Unfairenheit 9/11

msn ^ | June 21,2004 | Christopher Hitchens

[The Raven]

One of the many problems with the American left, and indeed of the American left, has been its image and self-image as something rather too solemn, mirthless, herbivorous, dull, monochrome, righteous, and boring. How many times, in my old days at The Nation magazine, did I hear wistful and semienvious ruminations? Where was the radical Firing Line show? Who will be our Rush Limbaugh? I used privately to hope that the emphasis, if the comrades ever got around to it, would be on the first of those and not the second. But the meetings themselves were so mind-numbing and lugubrious that I thought the danger of success on either front was infinitely slight.

>>>SNIP<<<

To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of "dissenting" bravery.

[MeekOneGOP]

[MeekOneGOP]

[Qwinn]

Heh, apparently, they are incapable of distinguishing themselves from "Congress".

Qwinn

[finnman69]

Good article although I am down on hitchens for slamming Reagan so badly recently.

I'm going to steal "Unfairenheit 9/11"

[Cloud William]

Ping-a-ling

[aculeus]

Lumpy Riefenstahl and brilliant Hitchens ping.

[Conservomax]

Who doesn't slaughter Moore, though? Any body with half a brain and a knowledge of history can. And for that matter, most of those who don't know crap about anything usually think that something is up with his bullsh*t and know that they should be taking what they are seeing with a grain of salt. That's why he's "Michael Moore".

There are no unbiased left-leaning intellectuals who try to defend Moore on fact, because you can't. It's hopeless.
Those who do listen to Moore, don't really care about politics, they are just contemporary American poser/narcisists who are trying to be "cool" by saying they like this knucklehead (see Quentin Tarantino).

For the most part his "fans" are idiotic college pukes who don't vote anyway - if they do vote it's for Nader.

Like Bradbury said about this film, "Who Cares?"

[MeekOneGOP]

I wasn't sure how to reply to her hiding behind the "Free Speech" curtain, but here was my reply:

To: marketing@little-theatre.com

Cute. Lying is ok and protected. Thanks for protecting the little shi*.

Probably all for the better when folks see what an arse he really is. I hope so. He is such a little man, except for his girth.

*[MeekOneGOP's real name here]*

[Qwinn]

Eh, I think you should've concentrated on the difference between -government- censorship, and the responsibility of the media (which I would include movie theaters under) to not deliberately mislead the American people.

In no way did you request that she obey some Congressional edict that was impinging on Moore's freedom of speech. But she throws back a Constitutional limit on Congress's powers. It was completely non-responsive.

Unfortunately, your reply was kinda vulgar, and you probably lost whatever attention you were going to get as a result.

Qwinn

[MeekOneGOP]

Debate is not one of my strong points, unfortunately. Point well taken. Thanks.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Hitchens absolutely slaughters Moore."

Yes he does, with facility, on point after point. We need to remember that this film just won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In other words, the fashionable, European elite, the very people liberals tell us we need to heed, are incapable of telling the difference between truth and fiction, cannot recognize blatant contradictions of theme, are extemely gullible and easily influenced by propaganda, are paranoid, and are utterly lacking in moral seriousness. And these are the people Kerry thinks we should be listening to.

[AnnaZ]

Man, that was absolutely scathing. Let Lumpy chew on that for a while.

I had a feeling you'd appreciate it. My eyeballs were frying.

 

The sad thing is that there are plenty of folks who won't ask the same questions or see the same incongruities. The flick has already received ovations and awards. It's fuel for fools.

[Constitution Day]

Holy crap. Bravo!

That was one of the most thorough verbal smackdowns I've read in a while.
I'm still annoyed with Hitchens for ripping on Reagan, though.

[Mikey_1962]

Moore used to be funny. TV Nation was a hoot. Now he seems like a bitter angry man.

[weegee]

"Moore asserts that Iraq under Saddam had never attacked or killed or even threatened (his words) any American."

I could swear that Saddam Hussein issued a declaration of war against the United States of America in the late 1990s.

Maybe someone with a good newspaper archive could search for such an article. All I find when I google are blog exchanges pro and con on this detail, no specifics.

[weegee]

Ask her if the theater is making an election year "statement" by screening this film. Give her some of the quotes from Michael Moore where he asserts that his goal is to toss President Bush out of office as a result of people seeing this film.

Ask her if they plan to show the pro-Bill Clinton documentary made by the Thomasons. Ask her if they showed Uncle Saddam back in 2000. Ask her if they showed Waco The Rules of Engagement (a movie nominated for an Oscar back in the late 1990s). Ask her if they plan to show the movie Michael Moore Hates America.

Tell her that if the theater wants to assume a liberal slant when it comes to documentaries (and sees no audience in movies of other political perspectives) that you can take your business elsewhere where you won't be demonized as a conservative.

[weegee]

You may also want to send her a copy of the Campaign Finance Law and advise her that it was designed to undercut the First Ammendment by prohibiting organizations from buying commericals in the weeks leading up to an election.

Ask her if she supports CFR or opposes it.

[weegee]

They can accuse him of being a sell-out to the right, but that's a little hard to do when Hitchens eviscerated both Ronald Reagan and the Passion over the past few months.

Micheal Moore took Roger Ebert to task when Roger said that he agreed with the politics of Bowling For Columbine but reported the factual errors anyway.

You can bet that there are backroom negotiations to keep the left on the plantation with regards to this film.

[weegee]

[happygrl]

I believe that a US Navy ship was attacked by an Iraqi plane (Saddam Hussein was in charge) during the 1980's.

That would be the Stark.

It was hit while patrolling the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq Qar, in an effort to keep open the shipping lanes. We provided some assistance to Saddam during that war, and that was the thanks we got, although he termed it an "accident."

Right...