It's Not a Lie. It's a Gift For Fiction.

Much has been made of the Michael Moore movie Fahrenheit 9/11. Despite being decidedly anti-Bush, this movie has bothered me since it started to be heavily promoted by the media prior to its opening night. I’ve held off writing because I couldn’t really figure out why I was finding myself so anti-Michael Moore. I’ve seen several of his movies and generally found them to be effective, if obviously a bit slanted, in raising real questions and concerns that needed to be addressed by the larger public. Nothing wrong with creating dialogue even if it’s dialogue that I personally didn’t agree with.

But the time has come to end the silence. After much thinking and speaking with a number of friends from opposite ends of the political spectrum, I’ve come to two primary conclusions as to why this movie bothers me. El Duderino speaks:

First and foremost, Fahrenheit 9/11 is based on false logic. Michael Moore is the master of using satire, sarcasm and surprise to manipulate the viewer into believing positions that he presents as fact. He takes shots that by themselves would be completely innocuous, adds music and his own dialogue and suddenly transforms his target into a bumbling idiot. Scenes that come to mind from 9/11 that fit this bill include the showing of President Bush golfing and Moore surprising a Congressman on the street and pushing him on his willingness to send his own children to Iraq. Surely we as a nation don’t really have a problem with Bush golfing, and just because a Congressman doesn’t want to send his child into war, that doesn’t prove the war is wrong.

Unfortunately, the examples noted above, trademarks of Moore’s films, are the least offensive results of this movie. In this latest effort, Moore clearly had a point he wanted to prove and formed the facts the way he wanted to bolster his case.

Up until recently I had only read articles countering Moore’s claims within the film from journalists that clearly had a personal vendetta against the filmmaker. Recently ED was introduced (thanks Hartman’s My Pulpit blog) to a Newsweek article that demonstrates the factual errors in a clear and concise fashion without attacking Michael Moore. I’ve included the link to the article below, but essentially what the article states is that the central themes of the movie, that President Bush has compromised his duties as the leader of our country because of his loyalties to Middle Eastern interests (and money), are completely without merit. Moore’s actions more than push the ethical envelope of being a responsible documentarian, which is particularly disappointing on such a highly volatile topic.

In addition to many of his arguments being without merit, I also find this movie annoying because instead of acting as a unifying factor for a nation, liberals have taken their standard holier-than-thou approach and effectively further polarized the voting public. The movie hasn’t bolstered the anti-Bush cause, it’s just made the left and right more perturbed with each other. We should be striving for open communication and a willingness to agree to disagree with each other. This movie takes the opposite view of teaching us as a society to belittle those with opposing views to our own. Thanks Mr. Moore.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5335853/site/newsweek/

Headline Quote Movie of Origin: State & Main
Character: Walt Price
Setting: In a conversation with screenwriter Joseph Turner White (played by the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman) regarding the need for script changes, director Walt Price (played by the equally brilliant Bill Macy) provides White with information that’s not quite true. White responds saying to Price, “that’s a lie.” Price responds with, “it’s not a lie. It’s a gift for fiction.”
The quote is relevant to this story how?: Michael Moore likely feels the same way as Walt Price… that his movie isn’t a lie. It’s a gift for fiction. After all, it is just a movie and Moore presents himself as a satirist. Unfortunately, the repercussions from Moore’s “gift for fiction” are a polarized, embittered nation.

Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.