A blizzard of blame

Speaking of idiotic remarks about the Colorado theater shooting, I certainly did not mean to imply in my last depressing post that they are limited to conservatives even though I was quite irritated by one. Most of the nonsensical scolding has been coming from the left.

Here’s famed director Peter Bogdanovitch, blaming guns, movies and the right wing:

…Anytime there’s a massacre, which is almost yearly now, we say, “Well, it’s not the guns. Guns don’t kill people. People kill people” and all that bullshit from the NRA. Politicians are afraid to touch it because of the right wing. And nothing ever changes. We’re living in the Wild West.

I’m not sure what the solution is. I just know that the violence in this country is out of control. And the fact that guns are so easy to get is chilling. But nobody wants to blame the movies. Nobody wants to blame guns. And yet, it’s so easy to buy them and there are more murders in this country than anywhere else.

Really? Are there more murders in this country than anywhere else?

Not by a long shot. The United States ranks 35th worldwide, with a murder rate of 4.8 per 100,000 — way, way behind countries like  South Africa (with 32) and Mexico (with 18) — both of which have strict gun control laws. Mexico is said to have “some of the toughest gun-control laws in the world, a matter of pride for the nation’s citizens.” And we know how well gun control works, don’t we?

As far as blaming “the movies” for theater shootings, at least Bogdanovich is honest enough to include himself for blame. He made a movie about a theater shooting starring Boris Karloff, and even though he says he is sorry he made it, I quite enjoyed it. But to say that such films are to blame when a psycho imitates them is like blaming my longtime favorite “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” for cannibalism. Or the “easy availability of chain saws.”

The fact is, normal people do not commit massacres, nor do they kill and eat other people, regardless of what movies they watch or what items that might be used in murder have been banned.

Sorry, but I don’t have time to check the worldwide cannibalism rates by country. If the U.S. is ranked number one, let me know. Meanwhile I remain adamantly opposed to banning chainsaws, knives, forks, and teeth.

Too many self-appointed scolds want to reduce this country to a national kindergarten.

Unfortunately, there are also too many people who want to be treated as children, and they go along with them.