Sorry everybody, it must be a Michael Moore week. From the Books for Soldiers website I heard that MM was giving out free copies of either Dude, Where's My Country or a Bowling for Columbine DVD by sending an email to soldiers@michaelmoore.com. I'm from Arizona and in my part of the world, folk's ears perk up whenever we hear the word free. So I sent the email off and received my copy Bowling for Columbine which I have been wanting to see for a while and sorry Mike, this is two movies just this week that I've watched that you haven't received a cent for. First thing I can say this isn't a hoax, got the 2 DVD set in the mail after I believe a month and a half. The web address that you can find this offer is http://www.fahrenheit911.com/soldiers/ shows the details of how you can get your free copy if you're in Iraq currently plus how to become a Conscientious Objector, which I have no interest in, damn pansies, don't sign up to the military if you want to be a Conscientious Objector. Anyhow I'm not even though I am a non combatant (Medical folk in general are) and gives a place to share your story. Personally I was only interested in the free stuff and I'm already sharing my story, which is pretty boring compared to many out here. So we gathered again and watched it.
Myself, early 30's half thai navy guy that who owns no guns and a generally peaceful person except for the the 15 minutes after I wake up.
J, my battle buddy, a late 20's black ex Air Force brat, who is thinking about buying a pistol but I personally think he's too cheap to buy one. Currently owns no guns and is pretty laid back.
Woodchuck, an early 30's good ol boy from the south who owns somewhere in the ballpark of 30 firearms (most inherited) and a member of the NRA. Also is fairly laid back.
We watched it and would have to say we all liked it. Damn you Michael Moore and your reasonable sounding voice in the background. Not a bad show and we'd all have to say we're once again impressed. Even though we all agree that it made you look like an asshole picking on that old man but after meeting all those people that close to the incidents it's understandable. What did we pick up out of this? Maybe part of the same message we picked up out of F9/11 as far as our social system goes. We do shoot our selves in the foot as far as taking care of the poor and we tend to dig the hole deeper for those that are already at the bottom so it's almost impossible to come back into the light. There are some huge defects in our society. What is the right answer? We were comparing how we take care of the poor with suicide prevention video that we watch during every safety stand down. Some of the people in this video have done something bad due to stress, lack of money or a bad home life and have resorted to drinking, stealing or abusing their subordinates because they're pissed. The people that have done something bad have gotten caught, feel life is going to hell and now they're thinking maybe killing themselves is the best answer. The discussion everybody has after watching the video (5 times for me so far) is what they don't cover in the training. There's no happily ever after, after the fictional command in the video gets help to the person such as financial counseling, rehab for alcohol and mental counseling what happens? The person has possibly recovered, then; he's usually fried to the full extent of the law, fined, pay taken away, demoted, maybe tossed behind bars or restricted then possibly kicked out because he's a dirt bag. As J would say in his mock southern accent "Beat the po man!" Don't get me wrong, I think stealing from your shipmates or fellow Marines is one of the worst things you can do and you should fry. Once someone steps of that step with the rest of civilized society it's a downward spiral and takes a long time to get back into the light if ever, some people just aren't that strong. There's no easy answer except for teaching better values at home and better leadership or friendship skills by not letting someone fall that far? Of course a lot of these people are outcasts and don't have many friends because no one can stand them. Hmmm, what to do, what to do. People just need to start being nicer to each other so we're not wigging out, people don't steal as much from people they like and respect and people that do, back to the old fry them. Also when you're at war, being nice is a social lubricant that everybody could use. Even in the military there are oddballs, people that are different then you, some people ride them just for that reason, this is the first time away from home, there's bad people that want to shoot you and some prick won't stop screaming in your ear because you're not exactly like him. Personally I don't think it's a smart idea to scream in someone's ear who's carrying around a loaded weapon, specially not day after day, but some people call it discipline. Taking out your personal anger on some poor kid might make him feel suicidal but who's going to get it first? The prick, all of us have seen Full Metal Jacket, save your anger for someone else. There's going to be bad apples in every bunch. Still there's no nice answer.
Other points we got out of the film, we need a stronger family structure and people need to pay attention to their children and take responsibility, mean people shouldn't have guns, outcasts shouldn't have guns, crazy people shouldn't have guns, pissed off people shouldn't have guns and 6 year olds definitely shouldn't have guns. Guns should be harder to get. America is turning into a bunch of paranoid people, look at the news, something bad is happening ever second, action sells. This stuff glues people to the screen. Maybe the media should start focusing on the good that's happening for a change. Don't give the evil people the spotlight, don't hide it either just don't make a big deal out of it. Columbine was horrible stuff and a worse case scenario of what can happen. But this movie wasn't just about Columbine, more about society in general. It wasn't the one sided bashing party that much F9/11 was either; so I give it my thumbs up and think it's a much better film without much of the political leanings. I personally don't classify either of these as Documentary's even though much of this is real footage and his facts are mostly in order but I look at them more as Social Adjustment Films (yes propaganda in other words) due to this being his personal take on the world and his ability to steer people to his personal worldview. Is it bad that these are propaganda? Rush does the same thing for his viewpoint as does every talk show host. I don't think so in this case, he brings it all together pretty well and the underlining message is geared toward peace. Only time will tell if the facts are straight or sound clips are taken out of context, but I'll let someone else research that, I'm only in it for the entertainment value.
Answer to some of my comments,
Brian I did say that on purpose just to see who would react, the locals refer here refer to the other shops as hajji shops too which surprised me. Just seeing if putting that out to get a feel to who's reading my site. Hopefully not a sign of sign of either arrogant ignorance or ignorant arrogance. Sorry to have offended you, most of the folk on the ground refer to anybody not us as a hajji which I don't agree with but it seems to be the way thing are, wonder what we called the locals in Bosnia? Probably had some slang that wasn't nice, I'm half Thai and grew up in northern Arizona, the only non-white kid in my school for a while and have been through every name they called the Vietnamese in the Vietnam conflict and it wasn't nice, so believe me I don't agree with it. Besides the guy that sold F9/11 is Hindu so not technically a hajji
Laurel, we were looking for SM2 and it was sold out, so bought F 9/11.
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