[L.N. Smithee]

I stomached part of Moore's last appearance on Oprah, and Moore was in his sensitive, quiet mode, saying, among other things, that while the Colonial military conquerors are lionized, no one says anything about the heroes of peace, suggesting that more should be taught about the non-violent strategies of Mahatma Gandhi.

I laughed at this notion, because while Gandhi certainly succeeded in lifting the yoke of the British empire from India, what happened immediately afterward was a bloody struggle to fill the power void left by the Crown. The Muslims -- not as placid as the Brits -- and Hindus abandoned Gandhi's principles as if he never existed, and the enmity between India and Pakistan is testimony to how non-violence is just as useless as violence often is.

Gandhi ended up being assassinated by a militant from his own faith, who couldn't stand his inaction in the face of slaughter. Moore, however, would lead children to believe that because Gandhi's fasting, intelligence, and dedication to principles of peaceful revolution worked on Lord Mountbatten, it would work on bin Laden or Saddam. It is to laugh.

[eddie willers]

Excellent insight.