Friday, July 16, 2004
Rally around the Flag
So I saw Fahrenheit 9/11, despite my reservations about paying to see this movie, since it is propaganda. My Mom satisfied my moral dilemma by paying for me. Thus I was able to go in with a lighter conscience and heavier pocketbook. I am sure I can find some better cause to spend the 7.50 on. Like drugs.
As a Bush-hater, I appreciated Michael Moore’s ability to effectively synthesize many of the gripes against the current regime better than anyone other than the Daily Show. Moore is especially into linking the Bush’s to the Bin Laden’s and Saudis, and exposing the Bush camp as a bunch of rich people out for each others’ interests, not the country’s. You will have to see the movie, and more importantly, do your own research on Bush to determine how much you agree with Moore on this point. When you answer that question, then you can turn to the question Moore totally ignores: are the Democrats any better?
Moore covers the major news stories of the past 4 years: the 2000 election, 9/11 and the aftermath (PATRIOT Act, etc.), the War on Iraq. He gets his hands on some great footage of a young W., and airs some pretty gruesome stuff from the Iraq War that the American media doesn’t show. We know the story he is trying to tell. Here are the points he makes that resonated with me the most:
- The Democrats are giant pussies. This begins with the Black Caucuses (African-American Reps,) signing a petition to protest the 2000 election. Their petition needed the backing of ONE senator to pass and delay Bush’s inauguration. Of course there are no black senators (shameful,) and the white democrats were busy ignoring part of their base again. Next time something like this comes up, listen to the people who were oppressed for 150 years. They might know more about sniffing out injustice than you.
- The media is pathetic. Forget the part where the major news anchors admit their pro- U.S. bias. The more insulting part is the way they let themselves get played by the Bush administration and their mixed messages. Moore nails the administration on its mixed message campaign, one moment saying “attacks will happen soon,” the next talking about how much safer America is. This trend hasn’t stopped of course: Tom Ridge just said their would be an attack on the “electoral process,” while Bush is off in Tennessee talking up the safety of America. (leading to John Stewart commenting that the Bush campaign’s new security policy is repetition.) Of course, everytime Ridge or Cheney, or whomever makes an announcement, CNN.com puts a stock picture of the U.S. in the sightline of a giant target. Can’t we get a little more creative with our hysterical propaganda? Really I am quite bored of the giant target sign. Are terrorists actually aliens? Will they be shooting stuff at us from outer space? Regardless, the message from Moore, with which I totally agree, is that mainstream news is not only uninformative, but actually a hinderance to democracy and progress. Only two news shows are actually informative: The News Hour on PBS, and the Daily Show. Of course one informs us on the idiocy of our government and general population, but oh well.
- In the end, the lower class bears the burden of the games of the upper class. To Wolfowitz, Rumsfield, Bush, whomever, war is an instrument of the competition of international relations, and the support of war is tied to elected officials political futures. While Wolfowitz sits at home with his thinktank buddies thinking of how to increase and maintain and American hegemony, families lose sons, daughters, husbands and wives. Moore exploits this contradiction effectively, investigating Army recruiting techniques, talking to prospective soldiers, and wondering why not that many (one) sons of members of Congress are fighting for our country.
Moore has taken criticism from many corners for this movie, not just the right-wing, but moderate media sources who are afraid of being labeled liberal. One of the main criticisms leveled against Moore, however, is horribly misplaced. Moore, in talking about the invasion of Iraq, notes that we “invaded a sovereign nation that had not attacked us, and had not threatened to attack us.” I have seen him rammed for that statement in several articles, stating that, while this may be true, Sadaam was still a tyrant, and how could Moore portray Iraq as the innocent, etc. They are missing Moore’s point. Under the United Nations Charter, war is illegal, except for under two conditions, self defense, or under imminent threat of attack. Moore’s point, missed by his critics, is that the U.S.’s attack of Iraq violated UN Charter. Which it did.
Moore’s movie won’t convert many swing voters, or change the views of any Right-wingers. Hopefully it will remind liberals how terrible and awful every facet of the Bush regime is, and the price we are paying. Right-wingers need not worry, however. Fahrenheit 9/11, for all its strengths, will remain the second-biggest propaganda flick of the year WAY behind The Passion of Christ. And that, my friends, makes me want to stay in Australia.
As a Bush-hater, I appreciated Michael Moore’s ability to effectively synthesize many of the gripes against the current regime better than anyone other than the Daily Show. Moore is especially into linking the Bush’s to the Bin Laden’s and Saudis, and exposing the Bush camp as a bunch of rich people out for each others’ interests, not the country’s. You will have to see the movie, and more importantly, do your own research on Bush to determine how much you agree with Moore on this point. When you answer that question, then you can turn to the question Moore totally ignores: are the Democrats any better?
Moore covers the major news stories of the past 4 years: the 2000 election, 9/11 and the aftermath (PATRIOT Act, etc.), the War on Iraq. He gets his hands on some great footage of a young W., and airs some pretty gruesome stuff from the Iraq War that the American media doesn’t show. We know the story he is trying to tell. Here are the points he makes that resonated with me the most:
- The Democrats are giant pussies. This begins with the Black Caucuses (African-American Reps,) signing a petition to protest the 2000 election. Their petition needed the backing of ONE senator to pass and delay Bush’s inauguration. Of course there are no black senators (shameful,) and the white democrats were busy ignoring part of their base again. Next time something like this comes up, listen to the people who were oppressed for 150 years. They might know more about sniffing out injustice than you.
- The media is pathetic. Forget the part where the major news anchors admit their pro- U.S. bias. The more insulting part is the way they let themselves get played by the Bush administration and their mixed messages. Moore nails the administration on its mixed message campaign, one moment saying “attacks will happen soon,” the next talking about how much safer America is. This trend hasn’t stopped of course: Tom Ridge just said their would be an attack on the “electoral process,” while Bush is off in Tennessee talking up the safety of America. (leading to John Stewart commenting that the Bush campaign’s new security policy is repetition.) Of course, everytime Ridge or Cheney, or whomever makes an announcement, CNN.com puts a stock picture of the U.S. in the sightline of a giant target. Can’t we get a little more creative with our hysterical propaganda? Really I am quite bored of the giant target sign. Are terrorists actually aliens? Will they be shooting stuff at us from outer space? Regardless, the message from Moore, with which I totally agree, is that mainstream news is not only uninformative, but actually a hinderance to democracy and progress. Only two news shows are actually informative: The News Hour on PBS, and the Daily Show. Of course one informs us on the idiocy of our government and general population, but oh well.
- In the end, the lower class bears the burden of the games of the upper class. To Wolfowitz, Rumsfield, Bush, whomever, war is an instrument of the competition of international relations, and the support of war is tied to elected officials political futures. While Wolfowitz sits at home with his thinktank buddies thinking of how to increase and maintain and American hegemony, families lose sons, daughters, husbands and wives. Moore exploits this contradiction effectively, investigating Army recruiting techniques, talking to prospective soldiers, and wondering why not that many (one) sons of members of Congress are fighting for our country.
Moore has taken criticism from many corners for this movie, not just the right-wing, but moderate media sources who are afraid of being labeled liberal. One of the main criticisms leveled against Moore, however, is horribly misplaced. Moore, in talking about the invasion of Iraq, notes that we “invaded a sovereign nation that had not attacked us, and had not threatened to attack us.” I have seen him rammed for that statement in several articles, stating that, while this may be true, Sadaam was still a tyrant, and how could Moore portray Iraq as the innocent, etc. They are missing Moore’s point. Under the United Nations Charter, war is illegal, except for under two conditions, self defense, or under imminent threat of attack. Moore’s point, missed by his critics, is that the U.S.’s attack of Iraq violated UN Charter. Which it did.
Moore’s movie won’t convert many swing voters, or change the views of any Right-wingers. Hopefully it will remind liberals how terrible and awful every facet of the Bush regime is, and the price we are paying. Right-wingers need not worry, however. Fahrenheit 9/11, for all its strengths, will remain the second-biggest propaganda flick of the year WAY behind The Passion of Christ. And that, my friends, makes me want to stay in Australia.
# posted by Marmaniac @ 11:56 AM 
