FAHRENHEIT 9/11 UPDATE….I’ve been on semi-vacation for the last week and posting only lightly (did you notice?), but vacation is over and posting will now resume at its normal pace.
First, though, a quick update to my previous post about Fahrenheit 9/11, which I see has generated over 500 comments. I’ve only read a small fraction of them, but even so there are probably a couple of things I should say:
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My overall opinion that the movie was “mediocre” was not a political comment, it was just a (necessarily highly personal) movie review. I found myself checking my watch about two-thirds of the way through, that’s all.
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I have a suspicion that the movie would be far more effective with someone who’s not a blogger. At least half the clips Moore showed were things that I was not just familiar with, but was practically sick of because they’ve been blogosphere punching bags for over a year. Someone who had never seen any of this stuff before would almost certainly stay a lot more interested than I did.
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My comparison of Moore’s arguments to the Bushies’ prewar arguments was not meant to be a slam on Moore. I just meant to point out that they were getting a taste of their own medicine and didn’t seem to like it much.
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For what it’s worth, I saw Roger and Me 15 years ago, and while I admired it for its ability to make a point, the fact that Moore lied about the timing of the closure of AutoWorld to make it seem like it was caused by a GM plant closure gave me a bad taste that I’ve never really gotten over. I expect advocacy journalism to stretch the truth, but flat out lies are another thing entirely.
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Despite that, I have nothing against Moore in general. To win the war of public opinion takes all kinds, and that includes people like me, people like Moore, and people like John Kerry. We all have our place in the ecosystem, and I certainly have no interest in disowning a guy who’s obviously doing pretty good work for our side even if I don’t agree with him on every issue.
I guess that’s it. Normal blogging will now resume.
