Fear and Consumption
I was recently revisiting Michael Moore's brilliant but maddening Bowling for Columbine. The film is maddening because its emotional climax--in which Moore convinces K-Mart to stop selling bullets--is undercut by the film's prior provocative suggestion that Canadians enjoy the same easy access to guns and ammunition but have much less gun violence. The film is on more brilliant footing when exploring its claim that media and government create a culture of fear that warps our perception of reality, and leaves us prone to manipulation.

It's easy to dismiss Moore as an alarmist with an agenda. But when you read that John Ashcroft had no new intelligence when he announced an imminent terrorist attack on the U.S., it's hard not to think of Bowling for Columbine. Obviously, the announcement was partly an attempt to cover the government's ass in advance of the attack we all know is coming some time. I can't help thinking, however, that it was also a transparent attempt to generate fear and thereby mute resistance to Ashcroft's war on our civil liberties.
- posted by bigmouth @ 11:44 AM