Micheal Moore promotes new movie in Pittsburgh (Sewickley: insurance, home)

[SewickleyPA]

Originally Posted by iwonderwhy2124

It is sad that progressives look up to a man who crafts blatant propaganda in which he engages in hyberpole, cherry-picking of facts, and obvious distortions. I would not want a person like that representing or piggy-backing on my movement. He may not be as blustery and shrill as Limbaugh or Beck is for the Right, but he is just as dogmatic and odious. People like him poison the modern political lexicon in this country.

Most do not, they just appreciate that there is someone out there bringing relevant societal issues to the public forum... issues that most of the heavily corporate influenced mainstream media will absolutely not touch.

[Renaldo5000]

Originally Posted by SewickleyPA

Most do not, they just appreciate that there is someone out there bringing relevant societal issues to the public forum... issues that most of the heavily corporate influenced mainstream media will absolutely not touch.

Huh? It seems like every day that I read the paper or watch the news I see stories about stuff that Moore has made movies about. Gun issues (Bowling for Columbine), health care issues (Sicko), American foreign policy (Fahrenheit 9/11), and the financial crisis (Capitalism: A Love Story). I can't help but chuckle when progressives talk about how this stuff is "covered up" like there is some vast technocratic conspiracy by the bourgeoisie to keep us compliant and uninformed.

I have only ever seen Bowling for Columbine, but that was enough for me to get an inkling of what Moore is about. He asked a very important and relevant question; why does America have such a high gun homicide rate? I was looking forward to seeing a balanced and coherent examination of the topic. Instead I get a dyed-in-the-wool Lefty piece that would have made Leni Riefinstahl proud. Somebody who is so infested with an ideology can't be trusted to be objective.

I find it galling and pathetic that some people fawn over him like he is the new Progressive messiah. He is yet another example of somebody preaching to his chosen choir and profiting off of it. And I might add that his sermons are full of subtle sleights of hand. People like this only serve to polarize America into rancorous and clannish partisanship. Naive college students and over-educated upper middle-class liberals can watch his movies and puff up their chests at how enlightened they are while his wallet gets fat. Capitalism: A Love Story; what an apt title for this man because he got rich by selling his crap to a gullible group of people.

[creepsinc]

Michael Moore, post-Roger and Me, is nothing but the Rush Limbaugh of the left. Any legitimate issues he raises are overshadowed by the B.S. he surrounds them with. He's intellectually dishonest, painfully unfunny and morbidly obese. Rush Limbaugh of the left.

[dugdogmaster]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

Michael Moore, post-Roger and Me, is nothing but the Rush Limbaugh of the left. Any legitimate issues he raises are overshadowed by the B.S. he surrounds them with. He's intellectually dishonest, painfully unfunny and morbidly obese. Rush Limbaugh of the left.

Hear, hear! 'Nough said!

[khyron]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

Michael Moore, post-Roger and Me, is nothing but the Rush Limbaugh of the left. Any legitimate issues he raises are overshadowed by the B.S. he surrounds them with. He's intellectually dishonest, painfully unfunny and morbidly obese. Rush Limbaugh of the left.

...you know what's sad, I used to say pretty much exactly the same thing, believing that he somehow "went amok" after his first film, which feels genuine and honest. Then one day I was reading some stuff for a film class and realized that during the shooting of Roger and Me, Moore was granted access to interview Roger Smith and did so, TWICE. He just left the interviews out of the movie since, well, they didn't fit with his theme did they?

Thinking this was so over the top that it couldn't be true (people would have heard about it, right?) I did some digging and actually turned up a documentary about Moore that included actual footage of the interviews...so it's not just some smear or rumor, it's fact.

He made an entire movie about how Roger Smith wouldn't talk to him and that very premise was a lie! Apparently the only reason Roger Smith or someone from GM didn't speak out about it at the time was that their PR people had advised them not to bother discussing the film at all (yet another awesome marketing move by such a smart company eh).

[khyron]

Originally Posted by SewickleyPA

Most do not, they just appreciate that there is someone out there bringing relevant societal issues to the public forum... issues that most of the heavily corporate influenced mainstream media will absolutely not touch.

I wish you knew how many excellent films are made every year which address the same issues that are denied distribution beyond the festival circuit because of his movies and their "docutainment" factor. I understand your sentiment and I believe you mean well, but respectfully, you are underinformed. Moore has actually been stifling the progressive activist voice, rather than amplifying it, for years.

[hnsq]

I would think if he is releasing a movie on the evils of capitalism he would refuse to make a dime off of it. I wonder how much money Moore will make from this movie?

Moore plays to liberal sentiments to make his fortune. He is playng the left for fools. Shame on you if you fall for it.

[BrianTH]

When you mix politics with entertainment, the facts tend to suffer. This is true at all points of the political spectrum.

[Renaldo5000]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

When you mix politics with entertainment, the facts tend to suffer. This is true at all points of the political spectrum.

Hear, hear. We have crap like Moore's stuff coming out of Hollywood from the Left, and we have dreck from the Right coming from the cesspool that is AM radio. How anybody can take this stuff seriously is beyond me. To be truly informed about a topic requires real research and investigation. Such stuff is too much to ask of the modern American. So, they get their information (and opinions) in easy-to-digest and easy-to-regurgitate snippets from these "personalities".

We need some militant Centrists to get their own movies and radio shows in order to even the political landscape up a bit.

[SewickleyPA]

Like I said if you don't like him as a person that's fine, its just good that someone is bringing these issues out in the open. I would be happy if someone else stepped up to the plate as well, but if there are other independent filmmakers out there bringing up these issues, they sure aren't doing a very good job promoting their work.


The Huffington Post says it pretty well in this article:

Arianna Huffington: Barack Obama Must See Michael Moore's New Movie (and So Must You)!

Great quote from the article denouncing partisan rhetoric:

Which is why -- although you can bet many will try -- Capitalism: A Love Story can't be dismissed as a left-wing tirade. Its condemnation of the status quo is too grounded in real stories and real suffering, its targets too evenly spread across the political spectrum. Indeed, Jay Leno, America's designated Everyman, was so moved by the film he insisted that Moore appear on the second night of his new show, and told his audience that the film was "completely nonpartisan... I was stunned by it, and I think it is the most fair film" Moore has done.


After a preview screening last week (at which I did a Q&A session with Michael), he came over to my home for a late night bite. Over lasagna, he told me about an incident that occurred while he was filming that exemplifies how the economic crisis cannot be looked at through a left vs right prism.
It happened while he and his crew were shooting the climax of the movie, where Michael decides to mark Wall Street as a crime scene, putting up yellow police tape around some of the financial district's towers of power.


While unfurling the tape in front of a "too big to fail" bank, he became aware of a group of New York's finest approaching him. Moore has a long history of dealing with policemen and security guards trying to shut him down, but in this case he knew he was, however temporarily, defacing private property. And his shooting schedule didn't leave room for a detour to the local jail. So, as the lead officer came closer, Moore tried to deflect him, saying: "Just doing a little comedy here, officer. I'll be gone in a minute, and will clean up before I go."


The officer looked at him for a moment, then leaned in: "Take all the time you need." He nodded to the bank and said, "These guys wiped out a lot of our Police Pension Funds." The officer turned and slowly headed back to his squad car. Moore wanted to put the moment in his film, but realized it could cost the cop his job, and decided to leave it out. "When they've lost the police," he told me, "you know they're in trouble."