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September 02, 2003

Bowling for Columbine

Courtesy Instapundit comes this Spinsanity article that once again tears into Michael Moore's fictitious documentary Bowling for Columbine. I've pointed out some of the problems with Columbine before, but Spinsanity and other sites go much further to debunk Moore's lies. And while Bowling for Truth could be dismissed by Moore as a right-wing site that's just looking to attack him, he has no such alibi for Spinsanity, which is anything but right-wing.

But why does it matter? After all, it's just a movie, right? Yes and no. Columbine itself is just a polemic by a man whose ego has gotten away from him (unlike us bloggers, whose feet remain firmly planted on the ground). Had it been honestly presented as such, I would have no objection to it. Moore presented Columbine as a documentary, however. A documentary, by definition, has to be a factual portrayal of events, and Columbine fails this test. Yet it has been accepted uncritically by the media and by Hollywood as ground truth. Hollywood is no surprise, but the media should serve us better than that. Imagine a right-wing director releasing a film about individuals who prevented crimes because they owned a gun. Does anyone believe the media wouldn't investigate such a documentary very closely to see if there were any factual errors? Does anyone think that they wouldn't be right to do so? So why should Moore get a free pass, and an Oscar to boot?

There's little doubt that interest groups release data that favors their cause, and some of that data is inaccurate. Whether the falsehoods are intentional or not, they're in there. No one would expect a report issued by the tobacco industry or the NRA to be taken at face value by the media. Both those groups have good reasons to submit misleading data in an attempt to bolster their public support, so it's important that the media vets their press releases so people can find out where they may be inaccurate.

This is just as important when the National Organization for Women or NAACP releases a report. They are no less interested in skewing public debate in their favor than the Federalist Society or the American Enterprise Institute. Just as we can count on the media to dig into reports by right-wing groups, we ought to be able to expect the same for left-wing groups. When the media lets us down, however, it's important that other media take up the fight. Ken Layne's dictum counts for both sides: we can fact-check your ass.

I don't know for sure what the right level of gun control is to preserve constitutional rights while still considering public safety. I do know, however, that movies like Bowling for Columbine do nothing to further that debate. Tearing down Moore's lies is an important step, as it at least moves us a little closer to the facts.