Michael Moore: It's the Guns - But We All Know, It's Not Really the Guns!

[웃 910]

It's the Guns - But We All Know, It's Not Really the Guns

Since Cain went nuts and whacked Abel, there have always been those humans who, for one reason or another, go temporarily or permanently insane and commit unspeakable acts of violence. There was the Roman Emperor Tiberius, who during the first century A.D. enjoyed throwing victims off a cliff on the Mediterranean island of Capri. Gilles de Rais, a French knight and ally of Joan of Arc during the middle ages, went cuckoo-for-Cocoa Puffs one day and ended up murdering hundreds of children. Just a few decades later Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Dracula, was killing people in Transylvania in numberless horrifying ways.

In modern times, nearly every nation has had a psychopath or two commit a mass murder, regardless of how strict their gun laws are – the crazed white supremacist in Norway one year ago Sunday, the schoolyard butcher in Dunblane, Scotland, the École Polytechnique killer in Montreal, the mass murderer in Erfurt, Germany … the list seems endless.

And now the Aurora shooter last Friday. There have always been insane people, and there always will be.

But here's the difference between the rest of the world and us: We have two Auroras that take place every single day of every single year!

At least 24 Americans every day (8-9,000 a year) are killed by people with guns – and that doesn't count the ones accidentally killed by guns or who commit suicide with a gun. Count them and you can triple that number to over 25,000.

That means the United States is responsible for

over 80 percent of all the gun deaths in the 23 richest countries combined.

Considering that the people of those countries, as human beings, are no better or worse than any of us, well, then, why us?

Both conservatives and liberals in America operate with firmly held beliefs as to "the why" of this problem. And the reason neither can find their way out of the box toward a real solution is because, in fact, they're both half right.

The right believes that the Founding Fathers, through some sort of divine decree, have guaranteed them the absolute right to own as many guns as they desire. And they will ceaselessly remind you that a gun cannot fire itself – that "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

Of course, they know they're being intellectually dishonest (if I can use that word) when they say that about the Second Amendment because they know the men who wrote the constitution just wanted to make sure a militia could be quickly called up from amongst the farmers and merchants should the Brits decide to return and wreak some havoc.

But they are half right when they say "Guns don't kill people." I would just alter that slogan slightly to speak the real truth: "Guns don't kill people, Americans kill people."

Because we're the only ones in the first world who do this en masse. And you'll hear all stripes of Americans come up with a host of reasons so that they don't have to deal with what's really behind all this murder and mayhem.

They'll say it's the violent movies and video games that are responsible. Last time I checked, the movies and video games in Japan are

more violent than ours – and yet usually fewer than 20 people a year are killed there with guns – and in 2006 the number was two!

Others will say it's the number of broken homes that lead to all this killing. I hate to break this to you, but there are almost as many single-parent homes in the U.K. as there are here – and yet, in Great Britain, there are usually fewer than 40 gun murders a year.

People like me will say this is all the result of the U.S. having a history and a culture of men with guns, "cowboys and Indians," "shoot first and ask questions later." And while it is true that the mass genocide of the Native Americans set a pretty ugly model to found a country on, I think it's safe to say we're not the only ones with a violent past or a penchant for genocide. Hello, Germany! That's right I'm talking about you and your history, from the Huns to the Nazis, just loving a good slaughter (as did the Japanese, and the British who ruled the world for hundreds of years – and they didn't achieve that through planting daisies). And yet in Germany, a nation of 80 million people, there are only around 200 gun murders a year.

So those countries (and many others) are just like us – except for the fact that more people here believe in God and go to church than any other Western nation.

My liberal compatriots will tell you if we just had less guns, there would be less gun deaths. And, mathematically, that would be true. If you have less arsenic in the water supply, it will kill less people. Less of anything bad – calories, smoking, reality TV – will kill far fewer people. And if we had strong gun laws that prohibited automatic and semi-automatic weapons and banned the sale of large magazines that can hold a gazillion bullets, well, then shooters like the man in Aurora would not be able to shoot so many people in just a few minutes.

But this, too, has a problem. There are plenty of guns in Canada (mostly hunting rifles) – and yet the annual gun murder count in Canada is around 200 deaths. In fact, because of its proximity, Canada's culture is very similar to ours – the kids play the same violent video games, watch the same movies and TV shows, and yet they don't grow up wanting to kill each other. Switzerland has the third-highest number of guns per capita on earth, but still a low murder rate.

So – why us?

I posed this question a decade ago in

my film Bowling for Columbine, and this week, I have had little to say because I feel I said what I had to say 10 years ago – and it doesn't seem to have done a whole lot of good other than to now look like it was actually a crystal ball posing as a movie.

This is what I said then, and it is what I will say again today:

1. We Americans are incredibly good killers.

We believe in killing as a way of accomplishing our goals. Three-quarters of our states execute criminals, even though the states with the lower murder rates are generally the states with no death penalty.

Our killing is not just historical (the slaughter of Indians and slaves and each other in a "civil" war). It is our current way of resolving whatever it is we're afraid of. It's invasion as foreign policy. Sure there's Iraq and Afghanistan – but we've been invaders since we "conquered the wild west" and now we're hooked so bad we don't even know where to invade (bin Laden wasn't hiding in Afghanistan, he was in Pakistan) or what to invade for (Saddam had zero weapons of mass destruction and nothing to do with 9/11). We send our lower classes off to do the killing, and the rest of us who don't have a loved one over there don't spend a single minute of any given day thinking about the carnage. And now we send in remote pilotless planes to kill, planes that are being controlled by faceless men in a lush, air conditioned studio in suburban Las Vegas. It is madness.

2. We are an easily frightened people and it is easy to manipulate us with fear. What are we so afraid of that we need to have

300 million

guns in our homes? Who do we think is going to hurt us? Why are most of these guns in white suburban and rural homes? Maybe we should fix our race problem and our poverty problem (again, number one in the industrialized world) and then maybe there would be fewer frustrated, frightened, angry people reaching for the gun in the drawer. Maybe we would take better care of each other (

here's a good example of what I mean

Those are my thoughts about Aurora and the violent country I am a citizen of. Like I said, I spelled it all out here

if you'd like to watch it or share it for free with others. All we're lacking here, my friends, is the courage and the resolve. I'm in if you are.

http://www.huffingto..._b_1700218.html

Edited July 25, 2012 by ☠

[slim 1,533]

America, F'k Yeah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

He's not wrong - those mass killings do seem to take place more often in the USA. Whatever the underlying psychological/sociological causes it can hardly be denied the relative widespread availability of firearms is a large factor in these tragedies.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

He's right - and I hope people take the time to read the whole thing instead of seeing Michael Moore's name and ignoring the point.

[slim 1,533]

How big is the USA and how many people are here?

Now, compare/contrast that with the rest of the world. OMG, stuff happens here! It's shocking!

.... or it's simple probability.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I doubt it's to do with the size of the population.

Every country has it's share of nutcases, but these rampage mass murders seem to be more of an American disease.

The UK has had 3 of those incidents in the last... what? 25 years? You're lucky if you have less than 3 a year.

[JimandChristy 1,689]

There are times I don't agree with Michael Moore but on this occasion he is spot on. Point two stands out like a sore thumb, I've never seen a westernized country like the USA display so much paranoia and fear from its own media and politicians.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There are times I don't agree with Michael Moore but on this occasion he is spot on. Point two stands out like a sore thumb, I've never seen a westernized country like the USA display so much paranoia and fear from its own media and politicians.

I noticed that a lot too. It's how, for instance, people actually think that the health system is being used to kill off people who are ideologically opposed to the Democratic Party. Or how the President bumping fists with his wife is some sort of terrorist salute.

I always held out hope that the evening news is just for entertainment and that most Americans don't buy into that BS on a literal level, but it seems that many do.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I noticed that a lot too. It's how, for instance, people actually think that the health system is being used to kill off people who are ideologically opposed to the Democratic Party. Or how the President bumping fists with his wife is some sort of terrorist salute.

I always held out hope that the evening news is just for entertainment and that most Americans don't buy into that BS on a literal level, but it seems that many do.

Or how the media in Britain blames everything that's wrong with the country on migrants?

Come on, Alan, the US isn't the only country who has a manipulative media.

How big is the USA and how many people are here?

Now, compare/contrast that with the rest of the world. OMG, stuff happens here! It's shocking!

.... or it's simple probability.

The US population is roughly 4.5 times that of the UK.

Do the math. Population size is a silly argument.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Rebecca Jo

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Or how the media in Britain blames everything that's wrong with the country on migrants?

Come on, Alan, the US isn't the only country who has a manipulative media.

I wouldn't imagine it is.

But people don't talk about the same things - how is it that huge debates can spring up about 'death panels', how apparently large numbers of people can believe that the president is lying about his religion and has terrorist connections? How is it that slogans become talking points?

Sure, if you read the Express or the Daily Mail you might believe that immigrants are to blame for everything - but that's not really the same is it.

Here the worst we have to worry about are people harping on about banker's bonuses as if they think a few million quid will turn the economy around.

[웃 910]

Or how the media in Britain blames everything that's wrong with the country on migrants?

Come on, Alan, the US isn't the only country who has a manipulative media.

Alan? Take another look...

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I wouldn't imagine it is.

But people don't talk about the same things - how is it that huge debates can spring up about 'death panels', how apparently large numbers of people can believe that the president is lying about his religion and has terrorist connections? How is it that slogans become talking points?

Sure, if you read the Express or the Daily Mail you might believe that immigrants are to blame for everything - but that's not really the same is it.

Here the worst we have to worry about are people harping on about banker's bonuses as if they think a few million quid will turn the economy around.

*shrugs*

You've still got kool-aid drinkers on both sides of the pond. BNP?

Both countries have a wealthy white elite with an agenda to keep the plebs under control. They do this by making the plebs think they are protected. Guns in the US protect us from the government (so the elite tell the masses) and this keeps them quiet. In the UK, the Welfare State keeps the plebs happy and beholding to the government. In both cases the government could pull the rug out from under the plebs at any time, either by firepower or cutting the purse. In both cases you'd have political unrest, destruction, and dead bodies. Except the elite will always come out on top because they've always got more guns or more money than the plebs.

Alan? Take another look...

Oh hahahahaha you are right! LOL

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

*shrugs*

You've still got kool-aid drinkers on both sides of the pond. BNP?

Both countries have a wealthy white elite with an agenda to keep the plebs under control. They do this by making the plebs think they are protected. Guns in the US protect us from the government (so the elite tell the masses) and this keeps them quiet. In the UK, the Welfare State keeps the plebs happy and beholding to the government. In both cases the government could pull the rug out from under the plebs at any time, either by firepower or cutting the purse. In both cases you'd have political unrest, destruction, and dead bodies. Except the elite will always come out on top because they've always got more guns or more money than the plebs.

Americans in general (and this plays on these boards too) seem more obsessed by ideology than on practical, pragmatic approaches to solving real problems. Just look at the furore over healthcare reform - the arguments presented against it by people who would actually benefit by some sort of socialising of the system oppose it on purely ideological grounds, fear of communism, fear of government inefficiency or what have you.

Why do they do that? Why would someone oppose their own interest? Isn't that what politics is fundamentally about - "what are you going to do for me". People seem not to care much at all - half the time they don't even bother to read up on who or what they are voting for, they do it because they have always done it - and because to not do it would be to question their ideological comfort blanket.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

These days, I think the fear is more about the lack of government believe it or not. Google "preppers"

[웃 910]

These days, I think the fear is more about the lack of government believe it or not. Google "preppers"

I wouldn't say doomsday preppers are fearful of a lack of government. They are just delusional and paranoid. It is a mental disorder. Many of them are on this forum and they are all RWNs and love a lack of government.