Even before anyone knew the shooter’s name, John Nichols in the liberal Nation magazine on-line was urging us to check out Michael Moore for a better understanding of the shooting at Virginia State University.

While fairly criticizing the media for their instant analyses attempting to explain the reason for the shooting, Nichols offered up his own bizarre expert, Moore. “Do not doubt that the National Rifle Association is preparing its this-had-nothing-to-do-with-guns’ press release,” Nichols wrote. “…Many groups on all sides of issues related to guns and violence in America will be busy making their points, just as many in the media will look for one dimensional ‘explanations’….”

All true, but then in a perfect illustration of his point he suggests that we can all understand the massacre better if we took his “modest proposal: Instead of adopting a particular line, rent Michael Moore’s ‘Bowling for Columbine.’ Of course, there are those who will not be able to see beyond their rage at Moore to recognize the value of this particular film.” He continues:

“Moore’s 2OO2 film remains the best popular exploration of violence and the gun culture in America. And, despite what the film maker’s critics would have you believe, it is a remarkably nuanced assessment of the zeitgeist.

“Moore’s purpose was to offer an explanation for why the Columbine massacre occurred and to examine the broader question of why the U.S. has higher rates of violent crimes than other developed nations.

“Moore certainly does not let apologists for the gun industry off the hook. But he does not stop there. ‘Bowling for Columbine’ explores the role that America’s mad foreign policies and obscene expenditures on weapons of mass destruction might play in fostering a culture of violence. Most significantly, Moore takes a serious look at the way in which American media, with its obsessive crime coverage, creates a climate of fear in this country — a climate that actually ends up encouraging violence.”

That Nichols would call anything a “nuanced assessment of the zeitgeist” is a warning of what is to follow: Standard left wing, pseudo-academic pap straight of out the manual of clichés for shallow-minded and dull-witted liberals. To wit: That America’s “culture of violence” is fed by “mad” foreign policy and “obscene” military expenditures.

It would be equally ridiculous to blame Asian cultural values for the shootings, because the alleged murderer was a South Korean alien. Or to blame immigration for the shooting.

Hang onto your hats, folks, because it’s only going to get worse, as we cast about for the simple-minded explanation for a complex, hideous and, ultimately, evil event. The smell of gun smoke hadn’t even cleared before the media-lite began demanding answers for “how could it have been prevented?” and “didn’t anyone notice the warning signs?”
Does anyone have the courage to say that not all the possible bad things that happen can be prevented?

Dennis Byrne is a Chicago newspaper columnist and writer. http://dennisbyrne.blogspot.com

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