Posted on 07/23/2005 8:15:58 PM PDT by HolgerDansk
Over a stormy two-year period, "The Fire Next Time" follows a deeply divided group of Flathead Valley, Montana citizens caught in a web of conflicts intensified by rapid growth and the power of talk radio.
(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...
It begins by covering the arrests of Project 7, a group which advocates the violent overthrow of government. It then quickly switches to the unrelated fight between environmental extremists and local loggers and sportsmen, in an attempt to smear those who oppose outside interference from animists and druidics. There's even the token racial slur. The producers sought out only the least articulate of the locals, then gave only adequate rejoinder time to the clean and well-dressed environmental extremists. Talk Radio is portrayed as Hate Speech, with comments taken out of context in order to improve their shock value. The hateful comments by tree spikers and Animal Liberation terrorists are omitted for proper emphasis.
Perhaps the most telling moment in the film occurs when the women who invited the documentarians to the community (and who we're told is a former police officer) is shown tearfully teaching her daughters how to shoot. The incident is clearly staged, and intended to play to the gun-fears of urban liberals. Never mind that most Montana children have been shooting since they were old enough to lift a rifle, or that shooting is part of the state culture, and even a protected right in the state constitution.
The "Point of View" in this piece is obvious from its choice of pacing, order, subject matter, choice of representatives, opportunity to respond, even musical score are designed to demonize the local position, all in the name of "conflict resolution".
In other words, it's a typical POV production. I remember seeing a similarly slanted POV piece several years ago and haven't bothered to watch any of them since. You're right: they're agitprop pure and simple.
F$lk POV TV.
I'm to expect anything other from PBS?
Actually, I think this time they've outdone themselves -- they demonized an entire community. The letters to the editor in the Daily Interlake have been consistently outraged. People in the movie are particularly ticked off, because they were told that in the name of Conflict Resolution, the piece would be objective. Well, they won't get away with that again.
urban liberal ping.
As opposed to left wing talk radio? Nothing disturbing about that crew except that PBS (NPR) wouldn't exist without our tax dollars.
The radio guy cast as the villain of the piece came across as a jovial, appealing guy not given to wingnut outbursts. Like Rush Limbaugh, he had the kind of ironic wit that easily outmaneuvers duplicitous opponents. Others similarly cast presented equally appealing personas.
The mayor, a female liberal, came across as a spineless, pompous, untrustworthy politician, and the heroes of the piece, two local environmentalists, struck me as guys who are mostly legends in their own minds.
All in all, the film presented average Montanans as thoughtful, reasonable people unimpressed by the holy writ of the American left.
If I know PBS, they'll give everyone the wrong impression about Montana.
As a Montanan of 20 years (before I joined the Navy), I believe that in general Montanans are not impressed by any politics, right or left. Montanans tend to think that they have the best deal in the country and pretty much want to keep it the same. As long as noone tries to screw with the important values in Montana (wide open wilderness unencumbered by industry, gun rights, and privacy rights) they will be ignored. The only areas where people really care about politics is when there is conflicts between the miners (of the western more liberal part of the state) with the ranchers (of the eastern more conservative part of the state). But to call someone liberal and conservative in Montana does not really have the same meaning as in other parts of the country. For example, it would be hard to find a non-gun toting pro-hunting liberal in Montana. Montana does not follow the same rules as the rest of the country because the rest of the country has ignored her.
The last gubernatorial campaign was also a good example of how Montana politics differ from those of the rest of the nation...
I saw this a week ago. Typical liberal bilge. I've been to Kalispell many times. Beautiful country but the Libs want to remake it in their image. As it was said as far back as 1975, they want to "Californicate" Montana. You can figure out the rest.
And they are doing a wonderful job in the valley...
I agree, and what you've said is absolutely true. Most hardcore Democrats in Daniels County are exactly how you've described them. They don't want their property rights trampled, or their right to gun ownership stripped just as much as the other 53% of the county that votes Republican. A large percentage of this county is either card carrying members of such organizations as Ducks Unlimited, or some form of environmental group. It's when you get down to local politics where the scenario changes though. The biggest share of Liberalism is right in the county seat of Scobey. The school district there built a huge coliseum which hosts district basketball tournaments, and have been pushing for every tax payer in the county (regardless if you live in the district or not) to pay for the monstrosity that I have dubbed Taxpayer Memorial Colesium. The project was OK from the start. The Alumni Foundation was footing the bill, but improvements were made along the way, the tab grew bigger, the economy soured, and the Scobey School District looked to tax the residence of the entire county. The county even going so far as to charge garbage pick up to those who haul their own garbage into the county landfill.
Aside from picking a Republican running mate, that was Schweitzer's promise, which he failed from the word go.
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