Subterranean By Design...
---On Seeing Michael Moore---
2004-01-31 - 1:08 p.m.
Well on Friday night I didn't have any plans, so I decided to attend the "lecture" that Michael Moore was giving at the MSU auditorium, to see how speeches from the other side sounded. I wasn't very impressed, but at the same time I wasn't outraged. Let's see...
I showed up about 20 minutes early, expecting to get a seat. What I got was standing room only. He came out 15 minutes late to speak, not too bad. Most of the speech lacked substance and was either humorous or just blatant pushing of his left-wing agenda. He completely dismissed Joe Lieberman as a candidate. In the beginnings of his speech he came with something along the lines of "all the democratic candidates are to the left of Gore 2000" except Lieberman. I thought that this would be something alarming to him, but he went on to belittle Lieberman and praise Ralph Nader for pushing the party to the left. He made a big deal about getting Bush out of office and that he felt confident that it was going to happen.
I have to give him credit that he was pretty funny. He told the republicans in thecrowd to give themselves a hand, which I did participate in, and received some of the iciest stares I've ever seen. But he was fun spirited about it. In making fun of the republicans, he said that we were angry and organized (unlike the slacker dems, which he mentioned; I was unable to see how that would encourage a democrat), and that guys like Hannity, O'Reilly, and Limbaugh are like dinosaurs who are becoming extinct. If Moore has his way, though, I think it would be America going the way of the dinosaur.
Moore had a segment where he gave his dream of America. The things I can remember is that he dreamed that Kucinich was Speaker of the House, and that Jesse Jackson be on the Supreme Court. OH MY FUCKING GOD YOU JUST DELEGITIMIZED YOURSELF! Not with the Kucinich, but come on...Jesse Jackson on the Supreme Court? This country would be fucked, and I used the vulgarity because it is deserved. Towards the end of the talk he said, about the rich, that he wanted to "tax them tax them tax them." Of course he got thundering applause, but he would have gotten that in the U.S.S.R. and in China as well. He was big on government controlled health care, and government controlled medical companies. The effects would be disastrous to anyone wanting to get treatment say, in the next month, and would cripple medical research. The free market is what is driving companies to research these drugs, not lovey-dovey goodness. Anyone should be able to realize this. Moore is an obvious opponent of the free market and an advocate of communism. This cannot be overlooked, and democrats should not be sucked into this flawed way of thinking. These people took everything Moore was saying like it was Gospel, and gave him standing ovations. It was alarming, to say the least.
As a speaker, Michael Moore is entertaining and he'll say all the things that you want to hear. When he did make arguments, they were based on stats that he skirted around, and they weren't very long. He wouldn't have a chance in hell of convincing a conservative that he was correct, but he plays to the left wing mass pretty well.
My dislike of Michael Moore is not stemmed from the fact that he is left wing and that I disagree with him (I would not like a lot of people then), it's the fact that he disorted the truth in a film that was labeled a documentary. Notice that the synonymns are factual and objective. From the reports I've heard, the film was neither. The man used his position of fame to unethically push his agenda. This should not be celebrated on any level. I will see the movie one day, but the fact that I haven't yet seen it does not discredit my argument. If the reports are true, then my aversion is just. He also made some wisecracks about how he was right at the Oscars about being led into the war under false threats. Again, he disrespected the ceremony by what he said. To me, it's not what he said that irked me, it was where and when he said it. Tact eludes Michael Moore. He also talked about what a bad thing it was to be sending our troops over to Iraq and that no good was coming from it. I wonder how he would respond if he got a look at the mass graves? Would it have been bad to get Hitler while the death camps were in operation, even if he wasn't attacking? Tell me no, please. We'll talk.
Again, he was a funny, somewhat endearing fellow. He had a State hat on and scoffed at the snobbish attitude of the Ann Arborites. Still, I'd rather that he wasn't influencing so many people. He wants a complete overhaul of American culture.
Song Currently on WinAmp: "Sell Out" by Reel Big Fish. I used to hate this song because it wasn't the type of ska that I had been listening to for about a year. It's a catchy ditty though, and reminds me of the good times I had in high school.
Two Steps Forward - Two Steps Back
