Posted on 07/31/2004 3:57:45 AM PDT by mighty_righty
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the fact that I can’t carry a gun now that I live in DC. Unfortunately, I recently found out about another downside to life in the District: I missed out on a free ticket to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. A small independent theater in my college town recently sponsored a “Republicans-only” screening of the film – so people who didn’t want to give Moore a dime could see it on the owner’s dime.
But I missed out. And since I decided lying (i.e. getting a ticket to another movie) in order to expose Michael Moore’s lies was a bit hypocritical – and uninformed criticism, even of steaming piles like Moore’s movies, is lame – I paid a whopping $9.25 to see Fahrenheit 9/11.
Somehow I ended up at a “progressive” theater in DC, one infatuated with independent films I had never heard of and charging ticket prices I wish I’d never heard of. The halls were lined with snooty art rather than cardboard cutouts, and the usual pre-preview advertising was absent.
I actually got a double shot of Michael Moore, as he was in a preview for a movie called The Corporation, which one critic dubbed “the next Bowling for Columbine.” (Some compliment there!) Right after a supposed expert accused corporations of having “no moral conscience,” Moore chimed in, “The problem comes in the profit motivation.” (But Moore’s profits from Fahrenheit – budget $6 million, earnings over $94 million – are apparently not a “problem.”)
The movie itself was nowhere near as fascinating as the setting, nor was it worth $9.25 and a post-midnight cab fare. It’s filled with the usual far-left lies: Bush and the Supreme Court stole the 2000 election, Bush is on vacation all the time, Bush exploited 9/11 for political gain, Bush is under the Saudis’ thumb, Bush was a deserter during Vietnam, Bush lied about Iraq, Bush let Osama get away so he could attack Iraq for oil, the military targets the poor and minorities, etc. But you know what? It was worth every dime to have seen it myself, rather than relying on others’ accounts.
Others have debunked and heckled Fahrenheit far better than I ever could. I won’t bother trying to equal them. But after seeing the movie and feeling rather sick to my stomach, I realized something: conservatives must not make the same mistake Michael Moore does.
Moore’s biggest mistake is that he does with George W. Bush what Jimmy Carter (and most liberals) did with Ronald Reagan: disdain his intelligence, dismiss him as a lightweight, and generally not take him seriously. Moore thinks Bush is stupid (although he does seem to be just smart enough to trick the whole country into going to war, twice) and that his policies are ridiculous - just like Carter thought Reagan was merely a lame-brained actor.
And it’s easy to think of Moore the same way, especially when he says things like, “The terrorist plan wasn’t what [the War on Terror] was all about. [The Bush administration] just wanted us to be fearful enough to get behind what the real plan [invading other countries to further enrich corporate America] was.” We can’t dismiss him like he dismisses Bush though, unless we want the necessary war against the Islamofascists to go the way of Carter’s reelection campaign.
The danger in Fahrenheit 9/11 is not that everyone who sees it will go home believing that the Saudis “own seven percent of America” and control our foreign policy, or that President Bush is a lazy idiot. Anyone who believes this is already beyond help. Rather, what we have to worry about is the uninformed people who will see the movie – or even hear about it from others – and allow such lies and propaganda to dissuade them from supporting the War on Terror that we must win.
I guess I’m particularly sensitive to this as a college student. Michael Moore, clown that he is, has a cult-like following on campuses. People my age who see his garbage, either of their own avail or (sorry to say) in class, happen to be part of the least politically engaged demographic – so they may not have heard the arguments of those who disagree with Moore. We need to address this issue before we write off Moore as simply “preaching to the choir.”
Yes, Michael Moore and his movie have nothing to add to an intelligent discussion of current events. But teaching the politically apathetic – particularly on campus – why that’s the case is definitely worthwhile. The Bucknell Conservatives plan to do our part. What about you?
Charles Mitchell is president of the Bucknell University Conservatives Club, executive editor of its magazine, The Counterweight, and vice chairman of the newly-formed Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania. But most importantly, he is a 2004 summer intern at Townhall.com.
©2004 Charles Mitchell
townhall.com
Do you feel dirty ?
But I missed out. And since I decided lying (i.e. getting a ticket to another movie) in order to expose Michael Moore’s lies was a bit hypocritical – and uninformed criticism, even of steaming piles like Moore’s movies, is lame – I paid a whopping $9.25 to see Fahrenheit 9/11.
you shoulda just DLed it from the net. MM openly stated he doesnt care if you do that. noone would have legal ability to ct against you, and its honest, b/c MM himself said you could.
If he is looking to me for forgiveness for paying out that money to see the Moore Film..FORGET IT...
No, I think he is looking for us all to help spread the word to "the politically apathetic" the truth to counter MM's lies.
We make a serious mistake if we just dismiss MM as a harmless liar. He is NOT harmless and he intends to do his part in destroying this country.
I would like to give him a wedgie and a noogie.
I do not have to see Moore's movie, to know it is a distortion of the truths, and for the few remaining ignorant liberals left, there is no changing their minds, they want to believe the lies that Moore Presents.
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