I thought Michael Moore was against Guns

[sternroolz]

So Michael Moore thinks americans should be less "fearful".

I'd invite Moore to live in my neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley(average home price $400K+) where neighbors in the past year have been 1.)Shot at in front of their house, 2.) robbed and mugged in front of their house at 10pm on a weeknight, 3.) breakins too numerous to count.

Or maybe he would like to visit my new house(cost $800K+) where on the first day after escrow closed we got to hear nearby gunshots.

Or maybe the jerk would like to take a walk at midnight on any of the beaches in So Cal. Never know when you might run into a random group of gang members(several crimes committed late at night in these areas of LA and OC over the past ten years) inspite of the nearby $1-10million dollar homes.

Or maybe Moore will do what I so desperately would love to see him do - take a midnight walk on a Saturday evening along Alvarado near 12th street...or on Figueroa near Imperial....or MLK and Normandie just a block or so from LAPD 77th st station. Go ahead Michael. If there is no near for fear..go right on ahead.

Just a clue....if you choose that MLK and Normandie location, it is not a possibility that you will get robbed if you are on foot, it is a 100% certainty.

[elwoodblues]

Moore isn't saying that there is no reason to have any fear. Your near paranoia might very well be justified.

Rather, there are some irrational fears and fears that are much greater than they should be. He suggests that, for example, the evening news having an "if it bleeds it leads" mentality leads people to irrational fear. It leads people to believe that if you take a walk on a street at 10pm you will likely be mugged. Like I said, in some neighborhoods that might be true, but it is probably overhyped.

[nicky g]

Also, he links the two, suggesting that fear could be responsible for increasing weapons ownership/use and escalating levels of violence and tension; ie a vicious circle.

[sternroolz]

Near paranoia...........

I provide you factual examples and you call it "near paranoia"

Sigh.

Spend a few days at Southeast station where a number of officers have been shot at AT THE STATION.

Or just read the news articles run over the past year in the DAILY NEWS or the LOS ANGELES TIMES stating that officers have been sniper style shot at over 50 times in 2004.

I want to say bad things, but all I will say at this point is that you are either unaware of the facts of living in a big city or you choose to ignore those facts, which would be the typical modern liberal thing to do.

I can cite home invasion robberies in VERY NICE areas like Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Rancho Cucamonga, Diamond Bar, and on and on. And not isolated incidents either.

So for Moore to say that Americans are irrationally fearful ....well the idea reeks of ignorance, but actually going out there and opening your yap about it reeks of blatant stupidity.

[elwoodblues]

As I said in my reply:

"Moore isn't saying that there is no reason to have any fear. Your near paranoia might very well be justified."

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't out to get you [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[sternroolz]

Let me just add one thing. I grew up in a relatively safe, nice, all american neighborhood that is a suburb of Los Angeles. I never paid much attention to worry about my surroundings...all my neighbors were good law abiding people and I played in the street with their kids and generally had a good life.

My dad had grown up in East LA. He always was on the lookout for things, slept very lightly, and immediately jumped out of bed when he would hear a noise outside. I never understood this and thought my dad was wierd and paranoid.

Once I moved to SF Valley, even a ok neighborhood with good neighbors, I understood why my dad was the way he is. Every time I leave the house, I have to look both ways down the street. Not due to paranoia, but because its an absolute necessity. It is a condition of living in Los Angeles.

[Zygote]

Gun crime is extremely rare in Canada? Again, multiply the number he gave you for Canadian gun deaths by 10, because Canada only has 30,000,000 people living there. Or does population not matter? Moore doesnt seem to think so

[Zygote]

Multiply the number for Canada's population by 10. Canada has 1/10th of the poulation of America????????????? Does you not think this matters?

[elwoodblues]

[ QUOTE ]
Gun crime is extremely rare in Canada? Again, multiply the number he gave you for Canadian gun deaths by 10, because Canada only has 30,000,000 people living there. Or does population not matter? Moore doesnt seem to think so

[/ QUOTE ]

So multiply it by ten. It is still dwarfed by the US.

US (according to CDC reports): 11,127
Canada (according to Statistics Canada): 165
UK (according Centre for Crime and Justice studies): 68

[nicky g]

Yeah, well, multiply it by a million then! [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]