Michael Moore implies that the United States Of America is a gun-ho nation. Guns are too easy to obtain. You can go into your local Wal-Mart and purchase a firearm and bullets, get into your car, drive to a school and shoot a load of kids. This is what happened at Columbine High School on the 20th April 1999. The firearms were legally purchased and a total of nine hundred rounds were used.

One of the main American ideologies is that everyone should own a firearm. In my opinion, the reason why the murder rate by firearm is so high is because everyone has been pumped full of fear from the media. In Utah, there was a law passed that all residents should own a firearm. You can’t go a day in the USA without hearing that someone has been shot dead, normally by a black male. Television Networks at home and in the United States demonizes black males as being armed and dangerous. It’s easy to blame the black male. Throughout history we have made a name for ourselves of being violent. When people think ‘black male’, connotations that are arouse are: tall, muscly, hoodies, gold chains, thieves, violent and knife crime. In a nutshell, when people think American black male, they think Grand Theft Auto. In this sense I don’t believe it does differ from modern Britain. The only difference is that we swap African-American for Black British male or Black Muslim. The connotations remain identical with additions of terrorism and bombs.

The media has pumped the public full of fear that all Muslims are terrorists, male and female alike. In the context of weaponry, Britain has taken on American values. Just like America, Britain has a history of violence. E.g. The British Empire. Many of history’s most influential events have revolved around Britain such as slavery and the colonisation of India. Britain enslaved one-third of Africa over a period of four centuries. There is also the renowned Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in India in 1919. Many British people talk about America of having a history of violence but when asked about the slave trade and the British Empire, they refuse to acknowledge. They are hypocrites in the sense of judging others before looking at themselves.

Michael Moore also argues that the media, politicians and corporations scare the American public into narrow-mindedness by not questioning anything. Hence everyone has exactly the same ideology. E.g. the majority of the public believing that the Bush Government wasn’t behind 9/11. Bin Laden was given expert-CIA training in the 1980s when George Bush Sr. was in office. I think that is a very big coincidence.

Another example of the media scaring the public is with Killer Bees. Saying they are from Western Africa, bigger than normal bees and they can kill you. Britain is also guilty of pumping the public full of fear. One of the most notorious instances is the Swine Flu scare. Swine Flu has been around since the 1980s but they decide to tell the public now. Why? Finally there is the annual ‘Snow Attack in Britain. The news uses his headlines such as ‘Big Freeze’ or ‘The Largest Snowstorm Since 1900’. The media tells the public that will be three feet of snow overnight and everyone makes a mad dash to their local supermarket. The next day there is light layer of snow on the ground. Every year the public falls for it because their ideologies don’t change from the year before.

Michael Moore states that American culture suggests that guns are good and civilised discussion to settle disputes are bad. This is a bit like the George Bush Administration. After 9/11, Bush made a speech where he said his number one priority for the American people was the military budget. Americans were in fear and gun and ammunition sales went up. Many of the top 1% of society were making a lot of money and careers out of a terrorized America. It shows that people in power can get away with anything. In 1998, President Bill Clinton bombed, what he thought was a weapons factory in Sudan. It turns out that the factory was manufacturing aspirin. George Bush Jr’s administration bombed Iraq claiming that Iraqis had weapons of mass destruction. There were no weapons of mass destruction. It goes to show that people with power can literally get away with murder.

America and upper class Britain have a hunting culture but in Britain guns are more controlled. In order to have a gun to go hunting you must have licence. In America it’s not difficult to buy a gun. In shows like Downton Abbey, the characters go hunting in the Scottish Highlands because it is a socially accepted activity in that class of society. Downton Abbey is set from 1910 – 1930s but even in the 21st Century people still hunt in the wilderness. I went to private school and a lot of the friend’s parents owned guns which they would shoot deer and other animals with. Hunting is a pastime among rich and wealthy upper class.

Britain has a gun and knife problem, but not among the general public. It is among gangs in the big cities such as: Birmingham, Manchester, and London. Places like Luton are also included. These gangs consist of white, black and Asian youths but the media demonizes the black and Asians by replicating what America has done with shows like ‘COPS’. The British equivalents are television programmes such as Border Force UK, Traffic Cops and Crimewatch. Also shows like Panorama demonize the Muslims as being militant terrorists.

In conclusion, I believe that Britain has adopted American values. Britain and America have a history of violence. Judging by Bowling For Columbine, it seems everyone has gun in the United States but in Britain only the high-class have guns or the city gangs. Britain has taken on many American values. The phrase “Keep Calm & Carry On” is a phrase very much associated with Britain. This is very hypocritical considering Britain’s long, dark and bleak history of violence. If the guns were just as accessible in Britain as they are in America I believe that the murder rates would be just as high due to the media pumping the public full of fear. E.g. 7/7 Bombing and the ISIS militant terrorists. If the British people had guns they would have killed many Muslims by now out of fear due to anti-Islam propaganda orchestrated by the British media.