Wrongful Prosecution
Recently, a woman got out of her car with it still in drive. The vehicle proceeded
to run into a nearby telephone pole. The woman sued the manufacturer of the car
and won because nowhere in the owner’s manual does it say that you need
to put the car in park before getting out of it. Responsibility has become a gray
line in America. It is always easier to shift the blame on something else. In
Michael Moore’s, “Bowling for Columbine”, he offers an educated
question as to where the blame should lay.
In Canada, there are violent video games, movies, diversity, and an easy availability
of guns. Moore points out that with all of these similarities between the U.S.
and Canada, what is the difference? What makes our nation kill? Moore examines
the reasoning behind this strange phenomenon where Americans are obsessed with
killing other Americans. While he offers no answers, he suggests that the media
may play an integral role in the inflated murder rate. Media in Canada is very
calm, they talk about world issues and supporting their allies, where in the U.S.,
graphic and sometimes shocking images are used by an unfeeling media. The result
has become a fearful and hostile America. Moore does not want to blame a certain
institution for increasing the rate of homicide, but he does offer answers that
have not been pursued in the past. The title “Bowling for Columbine”
is saying that we are not looking in the right places, try somewhere else. Columbine
is but a jumping off point from a mass murder that took place in a school. Two
unlikely words are linked in his title, Bowling, and School. Who are we to blame?
Another possible source of our aggression is the politicians. On the day of the
shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, the U.S. had its largest
bombing of Kosovo. While some, like the Lockheed Manager do not see a connection
between the two events, it is evident that they can be considered linked. George
Bush is creating a war-ready, militant nation. There is the possibility of a draft
in 2005, in order to cleanse the world single-handedly of terrorism. As Americans,
we have been instilled with the fear of what our neighbors may do to us, so we
feel the need to protect ourselves.
Corporations like Wal-Mart were blamed for the selling of weapons and weapon ammunition
in Bowling for Columbine. It was not Wal-Mart’s fault for selling the ammunition.
They could have just as easily went and blamed the middle class American who helped
to manufacture them. The argument can be made that it is the corporations who
are controlling the items that are popular, just as a radio station makes music
number 1 hits, not the consumer. We are a malleable culture, being shaped by the
will of others. In the movie “Network”, which was made in 1975, Jensen
states, “You get up on your little twenty- one inch screen, and howl about
America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only
IBM and ITT and A T and T and Dupont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon. Those are
the nations of the world today. “ Our country is made up of corporations
that control the totality of our lives. The gun manufacturers are a huge corporation,
and if nothing is truly regulating these industries, if they are in fact larger
than nations and ideologies, then we are going to continue to have a problem.
Bowling is simply a metaphor for one of the last absurd places that we have looked.
Of course, nowadays, a game of Cowboys and Indians is far from being considered
politically correct. But the simple childhood game of cops and robbers raises
eyebrows in school teachers and administrators. The concept of the game is mainly
to catch the bad guy. Our government is playing this game on a global scale, but
playing it in our schools and on the cul-de-sacs across America is a warning sign
of a future school shooter, terrorist or criminal. Forget how many of these kids
playing cops and robbers go on to become decorated officers in our armed forces,
policemen, firemen captains of industry, and Middle class, working people. Instead,
our attention is diverted that grow up to be criminals and then blame cops and
robbers.
Michael Douglas’s character in “The American President” that;
“He is interested in two things, and two things only: Making you afraid
of it, and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen,
is how you win elections.” How long have we been forced to live with the
fear of our neighbors? Why do we lock our doors at night? Are our politicians,
media, and corporations of America forcing us to live in fear? Some would say
that they are making us more aware, but we have come to a crossroad where it seems
like every American must be able to protect them. Perhaps, one day, we won’t
feel the need to protect ourselves. Maybe the world isn’t as scary a place
as CNN makes it out to be. Someday, owning a gun might not make one feel protected.
John Lennon said, “I hope some day you’ll join us, and the world will
live as one.” Maybe someday, we will be able to go to the local bowling
alley, and not have to look over our shoulders.
Works Cited
The American President. Dir. Rob Reiner. Perf. Annette Benning, Michael Douglas,
Michael J. Fox, Martin Sheen. Columbia Pictures, 1995.
Network. Dir. Sidney Lumet. Perf. Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch,
Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy. MGM Grand, 1976.
Lennon, John. Imagine. Capitol Records. 2000.