[CLUE-Talk] Political compass

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 11-09 09:12, Jeff Cann wrote:
> On Sunday 09 November 2003 8:46 am, Sean LeBlanc wrote:
> 
> > He even admits himself toward the end of the movie that he's not sure why
> > we have more gun deaths [1] than other countries. It's not, according to
> > the movie, access to guns. It's not a history of violence.
> 
> I thought that his point is that people here are afraid of things that are 
> unlikely to happen to them, but TV news (in particular) does a good job of 
> promoting fear as a means to gain viewership.  
> 
> It's too bad that many people seemed to miss or ignore this point because he 
> bagged on the NRA or used hyperbole to make his point.  IMHO, his point about 
> fear is right on, maybe other things in his movie are not.

True, that point is made abundantly clear (well, to you and I at least) but
do you think he's drawing a cause-and-effect between the "if it bleeds it
leads" policy of TV news and our high rate of gun deaths? 

It seems sort of nonsensical, then, because if we really *do* have a higher
rate of gun deaths, then wouldn't the perception of danger portrayed on TV
news be correct?

And isn't this theory close to the one that claims that the glorification of
violence in movies, music, TV, and video games desensitize us? The very one
he seems to be arguing against when he's talking to Marilyn Manson?

Even if he does believe that it's a culture of fear that causes it, he still
gun-baits later by talking to Heston. If he's not out just to win points
with the NRA-baiting crowd, then why? 

Speaking of the NRA, does that cartoon he showed in the movie mean that
Moore supports the KKK? I mean, following his kooky logic (if it's even his)
KKK was made defunct the same year that NRA was formed, and hence, are one
and the same. And Moore is a member of the NRA...so, what are we to think?

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at americanisp.net  
http://users.americanisp.net/~seanleblanc/
Get MLAC at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlac/
Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy. 
-Henri de Lubac, "Paradoxes"