Ignorance Bugs Me

Okay... you know that I like to try to remain non-controversial, but I am just too annoyed to ignore this topic of conversation.

So I was watching The Today Show yesterday and Spike Lee and his wife were being interviewed by Meredith Vieira about some new childrens' book they have authored {scary}.  Anyway, for some reason she asked him what his thoughts on the Arizona shooting were {as if the world was dying to know Spike Lee's opinion about this issue}, and this is what he said.  And I quote:

"As filmmakers, as politicians, as artists, we have to understand that whatever you do goes out there in the universe.  You should be aware of what you're doing.  And you cannot just say, 'Well, I just did this thing and it had nothing to do with what happened.'  That's just not the case.  Also, the United States of America is the most violent country in the history of civilization.  And this NRA thing... we gotta turn this around.  You know, these guns are out of hand and I know they have a very powerful lobby, but something has to be done about gun control in this country.  That's my opinion."

Well, Mr. Lee... here is my opinion.  I think you need to go back to school and take a course on World History, or perhaps even current events.  Not only is the United States not even close to the most violent country in the history of civilization... it is not even the most violent country of the last century.  The last time I checked we did not feed human beings to lions for sport or burn people alive in concentration camps.

Might I suggest brushing up on the following topics:

The Roman Empire

Hilter

Stalin

Babylon

The Vikings

The ancient Assyrians

The Aztecs

Sudan, Somalia or Dafur

There are many more, but I don't want  you to be overwhelmed by your ignorance Mr. Lee.  Please take your own advice and be aware of what you are doing Spike Lee.  It is irresponsible to make such erroneous statements, and spew them as fact.

I really didn't intend for this posting to be a bashing of Spike Lee, but while I was searching for the video of this interview so that I could be absolutely certain to get the quote just right for you all, I came across some fantastic comments on the topic that I thought you would all enjoy.

Please to enjoy:

"Charles Taylor, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Adoph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Robert Mugabe, Saddam Hussein and Caligula all must be relieved to hear this."

"The wonderful thing about freedom of speech is that it enables us to spot the really stupid people without much effort."

"And Spike Lee is the most ignorant man in the history of civilization – and arguably before."

"He ought to stick to making bad movies. His forte is obviously not history."

"This moron needs to be sent – permanently – to one of these “peaceful” countries: Yemen, Somalia, Algeria, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Gaza, Congo, Zimbabwe"