I would propose to you that if Michael Moore had taken a deep breath, and looked straight at the audience, and said, "I am a nonfiction filmmaker during a fictitious Presidency," and stopped, I think he basically would have gotten a positive response to that. If laughter could have been seen as a positive response...
Not laughter at his statement about the presidency, but laughter at Mickey Moron. Laughter that he actually believes that his films are "nonfiction".
Ebert: I begin to feel like I was in the last generation of Americans who took a civics class. I begin to feel like most Americans don't understand the First Amendment, don't understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don't understand that it's the responsibility of the citizen to speak out.
No, Roger. You're a member of the first generation of Americans to STOP taking Civics classes, because YOU certainly don't understand the First Amendment or the idea of Free Speech. You have a right to say what you like, and I have a right to say that you're a complete loon and a deeply stupid man.
If Hollywood stars speak out, so do all sorts of other people. Now Hollywood stars can get a better hearing. Oddly enough, the people who mostly seem to hear them are the right wing, so that Fox News can put on its ticker tape in Times Square a vile attack on Michael Moore, and Susan Sarandon is a punchline.
Read the First Amendment, Roger. It says "Freedom of Speech" and "Freedom of the Press". It DOESN'T say "Freedom from being Insulted". Nor does it say "Freedom of Liberal/Progressive Speech" and "Freedom of the Liberal/Progressive Press".
What IS a violation of Freedom of Speech? The government banning speeches like the one Michael Moore gave at the Oscars. Michael Moore getting arrested, tried, and jailed, for simply stating his mind. THAT is a violation of Freedom of Speech. Protesting him, boycotting him, is NOT a violation of Freedom of Speech. That's an example of people demonstrating THEIR Freedom of Speech.
Of course, you only like Freedom of Speech when it applies to people who agree with you. You like the free-flow of ideas when the only ideas being spread are yours. But the moment someone stands up and disagrees with you, you scream oppression. You're a hypocrite, Roger.
And yes, I have the Right to say that.