Carpe Datum

We also have a much more diverse culture and history than Canada has. There is always some friction involved with diversity, and friction can result in violence.

Criminals prefer unarmed victims.

Hey, which texas hold'em shareware game are you playing?

See this post of his for a link, Hummer.

It's called Paragon Poker Suite, and Polerand points to the appropriate link, etc. Moore pointed out in the documentary that many large Canadian cities are diverse, too, but they don't kill each other with guns for some reason (he pointed out Windsor, Ontario, right across the river from Detroit, Michigan, as an example). And it isn't necessarily lack of gun ownership.

He also had fun talking to Canadians about locked doors. He ran into a bunch who said they never lock their doors, and he even went to a neighborhood and walked around to check the doors (which were indeed unlocked).

One other thing: I imagine criminals mostly prefer rich victims as well as unarmed victims, so should we then try to be poor? If I were trying to get away with a shooting, I'd want the victim to own a gun so I could figure out a way to snatch it and kill them with it. That way the gun could never be traced back to me (in theory).

Like one Canadian said in the movie, if guns make everyone safer, then America should be the safest place in the whole world. It's not that I would support getting rid of guns based on the safety issue, but I wouldn't use it in favor of guns either.

To me, guns are strictly a constitutional issue. But sometimes I wonder... there was a father in the video who had a son named Daniel who was killed at Columbine, and he was arguing that we really should ban semiautomatic weapons and the like. If I were in his shoes, I believe I would agree.

Moore also interviewed Marilyn Manson, who was quite thoughtful on the whole subject of guns, fear and role models.

All I can say is ... um, wow, Humbaba ... interesting theory : /

Did Moore make any distinction at all between legally and illegally acquired guns? I'm just curious if it was just an anti-ALL-gun kind of film, or if it actually had some depth.

And socio-economic status doesn't exactly help when it comes to gun violence in most major cities. What is the socio-economic climate in Canada like? Does the culture there cram consumerism and wealth as a virtue down people's throats? Is there a culture of "if you don't make it on your own, don't expect your neighbors to help you out" in Canada? I don't know. I'm just wondering what the difference in psyche is between the US and our northern neighbor that would contribute to their higher safety from gun violence. (However, as you can tell from my questions, I have some suspicions.)

Lastly, when it comes to kids in trouble (and I mean more than just a little mischief here and there), I hold our entire culture responsible for this particular problem. We've become a culture of non-involvement in our kids' education and discipline. Hell, we barely raise our kids ourselves any more. And we've become a culture of TV, computers, and playstations as the major means of child entertainment. That's a problem because a child's imagination and curiosity are by far the most important ways they learn - especially in the pre-K through 4th grades, and all of those forms of entertainment replace imagination and curiosity with hard, 2-dimentional, pre-formed ideas and images. And yes, many of those pre-formed ideas are purely violent. But even when they aren't, they still do not allow the child's imagination and curiosity to do their work. And ultimately, electronic learning and entertainment eliminates human interaction, thus lessening a child's chances to develop empathy for others. So, less electronic media would be better. I see the positive results of less media every day at my school.

There is also the question of the glorification of violence through film and music. Lack of empathy for other human beings is rampant in any culture of violence.

Perkusi: Does the culture there cram consumerism and wealth as a virtue down people's throats?

Well, considering that most TV viewed in Canada consists of USian stations or the stuff from USian stations rebroadcast on local ones ... kinda, yah. Then again, I'm a completely biased TV hater.

Perkusi: Is there a culture of "if you don't make it on your own, don't expect your neighbors to help you out" in Canada?

Hmm ... Canada's big an' I haven't been to most of it ...
But, in my experience, not so much. With the exception of one neighbourhood full of starter homes, the places I've lived have all been communities, not just neighbourhoods ... and most of the people I know are involved in several different communities, as well as geographic ones.

Eh, dunno if that answered anything at all!