Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Omphalos wrote:

GamePlayer wrote:The only good thing to come out of Michael Moore and his BS is "Team America Ate My Baby"

You did not think that the arguments in Bowling for Columbine were well thought out and presented? In not asking you if you agree with his politics, but as a documentary artifact you did not like that film?

Thought I liked it at first, took another look at it and hated it. The only thing I got out of Bowling For Colmbine was the media abuse. That was the one issue where the film had a solid point. That and allowing Marilyn Manson the forum to smack down all the soccer moms of the world...that was truly awesome.

The rest? Anti-gun, anti-Bush, anti-right, anti-for-the-sake-of-anti crap. Michael Moore is just the left's answer to Ann Coulter; they are both just different sides of the same counterfeit coin. BfC gives documentaries a bad name, IMO (if one could even call BfC a documentary).

Personally, I buy the culture of fear arguments in Bowling for Columbine. I have been saying the same things for years before that movie came out, especially in regard to local news programs, and to a greater extent then before, national news programs too.

Omph you are dead right about the culture of fear. Use to be kids would go out trick or treating in their neighborhood, now they all go to the mall and do it under cover. Kids use to be allowed to run and play around outside now they are cooped up and tv and video games are now their watchers. Yes there are bad and evil people out there but everything gets so blown out of proportion that it has tainted this country and brainwashed parents.
This culture of fear was taken advantage of by the Bush administration after 9/11/ We were told to be afraid and to hide ourselves as opposed to Roosevelt who said the only thing we have to fear is fear its self. Quite the contrast.

Rob

I thought I was supposed to shop, or let the terrorists win.
Mixed messages, I guess.

The halloween example - you still see local news with a story
about poisoned candy (we just had that discussion, too)

now it's internet safety, online predators, "cybertorture" {What ? Really?}

http://www.bloggernews.net/118832#comments

(the comments are the best part)

Be afraid. Be very afraid of everything. Chemicals in your foods
are poisoning your children (are they still making school kids Down Under
were hats to protect them from the Ozone Hole ?) your neighbor, the
quiet one who never bothers anybody ? might ought to take him out
pre-emptive like before he rapes your whole family. Really. Start
counting how many news stories are fear-mongering. Ask why.

http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/libr ... /index.php

{beautiful point about Bush vs Roosevelt, Rob. Thanks.}

Actually, Australian kids aren't allowed to bring peanut butter sandwiches to school, because someone might be allergic to peanuts.

I'm not kidding. I'm from Aus, and my sister and I were just talking about that.

HBJ

OH GAWUD NOOOOOO!

CHEMICALS IN MY CHILDREN ARE POISONING MY FOOD?! OZZIE CHILDREN ARE BEING MADE INTO HEADWEAR?! AAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

Hunchback Jack wrote:Actually, Australian kids aren't allowed to bring peanut butter sandwiches to school, because someone might be allergic to peanuts.

I'm not kidding. I'm from Aus, and my sister and I were just talking about that.

HBJ

What if they're allergic to vegemite?

I worry far more about the loss of rights and the loss of critical thinking than I do the culture of fear. What concerns me is the loss of rights in our democratic nations and the willingness of the people to hand over those rights under some illusion of security and progress. What annoys me about Bowling for Columbine specifically is the way every gun owner is portrayed as the same freak that's out to kill you. I've know gun owners my whole life and the vast majority are no more crazy than I am.

(okay, bad example)

The point is, guns aren't the problem. Neither are cigarettes. Neither are video games. Neither is rap music. Or any of the scapegoats people create. The real enemy is a population that is increasingly unable to cope with life. Someone gets shot? Ban all guns. Someone dies of lung cancer? Ban all smoking. Some kid flips out? Ban all video games. Some 12-year-old dies from a hockey puck to the face at an NHL game? Demand unjustified millions spent for safety nets at all arenas to prevent this one-in-a-million accident from ever happening again. And woe to the politician who actually takes a stand against this emotional black mail.

It's this constant loopy-leftist demand for utopia after every national news tragedy that is destroying our democracies. These investigative committees and groups. Spending millions on bleeding heart legislation that does nothing. Sponsorship scandals and gun registration. Taking away the rights of the majority to placate the loss of the minority. Taxpayer money by the millions spent to appease some grieving mother who was the victim of bad luck. It's time we stopped holding our government hostage whenever something bad happens and cease all the demands for a perfect world using band-aid solutions that we can no longer afford.

We need to learn to cope. We need to stop screaming at the unfairness of life and spending ourselves silly trying to prevent it whenever bad times hit. We need to get out of debt. We need to stop infantilizing our children. We need to downsize government.

"Coping, in all it's forms. Coping with adversity, coping with diversity, coping with life. Coping will enable us to get back on track and deal with our problems responsibly. And coping, you mark my words, will not only save our democracies, but that other malfunctioning organization called the human race. Thank you very much"

GamePlayer in '12!

GP wrote: What annoys me about Bowling for Columbine specifically is the way every gun owner is portrayed as the same freak that's out to kill you.

I don't think the movie carried that message at all. Again, Moore went to Canada and showed that guns are readily and easily available, and that there is a comparative rate of gun ownership in Canada as in the US. So access to guns and numbers of gun owners is not the cause of the greater gun murder rate in the US. Moore made your point for you : guns are not the problem. The greater propensity of Americans to use their guns (to kill other citizens) is the problem. The Culture of Fear argument goes a long way towards explaining that - Americans are being conditioned to fear their neighbors.

I agree with the sentiment of your post. I'll challenge your assumption that that the fault lies with "The Left". Religious and conservative right-wingers are involved in the exact same game, especially where draconian remedies to minor problems are put forth in the name of "the children", eroding civil rights for all.

And while I just wrote "Americans are being conditioned to fear their neighbors", I don't see it as a government/media conspiracy, per se. Americans seem to like to be scared and over-react.

Word to GP (quality rant!), and word to Sandrider. I agree that people are the problem, not the objects, but I dissagree with you GP as to exactly who is the problem. Both sides have contributed plenty to this shit pile, and I think Sandrider shows some decent examples of the "right" shovelling dung onto the heap.

Besides, guns don't kill people. Bullets kill people.

Blaming guns for murder is like blaming forks for obesity!

Freak-Z
LOL! I could never be a politician; nobody listens
But I love the forks analogy. I'll use that should I ever start a campaign

SandRider
Moore doesn't give a shit about Canada; all he cares about is using us to bludgeon his fellow Americans. And Moore's distinction bears little on the net result: BfC is the rallying cry for gun laws in the US and he knew it when he made it.

As for my attack on the left, I'll give you that. I'm left and tend to stick with what I know, so I have a tendency to come down on them on certain issues that I associate more with one side than another. But you're correct that there are also plenty of right wing nut-job soccer moms who are even worse at coping and as much to blame for the problems I've laid out. It really is a nonpartisan issue, but I was ranting so I was allowed to get a little soapbox-ish

I've decided to let go of my anti-handgun position for now, because I'm coming off as way more anti gun and left wing than I actually am. I really don't give much of a shit, and it's super low on my priority list - if I had a choice I'd say no more handguns, but I really couldn't care much less either way. I have no problem at all with non-automatic rifles. There are way bigger problems in the world than how efficiently murderers can do their work, so as they say, I'll let the small fish go.

I don't see why people get so upset about it though, I think the right to owning a handgun is really pretty weak, why not a rocket launcher? I kid, I kid.

Just picked up season 1 of The 4400. Looks like a repackaged X-Files, but we'll give it a go.

Also, I think they have guns in The 4400, just to keep this thread relevant.

I never liked the 4400 all that much. Came across as too much of a Rising Stars rip off. But I like guns

I didn't always enjoy The 4400, but as the series progressed it seemed as though that "world" (meaning one with time travel and superpowers) could exist, unlike Heroes which is just a live-action comic book.

I liked the miniseries, but then the three seasons that they did never built to shit. They kept talking about this war that was coming, and failed to deliver it.

Though that girlfriend fo the main character from Tahiti was too hot for words.

Omphalos wrote:I liked the miniseries, but then the three seasons that they did never built to shit. They kept talking about this war that was coming, and failed to deliver it.

Though that girlfriend fo the main character from Tahiti was too hot for words.

True, but the way Season 4 ended probably (finally, hopefully) would have led directly to the war. Though I must say that whenever someone said "Promise City" I couldn't help but think "promiscuity."

And yeah, she was hot.

Tleszer wrote:

Omphalos wrote:I liked the miniseries, but then the three seasons that they did never built to shit. They kept talking about this war that was coming, and failed to deliver it.

Though that girlfriend fo the main character from Tahiti was too hot for words.

True, but the way Season 4 ended probably (finally, hopefully) would have led directly to the war. Though I must say that whenever someone said "Promise City" I couldn't help but think "promiscuity."

And yeah, she was hot.

Every season that ended on that damn show should have started the war. But it never did.

I watch lots of crap on TV

Sarah Conner Chronicles - turning out to be pretty good, after all.
Heroes - this season sucks.
True Blood - chick show, lots of T&A, guilty pleasure.
Sanctuary - has some good points, but is a bit cheesy.
NCIS - Mark Harman is hot.
Boston Legal - canceled

Can't wait for Lost and BSG to come back!

Mandy wrote:I watch lots of crap on TV

Sarah Conner Chronicles - turning out to be pretty good, after all.
Heroes - this season sucks.
True Blood - chick show, lots of T&A, guilty pleasure.
Sanctuary - has some good points, but is a bit cheesy.
NCIS - Mark Harman is hot.
Boston Legal - canceled

Can't wait for Lost and BSG to come back!

Mandy, this entire thread was designed for you.

O RLY?

I forgot to mention The Daily Show and Colbert Report.. oh and Dexter. I don't always like Dexter, but I watch it anyway. Something about it kinda gets on my nerves, but I don't know what it is.

You watch altogether too much TV

Only between 8pm and midnight, lol.