Last evening I rented and watched Bowling for Columbine. Having just seen Fahrenheit 9/11 I decided it would be interesting to view the other film.

There are many bits of contested data in both films. But one overarching theme runs through both movies: fear. I think on this particular issue Moore is dead on target.

In Bowling Moore spends a lot of time toward the end of the film asking why so many Americans kill one another with guns. The US is the nation with one of the highest, if not the highest, gun violence in the world. All other things being equal (access to guns, movies, video games, books, television,ethnic makeup,violent histories, etc) other nations simply don't have the same gun violence as does the USA.

In F9/11 and Bowling, Moore demonstrates how unlike other countries, Americans are constantly steeped in violence by the government and by extension the news media. Rarely if ever at the top of the news both locally and nationally does one see nonviolent or positive stories. If it bleeds, it leads..." as a newsman says to Moore in Bowling. These stories are given huge emphasis in the US on a daily basis.

The government constantly reminds us to be on alert for terrorists or suspicious activity. The local law enforcement plasters photos of bad guys on the local news telecasts. Stories involving rape or murder or theft constantly ring in as the stories given highest priority and the longest air time. Stories that get indepth investigations by the news media are almost exclusively of a negative nature as well.

This is an important cultural question to ask ourselves..."What are we really so afraid of and is it really necessary for us to be so scared?"