Friday, November 15, 2002

Saw an excellent movie on Wed. night. Bowling for Columbine is a documentary about gun violence in America. Here are the stats on gun deaths for these countries (avg. per year?): Germany 381, France 255, Canada 165, UK 68, Australia 65, Japan 39, US 11,127. This film tries to find an answer as to the huge disparity between the USA and the rest of the civilized world. Is it violence in TV and movies? Fact is, our violent action movies are hugely popular in Europe and Asia... Video games? Most of those are made in Japan, and are widely bought by Japanese youth (only 39 gun deaths). Don't play the race card, ghettos or unemployment, because all these countries have urban centers with poverty, unemployment and racially diverse populations. This movie does not really have the answers, but does explore many of the possibilities. Do yourself a favor and check out the Website and the flick.

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