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| 25 JAN 2003 at 8:53pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Petter_Holmberg (25 JAN 2003 8:10pm)
Does anyone else know about this guy?
I obviously do, since I posted the Bowling for Columbine topic a while back
On the other hand, many of these problems exists everywhere else as well, so don't get offended anyone, hehe.
It's just that some Americans seem to be exceedingly good at pretending that the problems do not exist. So they seem to be more in need of being reminded
I'll definately have to go and see Bowling for Columbine! It's won several prestigious prices and has been called by some people the best documentary in the world. Ever!
Best documentary ever is certainly not modest - and it might just be true! It's certainly the most intriguiging mix of hilarious and horrible I've ever seen.
I forgot my sig.
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| 25 JAN 2003 at 9:09pm |
GayleSchattenjger
Posts : 2544
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Online | He is great. Loved his first doc a few years ago and just saw Bowling a couple of weeks ago. I had never seen the videos of the Columbine incident. He really goes for the gut, really upset me to realize things that we just push aside or don't really want to get involved enough to realize this is what has happened, is happening and probably will happen.
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| 25 JAN 2003 at 9:12pm |
GayleSchattenjger
Posts : 2544
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Online | Oh, most americans will not accept most of the facts in his docs but then if it were somewhere else I doubt if the general population there would want to accept it.
I accept it and it makes me angry and very sad. What can I do about it, nothing that will make a difference. It just makes you more aware, makes you think and makes you not believe everything you read or are told by others. :'(
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| 25 JAN 2003 at 9:33pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Gayle (25 JAN 2003 9:12pm)
Oh, most americans will not accept most of the facts in his docs but then if it were somewhere else I doubt if the general population there would want to accept it.
Maybe, maybe not.
Do you read Terry Pratchett's books? He has this "theory" about how humans have amazing capability to ignore things they don't want to see. So if Death is standing right in front of them, they will see a very skinny person at best, if they'll see anything at all.Their eyes will see, but brains will not believe.
I accept it and it makes me angry and very sad. What can I do about it, nothing that will make a difference. It just makes you more aware, makes you think and makes you not believe everything you read or are told by others. :'(
But that in itself is quite valuable.
I forgot my sig.
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| 25 JAN 2003 at 9:35pm |
| Deleted User | Sorry, MichalN, I totally missed that topic. :-[
But anyway, opinions are opinions, but this guy has a very good way of pointing out problems in society. It's even got an entertainment value high enough to make people watch it just for that. Hopefully they'll pick up some thoughts on the way...
America is such a fascinating country. In Sweden you couldn't do a show quite like this I think. If America is far off in one way, Sweden is sometimes off in the other way.
For instance, this fall there was this scoop made by one of our own most well known investigative journalist. It was election year over here and he arranged for some people to walk over to a big number of election booths in a few cities, talking to politicians about different things and acting like racists. They had hidden cameras with them and the goal was to see how many politicians that would argue against the racist statements, standing up for their political ideals. To no real surprise, very few of them did that, and many of them even made racist statements themselves. This was then aired on national TV and many politicians had to resign because they said stupid things when showing their real self.
A fierce debate about this show could be seen everywhere for the following weeks. However, a lot of this was not about the thing actually revealed, but about wheter this or that political party had been treated unfairly because being approaced more times than others etc. and if the way the journalist had approached the politicians had been fair or not. These were margin issues in my opinion.
But back to the U.S. I think you Americans need to wake up quickly, not as individuals but as a society. America today is like a modern version of Rome and it will meet the same fate if it continues like this. Start caring about each other and stop fearing your neighbours. Get rid of those pesky guns. And kick that loser out of the White House as quickly as possible before it's too late!
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| 25 JAN 2003 at 9:40pm |
GayleSchattenjger
Posts : 2544
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Online | So if Death is standing right in front of them................
But I didn't have the salmon mousse
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| 25 JAN 2003 at 9:58pm |
JoGuild Master
Posts : 3313
Joined: 3 NOV 2002
Location: AU, Qld.
Status : Offline | We haven't seen his show in Australia (unless it's on pay TV), however my husband and I have his book called "Stupid White Men". Its well worth reading but I understand that certainly at one stage it was either banned or extremely hard to get in the States. Actually it was a friend of my husband's who was living there that told us about the book in the first place.
By the way, it's not a book about racial issues but about the "Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation".
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| 25 JAN 2003 at 10:28pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Gayle (25 JAN 2003 9:40pm)
So if Death is standing right in front of them................
But I didn't have the salmon mousse
You're mixing metaphors, dammit One of my favorite movies though.
I forgot my sig.
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| 25 JAN 2003 at 10:33pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Petter_Holmberg (25 JAN 2003 9:35pm)
Sorry, MichalN, I totally missed that topic. :-[
Don't worry about that
A fierce debate about this show could be seen everywhere for the following weeks. However, a lot of this was not about the thing actually revealed, but about wheter this or that political party had been treated unfairly because being approaced more times than others etc. and if the way the journalist had approached the politicians had been fair or not.
Heh, that's exactly what would happen in the Czech Republic
And if the US of A or Western Europe goes the way of the Roman Empire... so what? Civilizations come and go.
I forgot my sig.
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| 26 JAN 2003 at 5:39pm |
emmaPrivate Detective
Posts : 525
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Online | I too saw Michael Moore's documentary about Flint the other day, and it totally blew me away. People like him are important, wether you belive him or not I'm thinking. Kind of associated Moore as a "rootsy" Chomsky, lol! Uncomfortable truths, to do with as you want. I liked that he wasn't preaching or anything, just simple methods of talking to peeps high and low, and you do your own math as you're watching somehow.
I agree Petter, the comparison with Josefson's sting-operation comes to mind, but at least it came to the light. As much as how it should be done can be debated it's still horrible that people in power looks down on a large part of the citizens, for not being of Swedish origin.
[URL=http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=emma]My DVDs[/URL] | [URL=http://www.adventuregamers.com/]AdventureGamers[/URL] | I haven't lost my mind, I've got a backup on a disc somewhere.
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| 26 JAN 2003 at 6:58pm |
| Deleted User | Well, I think everybody kind of knew this kind of everyday racism existed in the first place, but no one really took the subject seriously. It didn't surprise me at all, but the fact that these people are politicians means a lot. They should not be where they are with these kind of opinions.
As for America, the main problem with that country is that it's all about being a winner there. People don't care about the losers. In fact, they kick on the losers. The poor and uneployed are herded into a life where they cannot rise up again. This leads to violence and criminal activities. The rich people are taught to be afraid of the poor and arm themselves against them instead of helping them. More prisons are built, more weapons are bought, etc. It's a downward spiral.
The number of gun murders in the U.S. each year is mind-boggling compared to other nations. In Germany, France, Canada and similar countries it's between 100 and 300 each year. Japan has a number of about 30! In the U.S. it's more than 11000! And still people are claiming that the solution is to buy more guns. How blind can you get???
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| 27 JAN 2003 at 9:16am |
| Deleted User | I share Moores opinions exactly, I also love the irony in The Awful Truth.
I especially like the G.W. Bush parts of it, I've disliked (I usually use stonger words for it) him long before he was elected, (actually more ppl voted for Gore but that's not the way you count votes in America). I'd like to hear a good reason why ppl (like InlandAZ) voted for him, "he's a good christian" and "he didn't do drugs" is not good reasons.
btw: I'm a swede too
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| 28 JAN 2003 at 3:21pm |
| Deleted User | ...and the fact that he's now seroisly considering using weapons of mass destruction in his war against weapons of mass destruction can be added to that list.
Man, I laughed so hard at that thing about the death penalty they did in The Awful Truth, asking Jeb Bush how he was going to beat his brother's execution count, and bringing chearleaders etc. to a Texas execution, and the supporters that were there actually didn't seem to realize they were being made fun of, but just joined in the carnival athmosphere.
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| 28 JAN 2003 at 3:29pm |
| Deleted User | Me too, I also liked that Pistol Pete thing very much.
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| 29 JAN 2003 at 3:00am |
| Deleted User | Petter wrote:
I'll definately have to go and see Bowling for Columbine! It's won several prestigious prices and has been called by some people the best documentary in the world. Ever!
It's terrific!
And I will be very interested to see what you make of Marilyn Manson.
I felt he represented the sane section of society - the kind of people we all wish there were more of....
Has anyone seen 8 Mile yet? Is it worth seeing?
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| 29 JAN 2003 at 10:03am |
| Deleted User | AAAArgh, I hate both Eminem and Marilyn Manson >.
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| 30 JAN 2003 at 10:35pm |
| Deleted User | Friday wrote:
AAAArgh, I hate both Eminem and Marilyn Manson
I really started listening to Eminem after I was surprised by his intelligence and sensitivity on some interviews.
I hadn't paid him much attention before 'Stan'.
he talked a lot about Marilyn too - so I started listening to them both.
Now I really like them both - although I've always like 'out there' bands - like Rage Against The Machine.
I reckon Eminem is a Bob Dylan for his time - only better.
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| 31 JAN 2003 at 1:05pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By medicro (30 JAN 2003 10:34pm)
Now I really like them both - although I've always like 'out there' bands - like Rage Against The Machine. I listened to RATM, had all their cd's and a lot of bootlegs.
I reckon Eminem is a Bob Dylan for his time - only better. If I was a ylan fan I'd barf all over the keyboard right now :-/ > :-X :'(
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| 31 JAN 2003 at 1:29pm |
| Deleted User | Friday wrote:
If I was a Dylan fan I'd barf all over the keyboard right now
I'd better get the cleaning cloths!
I WAS a Dylan fan of his early stuff - but he began to get right up my nose.
He was for a certain time - and that time passes.
Like now Linkin Park and Rammstein will sound dated in a few years - probably.....
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| 31 JAN 2003 at 1:32pm |
| Deleted User | Oops - posted before I managed my spell check!
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