On a liberal film-maker

I've had a request to give some opinions and facts on film maker Michael Moore.

Some background - a few years ago, I got into a small bit of trouble on the job for saying "Michael Moore is an asinine idiot." That folks is an opinion that led my boss at the time to suggest I avoid political conversations on the job... a wise course of action to be sure (though that boss generally lacked wisdom - but that's another story).

Michael Moore produces independent films... usually political in nature. He is a self-described liberal and frequently uses his films to attack things I like: President Bush, "assault" weapons, capitalism, and the American health care system.

Let me shoot down some of his arguments with some facts:
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1. Farenheit 9/11

- Moore attempts to link Bush to the attacks on the US. Such a suggestion is not only pitiful, it is rebutted by Moore himself, who in the later part of the movie criticizes the intelligence of the former President. So which is it, Mr.. Moore? Is Bush some scheming mastermind - or some idiot?

- Moore dedicates the movie to the men and women in the armed services - particularly those from Moore's hometown, Flint, MI. He also dedicates the film to "countless thousands of civilian victims of war as a result of United States military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan."
But, we have seen major news outrage recently over some Navy SEALs who punched a terrorist during the act of arresting him (lucky for him the SEALs didn't kill him - the SEALs are quite effective at eliminating the enemy). Our news jumps at the slightest injustice our boys and girls get accused of doing. This is proof in and of itself that the US military has not killed thousands of civilians.

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2. Sicko

- Moore states there are 50 million Americans without health care. President Obama once claimed that, too... then he got called a liar for that and other false claims. Current realistic claims for numbers of uninsured Americans range from 17-25 million. Most of these people choose not to purchase heath insurance.

- Moore tries to portray other countries (that already have socialized medical coverage) as superior to the US system that is based in capitalism. This presentation was so inaccurate, it was immediately pounced on - by liberals and conservatives alike.
MTV's Kurt Loder criticized the film as presenting "cherry-picked facts, manipulative interviews, and unsubstantiated assertions" - according to the Wikipedia article on the film.
Also, we now know the socialized health care attempts of the UK and Canada are so disastrous, that both countries have major movements afoot to return health care to a purely capitalistic system.

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3. Capitalism: A Love Story

- Moore assumes a posture of non-capitalism and claims it to be capitalism. Particularly, he focuses on government bailouts of companies as being wasteful spending of government money.
While I agree that the government spending on bailouts for companies is absolutely wrong, Moore is incorrect in what he presents as fact.
Government bailout is not capitalism - it is socialism. So the resulting economic collapse was not due to the failures of capitalism, it is due to the forced socialism that was turned to in an idiotic moment by our elected federal representatives and president.

- Moore certainly does not mind to utilize capitalism for his own means and ends. He is wealthy far beyond most Americans, yet he refuses to give the excess to the government... or even charity for that matter. He is so well off, he does not even know how much he pays in taxes, as demonstrated on a recent interview with Sean Hannity.

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4. Bowling for Columbine

- This is the movie that started it all for Moore. He attempts to paint guns in a negative light. (uh-oh, you KNOW Usagi will have something to say about that!) He focuses on the horrible actions of the Columbine killers. He asserts that the American gun culture is to blame.
I suggest if that is the case, we blame the spoon and fork that Moore owns as being the culprits for making him fat. And the pen he uses is to blame for misspelled words. The list could go on...

- In the film, Moore ambushes Charlton Heston in an interview... asking him to apologize for his leadership role in the NRA. At that point, Heston took the high road and walked out of the interview.

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I hope this answers any questions my readers might have on where I stand with regards to the film-maker. One note - you will not see where I call Moore a "documentary" film maker. He is not. To make a documentary, one records facts and events and presents them for what they are. Moore has a definite slant - despite attempts to make his films "look" like documentaries.