Bowling for Columbine: Michael Moore as Ultimate Detective or Distorter?

Michael Moore's documentary "Bowling for Columbine" toils with the idea that American culture suffers from a deep rooted sense of fear that has led to horrific episodes of violence. He exposes people to many issues surrounding American gun culture and uses the 1999 Columbine massacre in which two seniors shot 13 classmates and then killed themselves as the clearest expression of this connection. The point Moore is trying to make is that in such a large and diverse country that it is easy to feel detached from headlines thousands of miles away. His interviews bridge the gap between Los Angeles and New York with the often overlooked happenings in "Middle America" which, could be more influential than we think.�

Moore is highly critical of television media and considers it a major contributor to America's "fear" culture. He accuses television news as fishing for fear-inducing stories that have the potential of creating panic and thus the need for the audience to be continually "tuned in". And according to Moore, this method does wonders for the only thing that matters in television; ratings. These media-inspired feelings of vulnerability and insecurity are then what continue the cycle of being afraid.�

An unfortunate casualty of such a style of reporting are minorities according to Moore who are unjustly villianized on primetime television on a nightly basis not because a car-chase through South Central is newsworthy, but because it's what the audience wants to see. He lambastes American media as misusing their amazingly authoritative power and monopoly on information to shape our underlying belief system. Moore doesn't seem to hold television news-viewers accountable to questioning their news-source, but definitely holds news media accountable for America's increasing number of gun related deaths compared to other developed countries with similar gun control policies and ratio of guns to people.�