Bowling for Columbine Page #6

Two years after Columbine,

Manson finally returned to Denver.

The Ozzfest at Mile High Stadium brings shock

rocker Marilyn Manson to Denver tomorrow.

There were protests from the religious right,

but I thought I'd go and talk with him myself.

When I was a kid growing up,

music was the escape.

That's the only thing that er...

had no judgments, you know.

You could put on a record and it's not gonna

yell at you for dressing the way you do.

It's gonna make you feel better about it.

Some will be so brash to ask if we believe

that all who hear Manson tomorrow night

will go out and commit violent acts.

The answer is no.

But does everybody who watches a Lexus ad

go and buy a Lexus?

No, but a few do.

I definitely can see why they would pick me,

because I think it's easy

to throw my face on a TV,

because I'm, in the end,

son of a poster boy for fear.

Because I represent what everyone's afraid of.

Because I do and say what I want.

If Marilyn Manson can walk into our town

and promote hate, violence, suicide,

death, drug use and Columbine-like behavior,

I can say, "Not without a fight, you can't."

The two by-products of that whole tragedy

were er... violence in entertainment

and gun control.

And how perfect that that was the two things

that we were gonna talk about

with the upcoming election.

And also, then we forgot about

Monica Lewinsky and we forgot about...

The President was shooting bombs overseas,

yet I'm a bad guy

because I sing some rock'n'roll songs.

And who's a bigger influence?

The President or Marilyn Manson?

I'd like to think me,

but I'm gonna go with the President.

Do you know

that the day Columbine happened,

the United States dropped more bombs

on Kosovo than any other time during that war?

I do know that,

and I think that that's really ironic,

that nobody said, "Whoa, maybe the President

had an influence on this violent behavior."

No, because that's not the way the media

wants to take it and spin it and turn it into fear.

Cos then you're watching television,

you're watching the news,

you're being pumped full of fear.

There's floods, there's Aids, there's murder.

Cut to commercial, buy the Acura.

Buy the Colgate.

If you have bad breath,

they're not gonna talk to you.

If you got pimples,

the girls are not gonna f*** you.

And it's just this...

It's a campaign of fear and consumption.

And that's what I think that it's all based on,

is the whole idea that,

"Keep everyone afraid and they'll consume."

And that's... that's really as simple

as it can be boiled down to.

If you were to talk directly to the kids

at Columbine, or the people in that community,

what would you say to them

if they were here now?

I wouldn't say a single word to them.

I would listen to what they have to say.

And that's what no-one did.

- I'm Nicole Schlieve.

- And I'm Amanda Lamontagne.

- And you went to Columbine?

- Yes.

Uh-huh. And you were with er... Eric and Dylan?

In their class?

Yeah. We were in their bowling class.

- In their bowling class?

- Yes.

What's bowling class?

Um, it's just an elective you can take

for a gym credit.

Where's the educational value of this, though?

Um... I guess there isn't really any.

No. There's none.

Is there any...

I learned how to bowl a lot better.

That's for sure.

What were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold like?

- Weird.

- Yeah?

- I mean um... not very social.

- I didn't really know who they were.

Not very social. Just kinda kept to themselves.

How good bowlers were Eric and Dylan?

When we played them,

all I remember is they were just like... crazy.

- They would just, like, chuck the ball.

- Chuck it down there.

Didn't care much about how they bowled.

They didn't really care about their scores.

What were the suspects doing

the morning of attack?

I heard they were bowling.

That's the only thing I'm aware of.

So did Dylan and Eric show up

that morning and bowl two games

before moving on to shoot up the school?

And did they just chuck the balls

down the lane?

Did this mean something?

Um, well,

I guess they went to their favorite class.

Why wasn't anyone blaming bowling

for warping the minds of Eric and Dylan

to commit their evil deeds?

Was it not just as plausible

as blaming Marilyn Manson?

After all, it was apparently the last thing

they did before the massacre.

But wait a minute.

There's lots of bowling going on

in other countries.

Don't they listen to Marilyn Manson

in Germany,

the home of sinister goth music?

Some gothic festival.

Don't they watch the same

violent movies in France?

Most of the violent video games

are from Japan.

Many Americans believe

that it's the break-up of the family unit

that's caused so many wayward youth

to turn to violence.

I'll run away and kill myself.

How would you like that?

You can't keep me here!

Statistically there are more broken homes

and divorce in Great Britain than the US.

It's official! Fergie's marriage has ended!

Liberals contend that it's all the poverty we have

in America that causes all this violence.

But the unemployment rate in Canada

is twice what it is here.

Of course, most people say

it's because we Americans

have a violent history, a violent past.

Cowboys and Indians, the Wild West...

A history of conquering and bloodshed.

Well, if that's all it takes to end up with

such a violent society like we have in America,

how do you explain this?

Yet, in spite of all this,

how many people are killed by guns

each year?

In Germany...

In France...

In Canada...

In the United Kingdom...

In Australia...

In Japan...

In the United States...

But that to me brings up

an important question.

Then what is so different about Americans?

Are we homicidal in nature?

Because in Europe and Australia...

...most other free world countries,

they don't have this.

They don't have people who snap

and go on murderous rampages.

They're just like us. Occasionally, a person

snaps and kills a lot of people.

How about a British soccer riot?

Those aren't Quakers there.

Every time that I bring up comparisons

with other free world countries,

I hear, "Oh, our culture is so different.

We're different."

They have violent video games

and violent movies, they have alienated youth.

They, like us, don't have prayer in schools.

What is so radically different?

What is it about us?

- What is it?

- What is it?

- What is it?

- What is it?

I don't know.

Hi, boys and girls. Ready to get started?

Once upon a time,

these people in Europe called Pilgrims

were afraid of being persecuted.

They all got in a boat and sailed to the

New World, where they wouldn't have to be scared.

- Oh, I'm so relaxed.

- Whew, I feel so much safer.

But when they arrived, they were greeted

by savages and they got scared again.

- Injuns!

- So they killed them all.

You'd think wiping out a race of people

would calm them down.

- Instead, they got frightened of each other.

- Witch!

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