Bowling For Columbine

[Cuong Nguyen]

Hi All,

I went to see this great documentary style movie that Michael Moore won an Oscar for. It was called Bowling for Columbine (he is the author of the book "Stupid white men" and the guy behind the documentary series "The awful truth")

It is about the US and its love for guns...

Has anyone else seen this movie? I would like to know what you all thought of it and also what you guys think of the US gun laws?

I thought it was really "interesting" and at the same time disturbing!

[That Ozzy Guy]

I've been meaning to see this for the longest time Cuong. Have heard good things about it. Is it still at the cinemas?

[Alfadog]

No I dont think it still is at the cinemas... pity as I never got to see it either.

[Z Kid]

I watched it, and was truly amazed, the number of shooting deaths per capita in the US is just crazy, In australia we basically have the accidental shootings, people cleaning their guns and looking down the barrels, and the suicides, and of course the people the the Victorian police shoot. In america it was a phenomanol number.

The most amazing scene was where he went into a bank, opened an account, and received his complementary fire arm for opening an account at the bank, and they just gave it to him over the counter, is it stupid to anyone but me? I never thought giving out guns in a bank was a good idea

[mushupork5]

I saw this movie several times and it weel-deserved the oscar. Moore does a great job critiquing americans and their love for guns. He goes from the youngest school shooting (in the US) at age 6 to what happened at columbine, to the oklahoma city bombing, to US kills during wars... He doesn't just talk about guns, he analysizes how the US culture is one of guns and how much of it is driven by the fear of other people. It goes on and on. Just watch the movie and you'll understand, also he made "Roger and Me" and "The Big One" 2 other great movies

[Zvoiture]

We're a sick bunch over here...

steve77

[Arizona240z]

Moore is a sick one........ Everything he does has the biggest liberal slant to it that could possibly exist. He has been kicked off of our College campuses, booted out of public areas and has been asked by numerous Americans to leave the country. Yes I have offered to help pay for a one way ticket to France for him providing he never comes back.

Whew, with THAT said, I do realize there are 2 sides to every story and the truth is somewhere between what this idiot says and what his far right wing counterpart might say.

PLEASE, before you take any of his "statistics" for gospel check out one of the many sights that tries to keep him truthful:

www.moorewatch.com

[Bambikiller240]

Ah, Second Amendment Rights.

Finally, something Dwight and I will agree on!

I KNEW there had to be SOME topic where our views would not differ.

[Arizona240z]

It's not going to be the high cholesterol and triglycerides that are going to give me a heart attack, it's going to be the fact that Carl and I are in agreement on something other than the Z being incredible! :classic:

Carl, I have to admit, I couldn't decide what your reaction to this post was going to be and I couldn't wait to hear it.

[Bambikiller240]

Hi Dwight!

Well, I must admit that I've seen "Roger and Me" and "The Big One" and enjoyed them to a degree, as I like it when people in power are put on the Hot Spot and have a tough time answering questions. But Mr. Moore is a bit of a muckraker and is certainly liberal to the core, so I do not always agree with him.

I'm curious about this movie, but frankly I'm afraid that it will cause me extreme grief to watch it as I suspect he will have slanted the story to make every gun owner look like a crazed fool with an itchy trigger finger and no brain. I don't need him to raise my blood pressure, or I'll have to increase my medication.

I'm going to spend some time tonight checking out that website that you mentioned.

PS to Zvoiture: we are not ALL sick over here!

[Z Kid]

Ok, I hadn't heard any of the stuff on the website, but after looking, I still think it was an excellent documentary. He may not have made his intentions clear, and maybe some of the redneck comments were taken out of context and doctored a bit. However the fact still remains that it is a real problem, when you have children being destroyed by crazed gunmen who can buy their bullets from K-mart, and get a free gun from the bank, you have some fairly serious issues.

So maybe he wasn't totally honest, and even if only half of what he put out was totally true, it is still a serious issue. And surely not being able to get bullets from K-mart is now a good thing???

I can just never imagine the weekly shopping list that says bread, milk, rounds for the 9mm, etc. Here we have gunlaws that are overly strict, yet they still seem to function relatively well (you need a gun licence to own an air rifle, and to buy the pellets for christs sakes).

I for one stil think that its a great documentary, and having visited america, even your taxi drivers don't do a great job of making the place feel safe, ie between airport and hotel, comments like 12 people were shot in that carpark in the last six months, there is the gang border etc, don't go here.

There is a problem, and the figures in the movie were government provided, so have a go at the guy, but he is trying to do something about the problem, even if it is just stirring it up to get a reaction. The fact that people have Mr Moore hate sites means that he must be doing something right, and really they are helping his cause, If I hadn't seen the docco, and saw that site, I would go out and see it. The site seems to be nothing more than a few bored individuals "muckracking".

So take the movie, assume eveything is terribly exagurated, halve all the figures, forget half of the comments made, and half of the incidents which are used as examples, and there is still a major problem which needs to be adressed.

My 2cents

Chris

[Zvoiture]

>>>>PS to Zvoiture: we are not ALL sick over here!<<<<

Well, heck...When I watch the news on that tele-thing or Mildred reads the paper to me, they tells me I'm a victim. They tells me I need protection from all sorts of things the goverment can pass laws to protect me from. They tells me it's my RIGHT! But then they talk about other folks' RIGHTS--people who do things that sound like their daddy didn't paddle them quite enough when they was growin up--and how the law or whoever is trampling on their RIGHTS. And when some of these people try to hurt us, we can't stop them because it would hurt their RIGHTS. So I'm a bit confused on this RIGHTS thingy. I just thought you just did what's RIGHT and let other people be. I'm just glad we have the Government and the media to watch over us and make sure our RIGHTS are protected.

steve(ever seen a can of beans opened with a 30-06?)77