you know i love it when you talk dirty to me
I think you are onto something here. I think the people who think they know the truth - their truth - are incredibly arrogant. God is too complicated a subject for us to actually grasp or understand completely. I think religion itself has been severely twisted by mankind over the years. It all seems so simple, treat people as you want to be treated, live life to the fullest, help your fellow man if you can, be true to yourself.
See an easy solution to a complicated issue.
That movie opened my mind somewhat, I have always thought we should ban hand guns and automatic weapons in the US...but that movie also made me think about why we feel the need to kill each other here. I now see the sensationalism of the media and the affect it has on our society differently than I did in the past.
sex, this stuff is kinda deep, but Ive been there and I know exactly what you are saying. the judging is hardly a step away from hate, and the pasive acceptance of another persons "truth" is more than I can handel. I have a need to understand, but honestly I think I never will.
There's a lot of stuff in this post I don't agree with, not the religious business, that's fine, you do what you gotta do to be cool with your stuff. Not that you really need my permission either, but stay with me here.
The problem with Bowling for Columbine is that it phrases violence as a distinctly American dilemma, when in fact it isn't, Europe just has much stricter controls, but that doesn't stop people from getting stabbed, shanked, shot, maced, whatever. People are violent for a lot of reasons and a lot of them are biological. To me: teaching people how to be safe with guns and not treat them as big toys is more important than gun control; thank you Boy Scouts.
Re: Rise of the Right- Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter With Kansas." I'm going to pimp that book forever.
-Thomas
"Once someone puts God first they seem to think they’ve got a sort of license to feel bad for those who haven’t seen the Light."
Totally true. A perfectly natural response, but sometimes they seem to forget that God isn't such an OBVIOUS truth as they seem to think.
That's another thing that worries me, and you touched on it talking about seeing the judgement in people's eyes. Sometimes its not so much what religious people say that scares me, but all those things they think but are too afraid to say.
And while I agree with Thomas with what he was saying, in the sense that the violent proclivities will always be there, you're soo on the money when you say,
"By some great cosmic stroke of good fortune, the media is able to kill all the damn birds with one shotgun shell."
I think people really do get this feeling of impending doom all the time, especially when watching the news. And they will say, "What is this world coming to?", something i will never be caught saying in my life. The world will always seem to be taking a headfirst dive into a pile of deficate, especially with the news to illustrate the process 24/7, but its been like this for the past gajillion years. And to sound overly simplistic, I think the difference now is the prevelance of the TV and the media mongering fear (perhaps not insidiously but for the sake of ratings) which allows certain ignorant people to feel hopelessness or conclude that we are at the end of the rope, and that it will all head to shit, when this is all nothing compared to past historic "downs". But once again its a matter of focus.
"...is that it phrases violence as a distinctly American dilemma..."
The film speaks to gun violence only, not just any kind of violence. I found it to recognise violence in other cultures, past and present, nearly to the point of debunking its own theories.
I prefaced this essay with saying that much would go unsaid - some of which has to do with my views of the movie and gun control. I think my views might really surprise you, ThompsonTwin, though I'm not getting into all of that here. That said, I am intrigued by MMs slant on the US media and its effect on violence. Some of my graduate work consisted of studying the impacts of televised violence on children.
It's hardly movie of the year - for me it mostly brought up some interesting correlations about the way people think.
Greg - Yup. Even with all the shit that goes down, Death isn't making the headway it did say 1000, or 300, or even 50 years ago. We as a species have come a long way. We also have a long way to go.
Man, I hope we hear from the Aussie and Canadian contigent on this, don't you?
I've always thought it would be better, with regard to guns, to force everyone single American over the age of 5 to take a gun safety and use course, as well as a self-defense course. Then they'd know how to use, not abuse guns, and they'd know how to fight with their hands, which would make them less likely to use guns. At least that's my theory.
As far as the religious right goes, I have two in my own family, and although I love my sisters, I'm appalled sometimes by their attitudes. Some of their friends I've met talk as if evangelical Christians are the only ones who know God--it's not good enough for them that you're a Christian, you have to be the exact same type of Christian as they are, or you're suspect. A Presbyterian or Methodist or Catholic just isn't in the know.
"In the know..." how telling that they have to be in the know.
I do think five is a bit young - but perhaps sixteen? I like it. I spoke with my trainer recently about teaching me to fight. I wonder if I'll ever have the guts to go through with it?
I have so many thoughts spinning around that I'm not sure where to start.
OK, let's start on the concept as violence as an American phenomenon. Yes, there is violence in other countries. However, if I remember correctly, the rates of violent crimes in other countries per capita are not at the same level as those in the U.S. Therefore, perhaps it is an American problem. Why do we feel the need to react with violence?
It could tie to what Sex mentioned about Good Ole Boy behaviors. How else would a bully react than with violence?
Finally, I like to think of religion and science as having one thing in common. For some reason, we humans never seem to lose the curiousity of a two-year-old; we want everything to be explained. Over the years when we have not been able to find an explanation, we turn to science and/or religion to help us find meaning. I think that we need these explanations to help us to maintain our sanity.
When I got married, my bro gave me some advice that amounted to something like this:
It's what you DON'T do that really makes a good marriage.
Such as, don't bitch at them for sleeping all day. Don't throw them out on the street when they're an asshole. Don't give them the silent treatment.
It's human nature to question, but it just may be that about the time we quit questioning is the time we find the answers.
It's true that many countries have a lower rate violent crime (France is about 1/8th, Canada is about 3.7 percent less than the US with stricter gun control) and I won't disagree that it's a problem, but it's not as BIG of a problem as Moore conveys. Moreover, Europe has a higher rate of general crime (double the robberies and car thefts in UK, MUCH higher rates of hate crime throughout Europe), which, to me, is a bigger issue.
-Thomas
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