That civilization will protect us ("civilization" is usually employed to denote government infrastructure we have learned to take for granted). There's no need, says Moore (and The Great Mistake he represents) to build a gated community, buy an alarm system, or carry a gun. The world is safe, we have civilization now, and you can trust civilization (to Moore, civilization = government) to protect you from the rare excesses – such as the "gun-toting psycho" that believes the world is unsafe.
For obvious reasons, Moore is wrong. The world is a dangerous place, and has always been. Terrorism is real (and if a 747 impacting the WTC didn't convince him, nothing probably will), and so are robbers, rapists, and looters – in an event such as Hurricane Hugo, these might actually come down and "ravage" suburban areas. And this has happened before.
There's nothing particularly strange about walling in your neighborhood, either – humans were putting walls around their communities since 10,000 BC, why the hell should they stop doing that? Just because it's the 21st century now? Mind you, the 20th century has seen bloodier wars than any other, so what's that about civilization again? People were also carrying weapons for protection ever since humanity exists, and they should stop now because? Oh, I remember, we have civilization. Note: More people were victims of violence in the 20th century than ever before, and of these, over 160,000,000 were murdered by their own governments – the same ones we are supposed to trust to protect us. So what was that about a safe world? Our world will only be safe if we make a continuous effort to keep it safe.
For untold centuries, civilization was a fragile treasure under a constant threat from those who ignored its rules and morals – barbarians, terrorists, highwaymen, the Nazis, and so on, and so forth. This is why we have armies. This is why we have guns. And this is why we have gated neighborhoods, alarm systems, and "safe-rooms"
Obviously, Mike Moore doesn't care about reality. All he cares about is his weird world-view and the view of the Hollywood mainstream – a view, like his film, based on clichés rather than fact, which can only be supported by carefully doctored facts – and not by reality. However, the average viewer, spoon-fed from birth by the same clichés, will probably not notice the difference either.
By Boris Karpa
Or
Michael Moore and the Illusion of Civilization
When one watches "Bowling for Columbine", it's easy to get bogged down in the author's factual errors (which exist in almost any modern issue-based documentary), or in one's ideological differences with Moore and to ignore The Main Problem – or, in other words, the big error – the underlying problem. What is really so wrong with Mike? What made him "do it" – that is, produce a semi-demented propagandist piece, describing the USA as a nation of paranoiacs sitting in gated neighborhoods grasping Kalashnikovs with fingers damp with the sweat of fear, while The Gun Lobby™ and the Evil Corporate Pigs™ exploit their irrational fears to pump out security systems, guns, and alarms by the million? I had to watch "Bowling" four times to find out.
One of the biggest clues in the film as to that question is provided when Moore demonstrates to us a "safe home" – with bars on the entrance to prevent somebody from stabbing the owner, an armored "safe room" in the basement and a hi-tech alarm system. When Moore's guide starts introducing him to the house, he says "the robber and rapist is out there". Moore, of course, gives him the perfect Moore Answer: "Where's the robber and rapist now? I can't see him, can you?" Moore in all honesty believes that putting these safety measures in your home is a sign of excessive fear.
The same is demonstrated in Moore's discussion of TV programs – he truly believe that US television is unique in 'peddling' us fear mongering about Africanized Bees, the Y2K bug, criminals, and terrorists. Newsflash: As a viewer of Israeli, British, Russian, and US television, I can tell you that they're all alike in that aspect. Israelis where as big on purchasing emergency equipment during the various Gulf crises as the Americans after 9/11 – and I better not talk about the price tags on the field generators some dudes here bought in expectation of Y2K.
Obviously, the same pattern continues in Moore's discussion of guns, gated neighborhoods, and other such things. Moore sincerely believes these as a sign of excessive fear – which, he believes, is the cause of US violence (minor point: to demonstrate US' violent nature, he uses absolute numbers (NOT rates) of gun murders only. Sweden's total murder rate is higher than that of the US.).
To a degree, Bowling for Columbine is the sign of one of great illusions of the 20th century West: that we live in a safe world. That civilization will protect us ("civilization" is usually employed to denote government infrastructure we have learned to take for granted). There's no need, says Moore (and The Great Mistake he represents) to build a gated community, buy an alarm system, or carry a gun. The world is safe, we have civilization now, and you can trust civilization (to Moore, civilization = government) to protect you from the rare excesses – such as the "gun-toting psycho" that believes the world is unsafe.
For obvious reasons, Moore is wrong. The world is a dangerous place, and has always been. Terrorism is real (and if a 747 impacting the WTC didn't convince him, nothing probably will), and so are robbers, rapists, and looters – in an event such as Hurricane Hugo, these might actually come down and "ravage" suburban areas. And this has happened before.
There's nothing particularly strange about walling in your neighborhood, either – humans were putting walls around their communities since 10,000 BC, why the hell should they stop doing that? Just because it's the 21st century now? Mind you, the 20th century has seen bloodier wars than any other, so what's that about civilization again? People were also carrying weapons for protection ever since humanity exists, and they should stop now because? Oh, I remember, we have civilization. Note: More people were victims of violence in the 20th century than ever before, and of these, over 160,000,000 were murdered by their own governments – the same ones we are supposed to trust to protect us. So what was that about a safe world? Our world will only be safe if we make a continuous effort to keep it safe.
For untold centuries, civilization was a fragile treasure under a constant threat from those who ignored its rules and morals – barbarians, terrorists, highwaymen, the Nazis, and so on, and so forth. This is why we have armies. This is why we have guns. And this is why we have gated neighborhoods, alarm systems, and "safe-rooms"
Obviously, Mike Moore doesn't care about reality. All he cares about is his weird world-view and the view of the Hollywood mainstream – a view, like his film, based on clichés rather than fact, which can only be supported by carefully doctored facts – and not by reality. However, the average viewer, spoon-fed from birth by the same clichés, will probably not notice the difference either.
By Boris Karpa
