On Tuesday's episode (6/19/07) of The View, Michael Moore advocated socialized medicine by saying that "Jesus told us that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us." (Video at Hot Air.) The problem? For one, starting many years ago, Michael Moore has displayed behavior that many followers of Jesus would find offensive. Moore also reportedly has a dubious history in dealing with "the least" around him in his own life.
1. Back in high school, the rebellious Moore staged a play that openly mocked Jesus' Crucifixion. Read about it on Moore's own web site:
Around that time I wrote and directed a play that included a scene where Jesus yanks the nails out and comes down off the cross. Actors playing locally-known bigots rose out of the audience to stab, shoot and beat "Jesus" to death, drag him back up to the cross on the stage, and re-crucify him. Typical drama from an ex-seminarian.
You can imagine not much of this went over very well with the local business and Born Again establishment ...
2. Moore has openly championed pro-choice candidates and the pro-choice cause (link).
Here's a question for Moore: Is there anything more innocent, defenseless, and vulnerable ("the least") than an unborn child in the womb of its mother?
Moore identifies himself as "Catholic," yet his pro-choice position is not the least bit in communion with the Church, which teaches that abortion is evil by its very nature (intrinsece malum). (Interesting tidbit: The Didache (aka "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles"), possibly the oldest known Christian document not in the Bible, says, "[Y]ou shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born" (2:2). The Didache has been dated as early as 50 A.D.)
How is defending abortion in alignment with Jesus' teaching of caring for "the least among us"? Michael?
3. One could also argue that Moore has a troubling record in dealing with "the least" himself. Peter Schweizer's bestselling Do As I Say (Not As I Do) book provides a number of examples:
- The Writer's Guild union "had to arbitrate several complaints from TV Nation writers who hadn't received proper payments for their work." Adds Schweizer, "[A co-executive producer] says that Moore did not want to give writers proper credit, thereby having to share the profits." (TV Nation was a series created by Moore that aired briefly in the 1990's.)
- "For a man who by 2002 had a net worth in eight figures, he gave away a modest $36,000 through [his] foundation, much of it to his friends in the film business or tony cultural organizations ... Indeed, he gave away just barely the minimum necessary to maintain the foundation's charitable status."
- "John Pierson, who distributed [Moore's 1989 film] Roger & Me, found him impossible to deal with. Moore would upbraid him for how much he was making on the film and tell him to share. Pierson could get him to shut up only by pointing out that Moore made more money than anyone and should perhaps part with some of his own money. Douglas Urbanski used to manage Michael Moore. 'He is more money obsessed than any I have known,' he says, 'and that's saying a lot.'" (emphasis mine)
- "During a 2004 ceremony for [MoveOn.org], Moore's handlers insisted that he have his own supply of imported water backstage. 'Poland Spring wasn't good enough,' someone at the event told New York magazine. 'They called up to make sure he would have enough Evian.'"
Finally, Moore said he doesn't want to call his hopes "socialized medicine," but "Christianized medicine." Is it me, or ... if a conservative ever touted "Christianized medicine," wouldn't many in the MSM immediately hyperventilate with cries of a "theocracy" and shrieks of "separation of church and state"? (It reminds me of how Barack Obama openly campaigned from the pulpit in a Los Angeles church (April 29, 2007). If there was even a peep of an objection anywhere in the media, I didn't hear it. Now if a Republican had done this ...?)