Michael Moore has made a new documentary, this time turning his eye on something much bigger than the perfidy of the Bush administration: America's health care system.Sicko is Moore's new doc and according to news sources, he took New York rescue workers suffering from post-9/11 maladies to Cuba for treatment.
This pissed off the administration for a number of reasons. First, no one wants to admit that we let rescue workers expose themselves to poisons, not with Giuliani running as the Savior of 9/11. It's not like the EPA withheld reports that the air was toxic or anything.
Oh, wait.
Second, health insurance companies are beyond criticism. Do not look at their administrative costs or their practice of denying payments to old people until they die. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Third, Michael Moore went to (drama sting) CUBA! That's right, that island of the damned. That place where Americans must never go. Not ever. Forget it. They even went after Ry Cooder for making The Buena Vista Social Club because everyone knows that octogenarian Cuban musicians only want to destroy our freedoms.
So Michael Moore is in trouble. Even though Michael Moore, much like Jesus and Mary, has apparently turned up on a biscuit.
I love Michael Moore's movies. Roger and Me, Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 are terrific films that ask important questions about life in America. Do they have a point of view? Can he be caustically unfair? Does he go after big targets, inviting big reaction?
Does George Bush hold hands with Prince Bandar?
Yes, I've read the critics and find, quite objectively, that they have their heads up their rumps. Really. Go read some of those Moore debunking sites. One actually says that Moore got a phone number wrong! Horrors!
But what really irritates me here is this prohibition of traveling to Cuba. When I was a child in the 50's, I remember being told that one of the great things about being an American is that, unlike the evil commies, we're free to travel any goddamn place we like, because we're Americans, dammit.
But then the Cold Warriors discovered the financial and political clout of the Cuban expat community and now Cuba is verboten, even years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Why do I care? Because I want to set my next John Harper novel in Cuba. I think it's time. Castro is almost dead and we're on the cusp of big changes . I think it's a great setting for a Harper novel, but I can't travel there. Not without catching the eye of Big Brother. The government doesn't want me spending my measly research budget supporting the economy of Fidel. Europeans can go. Central Americans can go. I bet even Iranians can go. But not us.
And that pisses me off.
But maybe Michael Moore's case will re-open talk about lifting the restrictions.
And maybe Michael Moore's film, Sicko, will spur a new look at our health care industry.
And maybe those are monkeys about to fly out of my ass.
18 comments:
Ooh, monkeys. You should see a doctor about that.
All you're missing is the recent report that compared Canadian and American health care and found that on the whole we provide the same quality of care for considerably less money.
My only complaint with MM is that he meddled in one of our elections. The way I see it, I don't live in the States. I may not like who you elect and might grumble about it, but I do not go south of the border and campaign on behalf of anyone or lobby against anyone. MM came to Canada and presumed to tell us how to vote and who should run our country, to which I have a two-word response.
And it wasn't "thank you". Oh, wait. One of those words is correct...
Michael Moore intentionally and blantlay streatched the truth beyond snapping and then embeds lies with the truth, all to promote Michael Moore. Are the subjects he picks in need of the light of day? Absolutely! Does Michael Moore shine the light of day on these subjects? No! He turns on a dim light then spins a yarn. You will find Michael Moore under the "fiction based on historical fact" section. In a word association game, Michael Moore equates to asswipe. Which, you must admit is much more polite than dirty, gluttonus, snivilous, lying, bastard, but it has the same meaning.
Dread
Dread,
I've looked with an open mind at some of the sites criticizing Moore and found a lot of quibbles and bushwa. I've seen his films, heard him speak, and think he's getting the character assassination treatment that so many opponents of this administration get. But I could be wrong. If you can point me to examples of the outright dishonesty you accuse him of, I'd look at it. But I don't think it exists except in the noise of The Mighty Wurlitzer.
And while you're at it, find one other filmmaker who consistently delivers films that look at the responsibilities corporations have to their communities, what makes America such a violent country, the uncomfortable closeness of the Bush family and the house of Saud, and now the health care industry.
Self-aggrandizing? Big ego? OK. To tell you the truth, I don't care. There are plenty of those types out there who are doing far less than Michael Moore.
In my logic model, if I tell the truth, but not the whole relevant truth, then it can mislead. If the truth is so structured to mislead, then contrary to political and legal theory, it is a moral lie. I feel that Michael Moore walks into a room with a camera and only shows you one wall, which leads to a certain conclusion, which may not be everything the room is about, and I feel he chooses which wall to show intentionally, just as intentionally leaving out the other walls, and verbally supporting an implication unsupported by the other three walls. I don't feel passionate enough in my disdain for Moore to bother researching out an example. I don't consider myself to be liberal or conservative in our current political construct. Just like you, I live in average American comfort, while women and children starve. Maybe Moore can make a film about what heatless scumbags we are. I do wish someone with legitimacy would tell the truth of our healthcare debacle. I doubt Moore will be taken seriously.
Dread,
I hear you, I do. Yes, Moore makes films that support his point of view. That's not an unusual thing in documentaries.
What I respect about his work is this: he takes on the powerful and asks questions few people in our news corps have the guts to ask. That's why he won't make a film about what heartless bastards we are. He's not after us, the powerless. He lives the dictum that used to govern journalism when I was in J school but has apparently been forgotten in today's corporate media: comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
To me, that makes him valuable. You don't have to like him or his films, you might even think he's a giant asshole, but he goes after people and institutions our media seem too beholding or frightened to challenge. For that, I say hoo-ah.
What blows my mind is the opponents of health care reform who bleat about how "if we have single payer, your health care will be in the hands of bureaucrats!" To which I always respond: "Have you dealt with Blue Cross lately?"
I don't feel passionate enough in my disdain for Moore to bother researching out an example.
Funny, that's the usual answer.
"Michael Moore's a liar!"
"Really? Can you give an example?"
"Uhhh...no. But he's a liar."
Okay Mr. Rhodes, I shouldn't have said he is a liar. It was a strong OPINION not a statement of fact and should have been stated as such. Although one expects comments here, I should have clearly and properly commented opinion and not stated.
I happen to feel that misleading people is essentially lying even when legally it isn't. (Damn! I may be as bad as Michael More!) I don't like Michael More, and have a low opinion of him and of his veracity for the truth. However, as long as his oponent was Hillary Clinton, I would vote for him for President of the United States. I just wouldn't waste a sing muscle movement to keep him from stepping out in front of a a Grayhound Bus.
Since this is the comment section, I retract everything that I stated about Michael More, and reoffer it as an OPINION. I SUBMIT, that you don't have to prove opinions eh? Thanks for reminding me.
And yeah Terrenoire, I like to see the powers that be take one on the chin too. They pull so many dirty tricks, that you don't mind seeing one or two perpetrated on them.
Dread
"his veracity for the truth."
His honesty for the truth???
Since this is the comment section, I retract everything that I stated about Michael More, and reoffer it as an OPINION. I SUBMIT, that you don't have to prove opinions eh? Thanks for reminding me.
Oh, any time. So long as we've established that your opinion is not based on any actual facts.
Note to self: Never enter any type of discussion with professional bullshooters about one of their own. Its classified as a self destructive behavior by the American Psychiatric Association.
I'm off to make a defined contribution to my retirement account. Just plain common sense tells me its the smart thing to do. Its not based on fact mind you, just common sense, that same dispicable thought process that keeps me from standing in front of moving trains. My ears are burning.
My, my, people do get snippy when you ask them to back up their accusations, don't they?
I have an opinion. In my opinion, Dread's a bank robber. Now I can't point out any banks he's robbed, or any armed robbery convictions he's had, but that's my OPINION. Only a real asshole would ask me to back it up, because OPINIONS are SACRED and ABOVE CRITICISM.
Whee! Opinions are fun!
Here's my take on Michael Moore, with examples.
Moore can be very thought provoking.
EXAMPLE: Bowling for Columbine, which suggests that the reasons for gun violence are not just guns (since Canada has as many guns as the US, but a lower rate of gun violence).
Moore can also be unfair, and go for the cheap laugh at the expense of his point.
EXAMPLE: Bowling for Columbine, when he explores the case of the kid who got shot by a gun that was kept in his house. The kid's mom was in one of those Welfare to Work programs which demanded she make a long time-consuming commute to her job in a restaurant owned by (or at least using the name of) Dick Clark. The kid, left alone for all that time, got his hands on a gun. What does Moore do? He stages an ambush interview of Dick Clark. WTF? This made no sense. How is this Dick Clark's fault? But Moore went for the entertaining shot of watching Clark flee, but it proved nothing.
Dusty,
I also thought the extended scene with the rabbit woman (for pets or food) in Roger and Me got cheap laughs at her expense. I didn't like that.
But asking Congress people if their kids were in uniform, yeah, that was fair game.
I don't care if people disgaree with him, or even if they find him unlikeable. But he's certainly not a coward. A woman in the audience at the film festival asked him how he'd avoided assassination. That brought a gasp from the audience because everyone in the theater knew it could happen, especially Michael. It was a very uncomfortable moment.
The guy's got cojones, you have to give him that.
David: Quite right. I never doubted his courage, especially in the kind of virulent hatred you see directed at him. One right wing blog regularly hosts charming comments such as "why hasn't this fat fuck been executed?" etc.
I appreciate the balanced takes you, Terrenoire and Rhodes, have of Moore. Yeah, opinions are fun. I'm not saying my opinion is a fair opinion or even an informed opinion. Hell it wasn't even thought out in the beginning, but neither was the bank job, so I've got plenty of time to think this over.
I repent the unsubstantiated referral to Mr. Moore as a liar. My unfair, ignorant, opinions of his moral and social character stand. A mind is a terrible thing to change. I hope Mr. Moore hangs around and continues to antagonize. He serves a purpose in nature, but so do cockroaches, and so do you, and so do I; but that last one’s still under investigation.
Dread
Dread,
It's always good to have our opinions challenged every now and then. It keeps us all honest.
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