Moore Money Michael Moore is a prominent filmmaker who mainly bases his work around documentaries. Moore’s most famous piece of work is his influential documentary “Bowling for Columbine” however it contains insidious manipulation and ruthless misdirection of the audience. By Rene Zacchini “Bowling for Columbine” is a documentary based in the exploration of gun violence in American society. Moore uses the 1999 Columbine High School massacre as his hook to draw the viewers in by highlighting the death of young students by guns. However many viewers do not realise that documentaries are only a version of reality.
A reporting error in this high interest case mixed up his name forever immortalizing him as D.B. Cooper (Mysterious Disappearances in U.S. History). The skyjacking of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 was the perfect crime in theory, whether or not Cooper survived is a different story. The Federal Berea of Investigation was immediately put on this case to find and arrest D.B. Cooper.
Americans know “racial profiling is both morally wrong and ineffective”, but they rather be safe than sorry (Chavez 563). Americans only get the idea that all middle easterners are terrorists because media has taken the role of portraying them in such a way to plants terror in Americans (Spurlock). People have gotten to the point of people being “singled out” because of looking certain way or because people around them feel uncomfortable (Chavez 569).
“Gun Violence in Philadelphia”. In recent years the city of Philadelphia has become a war zone due gun violence. Innocent bystanders and police officers are all becoming the victims. Even though we have the right to bear arms, who will we blame for gun violence in Philadelphia? Innocent people are dying and the guns laws aren't changing.
Critique on Do Video Games Kill? This article “Do Video Games Kill” by Karen Sternheimer addresses the wide spread idea; video games are the cause for “young killers” (210). Sternheimer believes concern for the influence video games may have on youth is spiraling out of control. She put most of the blame for this out of control concern on the media. She also writes some about politicians and the Juvenile Justice system.
Good Ole’ American Violence American has been so use to watching the news and when a murder occurs, it is assume that an ethnic person is the one who did it. The thing is that after the war, there has yet to be any WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) found. People no longer want to live in fear but rather they want to be feared. One can’t help but remember Franklin Roosevelt’s famous declaration that Americans had nothing to fear but fear itself. Black people are not always the ones who are killing and shooting as it is portray on TV.
Ethnocentrism is programed into our lives as we are being raised. Some ethnocentric views are represented in the movie, especially by the white characters. For example, the gun store owner that accused the Persian man of being an Arab, and that “his people” flew a plane into the twin towers. Sandra Bullock displays ethnocentrism when she accuses the Spanish “gang member” who fixed their locks, of selling the spare keys to fellow gang members. Little does she know, the locksmith is just a hard working father.
This can be seen through the laws that followed after the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, John F. Kennedy assassination and the killing of Martin Luther King Junior which were meant for the government to control the type of guns that citizens could carry and use. I would highly recommend that leaders and citizens to take part in the gun control measures and laws in order to improve their safety and that of their family from crime. I decided as I said in the beginning to pick this topic because a majority of individuals have been affected by gun violence and it has become a menace to society. I will end with “Guns do not kill people. People kill people” at the end of the day gun lobbyists, owners a like and the general public should advocate for laws that encourage buyers and owners to demonstrate that they can possess a firearm lawfully and responsibly.
By comparing the more usefulness a knife has than a gun, sarcasm irradiates when she writes “a general substitution of knives would promote physical fitness” (line 5). The hyperbole used shows that a knife creates physical activity whereas a gun might diffuse the common man from a life of physical fitness; furthermore, the hyperbole shows the passion Ivins has against handgun ownership. When Ivins uses the rhetorical question “how do they know [that owning guns] was the dearest wish of Thomas Jefferson’s heart that the teenage drug dealers should cruise the cities of the nation perforating their fellow citizens with assault riffles,” yet again she expresses her witty style against handgun ownership (16- 18). The exaggeration expressed by Ivins “dearest with of Thomas Jefferson” expresses her passion completely against the ownership of a gun. A tone shift occurs from sarcasm to passionate occurs when Ivins states “a gun is literally the power to kill” (50).
When Americans began to believe that weapons of mass destruction existed and decided that Iraq was providing support to al Queda, the war could be justified as an act of self defense. Bush also told Americans by invading Iraq he would bring a democracy to their country to better the policies and enforce democratic beliefs in their country. The role of the media plays an imminent part in the run up to the war in Iraq. The media repeatedly showed the planes crashing into the World Trade Centers. People were watching this horrific act being shown on every news channel for weeks after the attacks occurred.