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I usually pride myself on my ability to think for myself, but I was pretty much on the band wagon when Bowling for Columbine came out. The NRA, to me, seemed like a ridiculous and hateful organization.
But this write up on Moore's techniques shows that some of his methods are blatantly dishonest and deceptful.
http://www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html
The author, David Hardy, is a member of the NRA (which makes on consider bias) but much of what he writes is sourced. But even then, some of what he passes off as fact is more than questionable. He does acknowledge some of the good points of the movie, for example, how the media does in fact feed off of fear.
The goal of this thread is to further show that you can't trust ANY form of mass media. That we can all be very easily swayed into believing things through propaganda. That we often have to force ourselves to question against our will.
In the spoiler there is 1 specific passage I found interesting if you don't feel like reading the whole thing.
Question everything NT.
The portrayal is one of an arrogant protest in response to the deaths-- or, as one reviewerput it, "it seemed that Charlton Heston and others rushed toLittleton to hold rallies and demonstrations directly after the tragedy."The portrayal is in fact false.
But this write up on Moore's techniques shows that some of his methods are blatantly dishonest and deceptful.
http://www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html
The author, David Hardy, is a member of the NRA (which makes on consider bias) but much of what he writes is sourced. But even then, some of what he passes off as fact is more than questionable. He does acknowledge some of the good points of the movie, for example, how the media does in fact feed off of fear.
The goal of this thread is to further show that you can't trust ANY form of mass media. That we can all be very easily swayed into believing things through propaganda. That we often have to force ourselves to question against our will.
In the spoiler there is 1 specific passage I found interesting if you don't feel like reading the whole thing.
Question everything NT.
Spoiler [+]
The portrayal is one of an arrogant protest in response to the deaths-- or, as one reviewerput it, "it seemed that Charlton Heston and others rushed toLittleton to hold rallies and demonstrations directly after the tragedy."The portrayal is in fact false.
Fact: The Denver event was not a demonstration relating to Columbine, but an annual meeting (see links below), whose place and date had been fixed years in advance.
Fact: At Denver, the NRA cancelled all events (normally several days of committee meetings, sporting events, dinners, and rallies) save the annual members' voting meeting -- that could not be cancelled because the state law governing nonprofits required that it be held. [No way to change location, since under NY law you have to give 10 days' advance notice of that to the members, there were upwards of 4,000,000 members -- and Columbine happened 11 days before the scheduled meeting.] As a newspaper reported:
In a letter to NRA members Wednesday, President Charlton Heston and the group's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, said all seminars, workshops, luncheons, exhibits by gun makers and other vendors, and festivities are canceled.
All that's left is a members' reception with Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., and the annual meeting, set for 10 a.m. May 1 in the Colorado Convention Center.
Under its bylaws and New York state law, the NRA must hold an annual meeting.
The NRA convention April 30-May 2 was expected to draw 22,000 members and give the city a $17.9 million economic boost.
"But the tragedy in Littleton last Tuesday calls upon us to take steps, along with dozens of other planned public events, to modify our schedule to show our profound sympathy and respect for the families and communities in the Denver area in their time of great loss," Heston and LaPierre wrote.
Fact: Heston's "cold dead hands" speech, which leads off Moore's depiction of the Denver meeting, was not given at Denver after Columbine. It was given a year later in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was his gesture of gratitude upon his being given a handmade musket, at that annual meeting.
Fact: When Bowling continues on to the speech which Heston did give in Denver, it carefully edits it to change its theme.
Moore's fabrication here cannot be described by any polite term. It is a lie, a fraud, and a few other things. Carrying it out required a LOT of editing to mislead the viewer, as I will show below. I transcribed Heston's speech as Moore has it, and compared it to a news agency's transcript, color coding the passages. CLICK HERE for the comparison, with links to the original transcript.
Moore has actually taken audio of seven sentences, from five different parts of the speech, and a section given in a different speech entirely, and spliced them together. Each edit is cleverly covered by inserting a still or video footage for a few seconds.
First, right after the weeping victims, Moore puts on Heston's "I have only five words for you . . . cold dead hands" statement, making it seem directed at them. As noted above, it's actually a thank-you speech given a year later in North Carolina.
Moore then has an interlude -- a visual of a billboard and his narration. This is vital. He can't go directly to Heston's real Denver speech. If he did that, you might ask why Heston in mid-speech changed from a purple tie and lavender shirt to a white shirt and red tie, and the background draperies went from maroon to blue. Moore has to separate the two segments.
Moore's second edit (covered by splicing in a pan shot of the crowd) deletes Heston's announcement that NRA has in fact cancelled most of its meeting:
