Bowling For Columbine, Gun Violence, & Fear In American Media

5 Pages 1190 Words

On April 20, 1999, America watched in disbelief and horror at the massacre that took place at Columbine High School in Colorado. Recently, this event became the focus of the documentary “Bowling For Columbine.” The director, Michael Moore, uses the Columbine High shootings as a reference point to explore some of the social problems currently plaguing America. One issue explored by Moore in his compelling documentary is the idea of excessive fear in the media controlling the minds and actions of many Americans. Michael Moore goes further and makes a connection between fear in American society, gun sales, and gun-related violence. It seems an almost paranoiac fear is being administered to the American public through the media. This fear is a result of excessive media coverage of adverse events in the United States. This constant stream of tepidity being subliminally fed to the American public is making many Americans turn to guns to help them feel safe. American’s unnecessary paranoia and their taking to guns for safety may be related to gun-related fatalities in the United States.
History has shown that the American media can blow many “threats” way out of proportion. “Bowling For Columbine” goes through many of the “threats” that America has faced in recent years. For example, one of these ‘false alarms’ that made headlines in the American press was the story of a plague of Africanized Bees coming terrorize the nation. The “Killer Bees” were supposed to reach the United States by the year 2000. Here we are in the year 2002 and the “Killer Bees” have still not arrived. Another great “threat” to the American society was the Y2K virus. At the turn of the millennium, it was predicted by many experts that computer systems everywhere were destined to crash, causing mass hysteria and economic problems in our now computer-based society. The media dutifully warned its public to prepare for m...