The thunderous applause from the audience was not what bothered me when director Michael Moore’s Bush bashing fest “Fahrenheit 9/11” ended when I saw it opening weekend in June. The idiotic comment made by two obviously misguided and I hesitate to say this – gentlemen who were either seniors in high school or were entering their first year in college the churned my stomach.
As I walked out, I heard both say how they are now going to vote democrat because of the truths they learned from watching “Fahrenheit 9/11”.
I wanted to strike both. It is not their comment that ticked me off so much as it is their blind stupidity into accepting that everything liberal Hollywood just told them on the big screen is the truth.
I do agree that more people should go out and vote but not because they saw a movie that influenced them without doing any research themselves.
Since the film opened, several websites have published articles listing several untruths Moore’s so-called documentary addresses. Some sites list as many as fifty-nine lies or more. Human Events – The National Conservative Weekly listed nine such lies the film offers which was posted July 22, 2004, on their website, humaneventsonline.
Everyone knows how President Bush reacted after being told of the planes hitting the World Trade Center while visiting some grade school kids at a Florida school the morning of September 11, 2001. Several 9/11 documentaries have shown him making calls to Washington in another classroom while the attacks were going on and telling people, “We’re at war.” And the tales of how he was insistent to get back to Washington immediately following the attacks but at the behest of his advisers did not return until that evening. And what about his visit to Ground Zero a couple of days after the attacks visiting firefighters and the victims? In response to their cries of “God Bless America”, the president yelled out through his megaphone, “We hear you and the ones who knocked these buildings down are going to be hearing from all of us soon.”
That is not what Michael Moore wants you to believe. He wants you to think what America that day had was a leader in such a state of shock the only thing he could do was pick up the book, “My Pet Goat,” and read along with the school kids in a daze.
Moore wants you to not only look down on the job the United States armed forces are doing abroad for this country risking their lives. He also wants you to believe if you are a minority with a low IQ and low-test scores on college entrance exams and are a senior in high school who just happens to live in a poor area of town, you will be approached by a military recruiter at your local Walmart asking if you would be interested in working for Uncle Sam.
If President Bush loses the election this November, it is my hope that it will be because the American people think he has not done enough to help the economy when it comes to creating jobs. Not because some radical filmmaker personally thinks the guy is a lousy commander-in-chief who cannot be trusted to lead in times of crisis.
“Fahrenheit 9/11” is not a history lesson. It is not a documentary. It is a comedy mixed in with tragedy used as sick entertainment. Movies based on historical events and documentaries should prompt one to find out more about the subject, not “ass-u-me” that what they see on the big screen is the Gospel according to Michael Moore.
My advice to those two individuals, and to anyone else so easily swayed by such so-called documentaries Hollywood unleashes on the public, read more about the subject before making a sound decision.
©9/22/04
As I walked out, I heard both say how they are now going to vote democrat because of the truths they learned from watching “Fahrenheit 9/11”.
I wanted to strike both. It is not their comment that ticked me off so much as it is their blind stupidity into accepting that everything liberal Hollywood just told them on the big screen is the truth.
I will not deny controversy sells. That does not mean, however, everything said in a movie or so-called documentary, or in the case of “Fahrenheit 9/11”, “mockumentary” is true. The fact is if Hollywood were deeply concerned about telling real life stories as they really happened without adding their own unique twists, not only would no one see the movie, but the liberal press would have nothing to talk about.If Michael Moore had offered both positive and negative viewpoints of how President Bush oversaw the 9/11 attacks and his decisions to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, I would have been more than willing to listen to the many falsehoods uttered throughout the film. Hell, I would agree with the big guy’s comment that he made shortly after his “documentary” won the Palm d’or award in France that he hopes his movie will get more people to go out and vote.
Since the film opened, several websites have published articles listing several untruths Moore’s so-called documentary addresses. Some sites list as many as fifty-nine lies or more. Human Events – The National Conservative Weekly listed nine such lies the film offers which was posted July 22, 2004, on their website, humaneventsonline.
Everyone knows how President Bush reacted after being told of the planes hitting the World Trade Center while visiting some grade school kids at a Florida school the morning of September 11, 2001. Several 9/11 documentaries have shown him making calls to Washington in another classroom while the attacks were going on and telling people, “We’re at war.” And the tales of how he was insistent to get back to Washington immediately following the attacks but at the behest of his advisers did not return until that evening. And what about his visit to Ground Zero a couple of days after the attacks visiting firefighters and the victims? In response to their cries of “God Bless America”, the president yelled out through his megaphone, “We hear you and the ones who knocked these buildings down are going to be hearing from all of us soon.”
That is not what Michael Moore wants you to believe. He wants you to think what America that day had was a leader in such a state of shock the only thing he could do was pick up the book, “My Pet Goat,” and read along with the school kids in a daze.
Moore wants you to not only look down on the job the United States armed forces are doing abroad for this country risking their lives. He also wants you to believe if you are a minority with a low IQ and low-test scores on college entrance exams and are a senior in high school who just happens to live in a poor area of town, you will be approached by a military recruiter at your local Walmart asking if you would be interested in working for Uncle Sam.
Anyone can do a bashing session of someone they do not like. I know this. I criticize movies. My negative reviews are much longer than the positive ones. It is easy to bash someone. It is much harder to write up something positive.What Moore has done aside from adding his own personal take on President Bush is gather up lots of comedic moments showing the commander-in-chief making off-the-wall comments. Added to it is commentary from pissed off minorities who still think Bush stole the election, pissed-off wounded military servicemen with either one arm or no legs who don’t see a point to why America is fighting in Iraq, a distraught mother upset they lost their son in combat, and residents living in the poorer areas of Flint, Michigan claiming their neighborhoods are just as bad as the bomb-ridden cities of Iraq.
If President Bush loses the election this November, it is my hope that it will be because the American people think he has not done enough to help the economy when it comes to creating jobs. Not because some radical filmmaker personally thinks the guy is a lousy commander-in-chief who cannot be trusted to lead in times of crisis.
“Fahrenheit 9/11” is not a history lesson. It is not a documentary. It is a comedy mixed in with tragedy used as sick entertainment. Movies based on historical events and documentaries should prompt one to find out more about the subject, not “ass-u-me” that what they see on the big screen is the Gospel according to Michael Moore.
My advice to those two individuals, and to anyone else so easily swayed by such so-called documentaries Hollywood unleashes on the public, read more about the subject before making a sound decision.
©9/22/04
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