Michael Moore

[robinturner]

One of the sadder things about the Bush-Laden era we have stumbled into is that it has elevated Michael Moore, who is basically a left-wing version of Rush Limbaugh, into a saviour/antichrist. OK, I enjoyed The Awful Truth, but not as much as Ali G. If this is the best the left can come up with, I'm worried, and if this is all the right can come up with, I am even more worried.

Message to American Voters: this is the real world calling. Your president can seriously screw us up. Please make your politics real.

Comments

[philipispdr.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more. Michael Moore is one of these people who I look at and think, "Man, you're on my side? Because apparently the logic on my side sucks."

I liked Fahrenheit 9/11 as a movie, but it was too easy to pick apart, too simple to dismiss as propaganda that didn't answer the obvious questions. A really good documentary should anticipate the questions, be self aware of its flaws. Fahrenheit 9/11 worked as an emotional argument, in parts, it worked as a wake up call, in parts. However, it laid too much emphasis on themes that Moore clearly cares about and misses out on objectivity in the process.

I hope, I really hope, that the film makes people think, I hope it makes Republican voters stop for a minute, and look into the facts a bit.

I fear that most will dismiss it, as it is easily dismissed, and that those that do look for further information will only look as far as articles that shoot down the glaring factual inaccuracies.

It's not even that he lied. It's not that he got things wrong - he just over-eggs every pudding. He makes cuts that imply causative links that do not exist, and why? Surely it is enough to stick to the facts, be he seems pathologically unable to do so.

I may broadly agree with some of the things that Michael Moore has to say, but he's not a man I want on my side. He can be a liability.

All the above said, I was tremendously moved by F9/11. I urged my friends to watch it, in the hope that it might change some minds. I just wish he would stick to the facts.

[oblomova.livejournal.com]

Well, I think he's figured out that sticking to the facts just doesn't work. If Dubya had stuck to "the facts," we never would have invaded Iraq because Saddam had both weapons of mass destruction and links to Osama bin Laden. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth aren't getting lots of attention because of their "facts." Don't shoot Moore down before we go after all the mainstream media who have rolled over for Bush and Co. in the last three years.

Honestly, I think it's disingenuous to expect him to NOT present his own spin on what he's collected. I think there's confusion about what a documentarian is. It's not the same as objectivity. It's a personal essay on film. And though I have quibbles with Moore's style of presentation, and I think he really oversold the Bush/Bin Laden connection in Fahrenheit 9/11, most of the essential facts he presents are true.

That said: "Control Room" is the best documentary on the war in Iraq I've seen so far.

[happy-spinster.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree with you regarding Control Room.

I walked out of Fahrenheit 9/11 all fired-up and angry (in a good way). But Control Room gave me a lot more food for serious thought. I can't recommend it enough.