Once again music gets the blame

[Paul Mather]

On Wed, Jan 08, 2003 at 01:18:54PM +0000, Andy Ball wrote:
=> I'd rather live here in London/UK where gun crime is still lower per year
=> than any week in a major US city.
=> And that's not counting "accidental" shootings or people just "losing it".
=> I'm all for the current ban on handguns in the UK.
=> Letting the public carry firearms is not going to lower gun crime in the UK.
=> Yes, I agree that polititians have some silly knee jerk reactions , but
=> also people over react and scaremonger.
=>
=> Andy,
=>
=> London UK, and not living in fear of being shot on my door step.

Before Xmas, I saw at my local cinema what I think is an interesting
and thought-provoking film: BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE.  Your mention of
"scaremongering" and "living in fear" made me think of this film, as
it's one of the themes that arises.  One of the things noted during
the film is that whilst gun crime has actually decreased about 20% in
the USA over the last few years, reporting of it has *increased* about
600%, giving people the impression things are getting much worse.
Plus, that reporting tends to be skewed towards certain ethnic groups,
setting up various reinforced lines of distrust.  Jumpy, scared people
with guns is not a good thing. :-)

One interesting point raised in the film is that although many other
countries around the world have much the same circumstances as the USA
(e.g., availability of guns; bloody historical past; watch violent
films; play violent video games), for some reason those other
countries are not killing themselves at the same rate as the USA: tens
or hundreds of deaths per year vs. many thousands.  In particular, the
film highlights Canada, which has about the same ethnic mix and guns
per capita as the USA, yet has only a fraction of the gun deaths (plus
they don't lock their doors;).

So, the root cause must lie somewhere other than guns or violent
films, music, and video games: perhaps it is something innately
cultural, but what?  I don't know, but, like I said, it's thought
provoking.  Don't buy the fear hype.  Remember, as Sir Paul
McCartney reminds us, "it's getting better all the time." :-)

Perform a reality check.  The next time someone tells you "it's not
safe to walk the streets," or "illegal immigrants are flooding the
country," or similar doom and gloom, ask yourself when was the last
time you or someone you know was a victim of crime on the street, or,
if the country is "flooded" with them, why haven't you or anyone you
know actually met an illegal immigrant personally. :-)

Info about "Bowling For Columbine" can be found via
http://www.michaelmoore.com.  It's actually a really humourous film
quite a bit of the time (and very sombre at others)---the animated
"brief history of the USA" segment narrated by the talking bullet is
hilarious, IMHO.  Go to see the film if you can.

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa