Part 5 Gutterballs Thirteen And Fourteen

by
Larry Pratt

Gutterball Number 13: Wrong To Ridicule Handicapped Gun Owner

In his tireless effort to demonize gun-owners, Moore, in Bowling for Columbine (BFC), shows us film of a blind man, Carey McWilliams, shooting at targets. We are told that despite his being blind, he passed his shooting test. This story is presented as if it is self-evidently insane and further proof of our violent “gun culture.”

Once again, however, Moore does not tell the whole story. True, the state of North Dakota did issue a permit to McWilliams to carry a concealed weapon. But, he is not totally blind. He is able to distinguish day from night, light from dark.

The Miami Herald (1/19/01) reports Pat Healey, a Case County sheriff’s deputy who administers permit tests in North Dakota, as saying McWilliams passed the necessary background check and written and shooting exams, “hitting the black silhouette target nine out of 10 times on the first try and required 10 of 10 on the re-shoot.” McWilliams is quoted as saying: “I get ticked off when people say I can’t do something because I’m blind.” Warning anyone who might attack him, he adds: “If you choose this blind victim, you might end up dead.”

In an interview on CBS’ Early Show (1/5/02), when asked if he could tell friend from foe in a crisis situation, McWilliams said: “Yes. Because if you have your hands around my throat or you’re stabbing me with a knife or other such contact, then, yes, I would know you mean me serious harm…. the deal is that the Second Amendment applies to all American citizens. And I’m an American citizen, too, with the same rights and privileges.” Amen!

Gutterball Number 14: Wrong To Interview “Shock-Rocker” Marilyn Manson

Following the mass murders at Columbine High School many news stories reported that the two murderers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were fans of the vile, nihilistic, grotesque, obscene, foul-mouthed, death-loving “shock rocker” Marilyn Manson. An Associated Press story (4/21/99) quotes one Columbine student as saying of Harris and Klebold: “They [sang] Marilyn Manson songs and joked about killing people.”

But, Moore adamantly rejects the notion that Manson’s songs might have in any way influenced Harris and Klebold.

So, who, or what, exactly, is Marilyn Manson? Here’s some of what Kalen Rogers tells us in his book Marilyn Manson: The Unauthorized Biography (Omnibus Press, 1997). His band is “a troupe of what appear to be escapees from Victoria’s Secret chapter of the local insane asylum.” His stage name is a combination of the name of Marilyn Monroe and convicted murderer Charles Manson. His actions include “tending-toward-obsessive fondness for self-mutilation and disfigurement.”

Other band members are: “Daisy Berkowitz” who’s named after the New York “Son-Of-Sam” murderer David Berkowitz; “Olivia Newton Bundy,” named after serial murderer Ted Bundy; “Zsa Zsa Speck,” named after Richard Speck who murdered several nurses; “Gidget Gein,” named after Ed Gein, a Wisconsin murderer who engaged in cannibalism and necrophilia; and “Madonna Wayne Gacy,” named after homosexual serial murderer John Wayne Gacy who murdered 33 young boys.

Not surprisingly, since Manson has a large tattoo of a broadly smiling Satan on his upper left arm, Rogers says Manson’s act has included “a splash of Satanism.” On a trip to California, he met with Anton LaVey, head of the Church of Satan. Also: “Manson gigs often featured a huge Ouija board backdrop, a 666 logo on speakers.” He has also torn up and shredded Bibles on stage.

Rogers quotes Manson as having said: “I’m very much opposed to Christianity… hopefully, I’ll be remembered as the person who brought an end to Christianity.” His antics, it is said, have included “wiping his backside with an American flag.”

In BFC we see Moore noting that the morning of the Columbine slaughter the two murderers went to an elective bowling class. He asks, in all seriousness: “Why wasn’t anyone blaming bowling for warping the minds of Eric and Dylan to commit their evil deeds? Wasn’t that just as plausible as blaming Marilyn Manson?” A little later, we see Moore interviewing Manson. Returning to his anti-American theme, Moore asks Manson if he knows that on the day of the Columbine murders the United States dropped more bombs on Kosovo than at any other time during this war?

Manson: “I do know that and I think that’s really ironic, you know, that nobody’s said, ‘Well, maybe the President (Clinton) had an influence on their violent behavior.’ But this is not the way the media wants to spin it. Because the idea of the media is: ‘Keep everyone afraid and they’ll consume.'”

Moore: “Right.”

Moore asks, as if anyone might care, what Manson would say if he could talk directly to the kids at Columbine and the people in that community? What would he say?

Manson (solemnly): “I wouldn’t say a single word to them. I’d listen to what they had to say. That’s what no one did.”

In an interview on CNBC (10/19/02), Moore tells Tim Russert that what Manson says in BFC are “some of the most intelligent things in the film” — a statement which, if true, is a damning indictment and all you need to know about this disgraceful movie.

In BFC Manson complains that he’s seen as a bad guy since all he does is “sing some rock and roll songs.” Really? Just “some rock and roll songs?” Not exactly.

In The Death Song Manson says: “We’re on a bullet and we’re headed straight into God, even He’d like to end it too…. we sing the death song kids, because we’ve got no future and we want to be just like you, we want to be just like you.”

In The Lamb Of God, Manson says: “The camera will make you God… if you die when there’s no one watching, and your ratings drop and you’re forgotten, if they kill you on their TV, you’re a martyr and a lamb of God.”

In Burning Flag Manson says: “I’ll join the crowd that wants to see me dead.”

In Coma Black Manson says: “This was never my world, you took the angel away, I’d kill myself to make everybody pay.”

In King Kill 33 Degrees Manson says: “But I have to show you that you played a role and I will destroy you with one simple hole; the world that hates me has taken its toll but now I have finally taken control.”

In GodEatGod Manson says: “Dear God the sky is as blue as a gunshot wound, dear God if you were alive you know we’d kill you.”

In The Nobodies Manson says: “We are the nobodies, we wanna be somebodies when we’re dead, they’ll know just who we are.”

Sorry, but without the slightest stretch, it’s obvious that these lyrics could have very easily, and plausibly, fueled the murderous/suicidal hatred and rage that was in the respective hearts of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

In fact, there is evidence to support this view in an article in the Los Angeles Times (12/14/99) which reports on the home movies Harris and Klebold made prior to their mass murders. They speak of “their rage, fueled by what they say were years of taunting from athletes, rich kids and peers interested only in conformity.” Says Klebold: “I hope we kill all 250 of you. If you could see the rage I’ve built up over the years….”

And there is Harris and Klebold’s desire for fame (re-read, please, those lyrics in The Lamb of God). The L.A. Times article says: “[They] discuss the cults that might follow their example and seem gleeful about their impending fame. They debate whether Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino will immortalize them on screen.” Says Klebold: “Directors will be fighting over this story.”

In addition, an article in the web publication Salon.com (9/23/99), by Dave Cullen titled Kill Mankind. No One Should Survive, reports on, among other things, the writings of Eric Harris in his diary. He says: “Kill mankind. No one should survive.”

This article also indicates that Harris was a good Darwinist, an evolutionist. One source is reported as saying that when the murders began, “Harris tore off his trench coat to expose a white T-shirt reading “Natural Selection.'” One investigator who has seen Harris’ writings says: “[He] talks a lot about natural selection and that kind of leads into his admiration of Hitler and Nazism and their ‘final solution’ — that we, the human race have interrupted or disrupted natural selection by inventing vaccines and stuff like that.”

The lead investigator on the Columbine murders, Kate Battan, also mentions the Harris/Klebold desire for fame. She says, paraphrased, that she thinks this was “the single biggest reason” the mass murders were committed. It is said that other key investigators agreed with this assessment. Battan says the writings of Harris and Klebold were littered with comments about their expected glory: “They certainly wanted the media to write stories about them every day. And they wanted cult followings. They’re going to become superstars by getting rid of bad people. And, you know, it worked. They’re famous.”

A footnote: We were unable to find any stories which in any way connected bowling to mass murders.