April 2003

"From my cold white hands."
    Charlton Heston

"Our first priority is to defend our country, so the congress HAS to grant my request for more money."
    George W. Bush Jr.

"Shame on you, Mr Bush, shame on you!"
    Michael Moore

Anna and I went to see the movie/documentary "Bowling for Columbine" by Michael Moore last week.
It shocked me in a way. Michael Moore showed things I didn't really realize before.
I knew that for example the media has a great influence on the way we form our opinions in life.
But I was amazed by the way people allow themselves to be influenced and even manipulated by the media. I never believed it would go so far in a supposedly civilized country as the United States.
If the media says, you're in danger, everyone goes out and buys guns and arms.
If the media says, someone's responsible for something, everyone goes out and judges that person.
If the media shows American soldiers being questioned under poor circumstances by Iraqi officials, everyone says that Bush was right to start the war against Saddam.
However if the media shows injured children in Iraq, because of an American missile, everyone condemns Bush and says how wrong this war was in the first place.
Really, WHAT's going on in this world?
The other thing that shocked me, perhaps even more, was the attitude that Charlton Heston showed while interviewed by Michael Moore.
That man is SO stuck in his own little by arms protected world and with his constitutional right to carry loaded guns, that he refuses to see the effect of that very constitutional right.
It gave me great pleasure to see that Michael Moore pushed him so far in a corner that he was completely out of words and didn't know what to say anymore and that he left, because he didn't want anyone to see how embarrassed he was.
And then on the other hand it hurt to see how he completely ignored the picture of the little girl Michael Moore wanted to show him. A little girl that had unnecessarily died in one of the many shootings that occur in the U.S. A little girl that died, because the Americans have the constitutional right to have a loaded gun in their house.
And it hurt to see that this same Charlton Heston, probably accompanied by loads of other people in this world, totally lacks the respect of other people's emotions and thinks only of his own profits.
The way Charlton Heston showed up in the places only days after someone had died because of a stupid shooting, standing on stage waving with a rifle in his hand and shouting to the people "From my cold hands", and promoting his constitutional right of having a loaded gun.
I'm sorry to say it so crudely, but I think those kind of people need to do a SERIOUS mental make-over.
This world is seriously sick...
Who are we to pretend that we have the right to decide over other people's lives?