In both the speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" by reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and "Bowling for Columbine" by Michael Moore, a view of the collective spirit of America is created and presented to the listener, that can be used to explain some detrimental characteristics of America. Michael Moore uses his film, "Bowling for Columbine", to show the American spirit as being too violent and uses guns as his example with the Columbine school shooting as his hook. MLK shows the American spirit as being racist, militarist, and materialist.
Michael Moore shows the American spirit as being fearful of many things and as a result being too violent. One example of this Moore uses is the American media. Moore shows the American media playing only negative stories, showing only things that will create fear in the eyes of the American people. While Moore depicts the American spirit as being too violent MLK shows his views of rampant racism, militarism, and materialism in America in a quote from the late former President of the United States, John F.
English: Dr. Martin Luther King giving his "I Have...
Martin Luther King leaning on a lectern. Deutsch: ...
President Lyndon B. Johnson and Rev. Dr. Martin Lu...Kennedy. "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." King states that as long as those who have things remain materialist and will not give it up that those who don't have will remain militarist and attempt to take them by force and racism will continue to run rampant because those who have are often the whites and those who don't have are often the blacks. King argues that if our society does not become less thing oriented and more people oriented we will not be able to be a unified country.
Reverend King speaks of "Giant Triplets" that are the problems in the American spirit. These "Giant Triplets", racism, militarism, and materialism King argues, all go...