Greetings and salutations, web surfers.
It has been done. I have gone to see Michael Moore's new flick. And let me tell you, it was a decent piece of propaganda. It was easy enough to see through for those of us who are familiar with Moore's devices, but would be gripping for those who believe this man is the truth-teller he claims to be. Personally, I felt that half of this movie was completely unnecessary, off-point, and just plain stupid. I would do a point-to-point, but that would require me to watch it again and take notes (due to Moore's sudden topic changes to hide his contradictions, I usually feel drugged during his movies). Let me put it this way: I paid for a ticket to Anchorman, and walked into Fahrenheit 9/11 (Moore's not getting one red cent from my pocket). After sitting through this movie I didn't pay for, I still want my money back. I feel like Moore should be paying me to watch this.
So now, on to some of the smaller problems I saw in the movie: first of all, it was obvious that all of the news stories, speeches and interviews were taken out of context. When the news clip he shows of Bush contains only one sentence, you know that whatever is being said is being taken out of context, distorted to fit Moore's truth. But, then again, there were also some quite extensive clips - two or three, maybe even four sentences - that seemed to be incriminating. Let's start at the beginning, where the Democrats in the Senate (even President of the Senate Al Gore) wouldn't sign a petition to save Gore's campaign. It's so great to see Al Gore do something honorable like telling these people they have to follow the rules. Why Moore doesn't seem to pick up on this, I'll never know. I'll also never know how Moore can claim one minute that Bush is a moron, and the next that Bush masterminded this plan to outsmart Gore and steal the Presidency (supposedly care of Bush's first cousin. I don't even know some of my first cousins). What is that saying about Gore's intellectual capabilities? Would you really want somebody stupider than Bush running the country? However, the most telling thing is about to come, the question that may change what people think of the Democrats: When all that was needed was a signature to save Gore's campaign, WHERE WAS JOHN KERRY?
Moore then shows clips of the inaugural parade that was attended by hordes of egg-chucking protestors. Now cut to Bush being on vacation, a common sight. Notice how Moore skips over the assassination attempt in the first 100 days of office. Instead, Moore tries to make us wonder why Bush spent all this time on vacation. Of course, the audience doesn't realize that Moore has already answered the question. When there are egg-chuckers and assassins after you, you had better get your ass out of Dodge. Of course, according to Moore, this is still inappropriate behavior - protecting one's self - and goes on to show us a collection of photos and clips that show Bush at play. But wait a minute... One of those clips shows Bush with British Prime Minister Tony Blair! It was so quick to flash by, that if you don't immediately recognize Blair's visage, you won't notice. Well, surely Tony Blair wasn't also on vacation at Camp David (obviously a tourist's paradise).
Pardon my skipping around, it is mostly due to the fact that I've seen this movie once, and so am not going to comment on the parts I don't remember well. But now, I would like to advance to the question of the Saudis and bin Ladens being shipped out of America. Despite what the film leads you to believe, these flights did occur after the FAA lifted the flying ban (in fact, spokespeople for the film admitted this, in the sense that they claim they never actually said it was before the ban was lifted. But the language used still hinted at it, I recall.) Those were Saudis being protected from the likes of us. Let's not forget, Americans did riot, attack and even kill some people who appeared to be of middle eastern descent. I even recall a man who had his shop burned down by molotovs as a result of this hate riot. All that Moore is doing with this section of the film is relying on the viewer's inherent prejudice towards these Saudis to turn that viewer against the protectors. If you really have such a problem with the bin Ladens and Saudis leaving the country, talk to Richard Clark, Bush-hater and the man responsible for sending out those planes. Too bad Moore's movie was made before and released after Richard Clark came forward, else he could have avoided that little deception.
I'm already getting sick of this. I'm just too lazy, and too wary that I'll be caught writing this at work. Besides, this topic has been covered so many times already. I'll just list off some more of my problems with this movie and be done with it:
1. Foreign investments in the US and the stock market is hardly an unusual thing. In fact, investing in oil companies is a very clever move on behalf of the Saudis. Not only are they selling us their oil, they're making more money from the oil companies' profits. What Moore sees as a conspiracy, I see as good business.
2. It's not often that I find myself admiring Bush, but I still stand behind him for the 7 minutes he spent reading to the kids. Look at his eyes, the man is sitting there, wondering what the hell is going on. He's obviously thinking about the situation. What would the liberals like him to do, pull out his hair, run around and scream "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!"? God forbid the President of the United States of America act professionally. That's what he did, and it made an impact. But don't just take my word, have a look at what the principal said.The Democrats seem to be jealous because someone as dimwitted as Bush is able to read and think at the same time. That's the way I figure it, at least. They've already proven that this guy is smart enough to cheat them out of an election, right?
3. When Cheney took office, so many voices wanted him to, as a moral point, sell off his shares of oil industry giant Halliburton. He does what he's told, and they criticize him for it, searching for a scandal when Halliburton stock prices fall. OK, let's assume that Moore is right, that this war is exclusively for Iraqi oil (frankly, I think a lot of it also has to do with assassination attempts on Bush's father as well), and that Halliburton is to gain from it. Why would Cheney be involved in two scandals, one based upon ruining Halliburton and the other based upon helping it grow?
4. Moore wants to know why a name was blacked out of Bush's service record? Why did Moore remove the features of the men and women in the National Guard ad, leaving behind the CGI figures? Same damn reason, as far as I'm concerned. The guy probably didn't want everyone to know why he was removed from service, so his name was blacked out of the record. You weren't asking for that guy's record. you were asking for Bush's, and that's what you got.
5. Through the Carlyle group, Bush is about as connected to the bin Ladens as Moore himself is (the Carlyle group bailed Disney out twice, once after the Euro-Disney flop)
6. As long as we're talking about bin Ladens, Mike, why don't you tell us what happened? In "Dude, Where's My Country?", you told us that you found it hard to believe that bin Laden was responsible for 9/11, and even threw out a 'what if' (which we know is your way of touting your own beliefs), blaming the tragedy on Saudi Arabia. Then you say on television that Osama bin Laden should be innocent until proven guilty (a right normally reserved for American citizens, but sure, give it to everyone else, too). Now you seem to be so convinced of Osama bin Laden's guilt that his entire extended family should be held accountable.
7. Moore is so quick to call Saddam Hussein a friend because Reagan armed him. What Moore conveniently forgets is that Saddam was armed so he could take out the Ayatollah in Iran, believed to be a far more dangerous man. I guess Moore believes in the notion that his enemy's enemy is his friend. Furthermore, Moore claims that Iraq had never hurt an American person (VERY careful to say "American"). Apparantly Moore also forgot about Operation Desert Storm: 148 battle deaths, 467 wounded in action. Moore dedicates his movie to those brave men fighting in Iraq. I'm not sure if he included Afghanistan, but let's just assume so. Well, that's all good, but he essentially shit on the graves of those in Desert Storm. I mean, his point through much of this was to honor the warriors. After all, it's not their fault that those two marines at the mall were such good salesmen. Then he virtually denies the existence of these dead and wounded. If I were wounded in Desert Storm, I'd be furious with this man.
8. Who the hell is that old woman at the end of the movie, and what makes her a grandmaster of political analysis? I'm sure she was just reading the script Moore handed to her. Moore is much more careful about what he says in this movie, giving his opinions the appearance of speculation, and having other people (like the old lady) preaching for him.
9. Mike, sorry to tell you, but you're still not from Flint.
For those of you interested in the truth (as if you can really find it), or who are interested in hearing the other side's real story, there are plenty of places on the internet to find them. However, I highly recommend a book called "Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man", by David T. Hardy and Jason Clarke. It is a very good, easy read that exposes some of the lies and tactics of Moore. The only criticism I have of this book is that it attributes some things to Moore's stupidity that I would attribute to his deceptive nature - essentially, they see him as a buffoon while I acknowledge that Moore is good at what he does. Finally, there is an essay that everyone who believes this movie should read: "Debunking Fahrenheit 9/11", written by 17-year-old Brittany Craigo.
Until next time,
Goose
©2004 by Goose
