Moore: Americans are 'The Dumbest People on the Planet'

Newsmax.com ^ | Carl Limbacher and the newsMax.com staff

[kattracks]

Americans currently flocking to see Michael Moore's movie "Farenheit 9/11" might be surprised to learn how little respect the Democratic Party's leading propaganda-meister has for them.

''They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet," Moore told Britain's Mirror newspaper recently, referring to his fellow citizens as a whole. And that's not all Moore had to say about his brother Yanks across the pond. ''We Americans suffer from an enforced ignorance. We don't know about anything that's happening outside our country. Our stupidity is embarrassing.''

Turns out, when the Democratic Party's all-but-official filmmaker is speaking at home, he has nice things to say about at least some of his fellow citizens. But according to New York Times columnist David Brooks, when Moore travels abroad it's not just the Bush administration he trashes - but the American people en-masse.

Here's a few more bon mots from the Kerry campaign's leading celluloid supporter, as cited by Mr. Brooks on Saturday:

''That's why we're smiling all the time,'' Moore told a rapturous throng in Munich. ''You can see us coming down the street. You know, 'Hey! Hi! How's it going?' We've got that big [expletive] grin on our face all the time because our brains aren't loaded down.''

To a crowd in Cambridge, Moore intoned: ''You're stuck with being connected to this country of mine, which is known for bringing sadness and misery to places around the globe.''

Here's Moore's reaction to the 9/11 attacks, offered while the rubble at Ground Zero was still smoldering: ''We, the United States of America, are culpable in committing so many acts of terror and bloodshed that we had better get a clue about the culture of violence in which we have been active participants.''

As for the terrorists currently killing American soldiers in Iraq, Moore compares them to Revolutionary war heroes who fought off British oppression:

''The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.''

[kattracks]

''They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet,"...

Only the ones who want to see Moore's garbage.

[Piquaboy]

Is that the pot calling the kettle black or not! Moore is a big fat lying sos.

[bad company]

''We Americans suffer from an enforced ignorance. We don't know about anything that's happening outside our country. Our stupidity is embarrassing.''


I have the same trouble when talking to democrats.

[cripplecreek]

And Moore has the biggest cowbell in the herd.

[Brilliant]

Moore is counting on his assessment that they are dumb in order to get Mr. Kerry elected.

[4everontheRight]

I guess we will be smarter if Kerry is President! Ha! Oh, oh stop! That is too funny...oh, you're killing me! Oh, my sides!

[Always Right]

yeah, America is just full of the most inovative, productive, and free people on the planet, but we are all dumb. Europe has been eating the dust of this relatively young country and they call America stupid.

[demlosers]

The dumb people believe you.

[Kackikat]

Maybe one of our members on a dem-lib website should post this for them to read. OH, I wonder if they would get it? They would probably just think its humor.

[traumer]

Feel free to MOVE !!

[kattracks]

All Hail Moore

By DAVID BROOKS

n years past, American liberals have had to settle for intellectual and moral leadership from the likes of John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr and Martin Luther King Jr. But now, a grander beacon has appeared on the mountaintop, and from sea to shining sea, tens of thousands have joined in the adulation.

So it is worth taking a moment to study the metaphysics of Michael Moore. For Moore is not only a filmmaker; he is a man of ideas, and his work is based on an actual worldview.

Like Hemingway, Moore does his boldest thinking while abroad. For example, it was during an interview with the British paper The Mirror that Moore unfurled what is perhaps the central insight of his oeuvre, that Americans are kind of crappy.

"They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet . . . in thrall to conniving, thieving smug [pieces of the human anatomy]," Moore intoned. "We Americans suffer from an enforced ignorance. We don't know about anything that's happening outside our country. Our stupidity is embarrassing."

It transpires that Europeans are quite excited to hear this supple description of the American mind. And Moore has been kind enough to crisscross the continent, speaking to packed lecture halls, explicating the general vapidity and crassness of his countrymen. "That's why we're smiling all the time," he told a rapturous throng in Munich. "You can see us coming down the street. You know, `Hey! Hi! How's it going?' We've got that big [expletive] grin on our face all the time because our brains aren't loaded down."

Naturally, the people from the continent that brought us Descartes, Kant and Goethe are fascinated by these insights. Moore's books have sold faster there than at home. No American intellectual is taken so seriously in Europe, save perhaps the great Chomsky.

Before a delighted Cambridge crowd, Moore reflected on the tragedy of human existence: "You're stuck with being connected to this country of mine, which is known for bringing sadness and misery to places around the globe." In Liverpool, he paused to contemplate the epicenters of evil in the modern world: "It's all part of the same ball of wax, right? The oil companies, Israel, Halliburton."

In the days after Sept. 11, while others were disoriented, Moore was able to see clearly: "We, the United States of America, are culpable in committing so many acts of terror and bloodshed that we had better get a clue about the culture of violence in which we have been active participants."

This leads to Michael Moore's global plan of action. "Don't be like us," he told a crowd in Berlin. "You've got to stand up, right? You've got to be brave."

In an open letter to the German people in Die Zeit, Moore asked, "Should such an ignorant people lead the world?" Then he began to reflect on things economic. His central insight here is that the American economy, like its people, is pretty crappy, too: "Don't go the American way when it comes to economics, jobs and services for the poor and immigrants. It is the wrong way."

In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, Moore helped citizens of that country understand why the United States went to war in Iraq: "The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich."

But venality doesn't come up when he writes about those who are killing Americans in Iraq: "The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not `insurgents' or `terrorists' or `The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow ? and they will win." Until then, few social observers had made the connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Paul Revere.

So we have our Sartre. And the liberal grandees Arthur Schlesinger, Ted Sorenson, Tom Harkin and Barbara Boxer flock to his openings. In Washington, a Senate vote was delayed because so many Democrats wanted to see his movie.

The standards of socially acceptable liberal opinion have shifted. We're a long way from John Dewey.

Perhaps inspired by Moore, I got a fact wrong in my previous column. Bill Clinton did not win the evangelical vote in 1992 and 1996. I had relied on a report that was later corrected.

[Clara Lou]

Is Brooks's column posted here today?

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

This fat slob has such an inferiority complex!!

He has never been a normal person.

[SunnySide]

Moore: Americans are 'The Dumbest People on the Planet'

Moore would know, since he is the fattest, most gluttonous ooportunistic, greedy traitorous dumb American to hit the airwaves in a VERRRRRRY LOOOOOONG TIME.

Can you say, media wh*re communist of the Madonna kind.

[blanknoone]

He certainly makes his films for a dumb audience.

[ApesForEvolution]

As the big fat-a** communist proganda minister for the stupid peasants of the MocRAT communist Party, Michael Moore should know.

How long would Tokyo Rose have survived ON AMERICAN SOIL??!!

[Tribune7]

Moore: Americans are 'The Dumbest People on the Planet'

He is speaking for himself, of course.

[Tuco Ramirez]

The fact that anyone knows/mentions his name is testament to the truth of his statement.

[paulsy]

"And Moore has the biggest cowbell in the herd."

He's is the biggest turd in the herd.

[kattracks]

See #11.

[Clara Lou]

Thanks for posting that. Better provide the link?

[SunnySide]

And Moore has the biggest cowbell in the herd.

Agree, Moore assumes he is the lambs bell leading the unwashed sheeple to his righteous indignation. Only Moore see's all, knows all, by golly he's the modern self appointed Moses here to guide us mere mortals. Gag

[cripplecreek]

"He's is the biggest turd in the herd."

New Dr. Seuss title?

[rhema]

''They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet,"

Only the ones who enshrine you, Oliver Stone, and Slick Willie in their pantheon of credible heroes.

[tkathy]

Until the democrats get beyond the hate america, blame america rhetoric, they are going to alienate more and more thoughtful voters.

[Josh in PA]

Our poverty level is on par with European middle class.


Yes, let's all become "smart" and allow elitist governments to tell us what to do and how to do it. That's the "smart" thing to do.. We're all "stupid" for wanting to live our lives as we choose.

[kingofrock]

It would explain why his films are a hits and that he is allowed to have amassed a great wealth. If this was a smarter country he would be forced to perform sexual favors for truck drivers for a half pack of smokes.

[searchandrecovery]

As for the terrorists currently killing American soldiers in Iraq, Moore compares them to Revolutionary war heroes who fought off British oppression...

I'm sorry Mr. Moore, those are fighting words.

[andy58-in-nh]

Hey, Mikey...this one's for you!

[kattracks]

NY Times

Registration required.

[beyond the sea]

They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.

This dumba** guy is one wide-load sick puppy!

[Nowhere Man]

Michael Moore is sick in the head, like Glenn Beck put it a little while ago, I look for this guy to explode at some point.

[Tax Government]

''The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.

I pray for the day when we declare war, and throw Moore in jail for sedition.

[Maria S]

From DAVID BROOKS’ article:

“Until then, few social observers had made the connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Paul Revere.”

“In Washington, a Senate vote was delayed because so many Democrats wanted to see his movie.”


Unbelievable!

[Calvin Locke]

We don't know about anything that's happening outside our country.

PJ O'Rourke was on last night. "We don't want to know what's going on in the rest of the world. We came here to get away
from those people...."

[traumer]

You are certainly one of them Michael....

[kcvl]

Michael Moore is just jealous that he is not smart enough to make a living on anything but the misery of others.

He is also one of the biggest liars in this country even up against Bill Clinton. He wouldn't know what to do if he had to tell the truth. Just like Al Franken with Air America telling the investors that they had already raised $30 million when it was only $6 million.

I don't know how many more people will keep listening to the idiots but I am not one of them.

[kattracks]

Until the democrats get beyond the hate america, blame america rhetoric, they are going to alienate more and more thoughtful voters.

What else have they got?

[Mr Ramsbotham]

"Don't be like us," he told a crowd in Berlin. "You've got to stand up, right? You've got to be brave."

But if they stand up and comport themselves bravely, then they'll be like us, and lose their unique identities.

[Josh in PA]

People from this country have invented every single important piece of technology in the entire world.

Europe, sitting over there for centuries, like a stagnant pond..

Along comes a group of human beings who decide they had enough, and that they want to live free from tyrannical rule.

What a bunch of dumb people they were for even thinking freedom would work.

[jpsb]

Somebody get a rope.

[Howie66]

''They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet,"...
Only the ones who want to see Moore's garbage.


GMTA!

All that LardArse Moore has to do is look at the idiots, morons, dolts and nitwits that attend his screenings to be justified in his comments.

However, that would hardly constitute the bulk of our population.

[COBOL2Java]

Interesting website on Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Read the descriptions below and see who it reminds you of:

What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

Translation: Grandiosity is the hallmark of narcissism. So what is grandiose?

The simplest everyday way that narcissists show their exaggerated sense of self-importance is by talking about family, work, life in general as if there is nobody else in the picture. Whatever they may be doing, in their own view, they are the star, and they give the impression that they are bearing heroic responsibility for their family or department or company, that they have to take care of everything because their spouses or co-workers are undependable, uncooperative, or otherwise unfit. They ignore or denigrate the abilities and contributions of others and complain that they receive no help at all; they may inspire your sympathy or admiration for their stoicism in the face of hardship or unstinting self-sacrifice for the good of (undeserving) others. But this everyday grandiosity is an aspect of narcissism that you may never catch on to unless you visit the narcissist's home or workplace and see for yourself that others are involved and are pulling their share of the load and, more often than not, are also pulling the narcissist's share as well. An example is the older woman who told me with a sigh that she knew she hadn't been a perfect mother but she just never had any help at all -- and she said this despite knowing that I knew that she had worn out and discarded two devoted husbands and had lived in her parents' pocket (and pocketbook) as long as they lived, quickly blowing her substantial inheritance on flaky business schemes. Another example is claiming unusual benefits or spectacular results from ordinary effort and investment, giving the impression that somehow the narcissist's time and money are worth more than other people's. [Here is an article about recognizing and coping with narcissism in the workplace; it is rather heavy on management jargon and psychobabble, but worth reading. "The Impact of Narcissism on Leadership and Sustainability" by Bruce Gregory, Ph.D. "When the narcissistic defense is operating in an interpersonal or group setting, the grandiose part does not show its face in public. In public it presents a front of patience, congeniality, and confident reasonableness."]

In popular usage, the terms narcissism, narcissist, and narcissistic denote absurd vanity and are applied to people whose ambitions and aspirations are much grander than their evident talents. Sometimes these terms are applied to people who are simply full of themselves -- even when their real achievements are spectacular. Outstanding performers are not always modest, but they aren't grandiose if their self-assessments are realistic; e.g., Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, was notorious for boasting "I am the greatest!" and also pointing out that he was the prettiest, but he was the greatest and the prettiest for a number of years, so his self-assessments weren't grandiose. Some narcissists are flamboyantly boastful and self-aggrandizing, but many are inconspicuous in public, saving their conceit and autocratic opinions for their nearest and dearest. Common conspicuous grandiose behaviors include expecting special treatment or admiration on the basis of claiming (a) to know important, powerful or famous people or (b) to be extraordinarily intelligent or talented. As a real-life example, I used to have a neighbor who told his wife that he was the youngest person since Sir Isaac Newton to take a doctorate at Oxford. The neighbor gave no evidence of a world-class education, so I looked up Newton and found out that Newton had completed his baccalaureate at the age of twenty-two (like most people) and spent his entire academic career at Cambridge. The grandiose claims of narcissists are superficially plausible fabrications, readily punctured by a little critical consideration. The test is performance: do they deliver the goods? (There's also the special situation of a genius who's also strongly narcissistic, as perhaps Frank Lloyd Wright. Just remind yourself that the odds are that you'll meet at least 1000 narcissists for every genius you come across.) [More on grandiosity.]

2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

Translation: Narcissists cultivate solipsistic or "autistic" fantasies, which is to say that they live in their own little worlds (and react with affront when reality dares to intrude).

3. Believes he is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

Translation: Narcissists think that everyone who is not special and superior is worthless. By definition, normal, ordinary, and average aren't special and superior, and so, to narcissists, they are worthless.

4. Requires excessive admiration

Translation: Excessive in two ways: they want praise, compliments, deference, and expressions of envy all the time, and they want to be told that everything they do is better than what others can do. Sincerity is not an issue here; all that matter are frequency and volume.

5. Has a sense of entitlement

Translation: They expect automatic compliance with their wishes or especially favorable treatment, such as thinking that they should always be able to go first and that other people should stop whatever they're doing to do what the narcissists want, and may react with hurt or rage when these expectations are frustrated.

6. Selfishly takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends

Translation: Narcissists use other people to get what they want without caring about the cost to the other people.

7. Lacks empathy

Translation: They are unwilling to recognize or sympathize with other people's feelings and needs. They "tune out" when other people want to talk about their own problems.

In clinical terms, empathy is the ability to recognize and interpret other people's emotions. Lack of empathy may take two different directions: (a) accurate interpretation of others' emotions with no concern for others' distress, which is characteristic of psychopaths; and (b) the inability to recognize and accurately interpret other people's emotions, which is the NPD style. This second form of defective empathy may (rarely) go so far as alexithymia, or no words for emotions, and is found with psychosomatic illnesses, i.e., medical conditions in which emotion is experienced somatically rather than psychically. People with personality disorders don't have the normal body-ego identification and regard their bodies only instrumentally, i.e., as tools to use to get what they want, or, in bad states, as torture chambers that inflict on them meaningless suffering. Self-described narcissists who've written to me say that they are aware that their feelings are different from other people's, mostly that they feel less, both in strength and variety (and which the narcissists interpret as evidence of their own superiority); some narcissists report "numbness" and the inability to perceive meaning in other people's emotions.

8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him

Translation: No translation needed.

9. Shows arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behaviors or attitudes

Translation: They treat other people like dirt.

[solo gringo]

Have you noticed the loud one in the crowd m/moore is the idiot

[Cheetah1]

Quote"'''You're stuck with being connected to this country of mine, which is known for bringing sadness and misery to places around the globe."


WELL PERHAPS A PLANE TICKET FOR MOORE...would be a good thing!

[tsmith130]

Better make it a strong one!

[bad company]

LOL

[Free Trapper]

I'd probably feel the same as Moore.....if I spent my time around him and the people he associates with.

[kcvl]

That sounds like the entire Democrat party.


Just imagine...this is what they all think of the common everyday working person. You should hear some of the things they say about people behind their backs.

Like once a very kind lady gave Hillary a pair of Razorback earrings thinking since she was the first lady of Arkansas that she might appreciate them. Not her. She turned around to one of her aides and said something to the effect of what the *ell does she expect me to do with these ugly things.

[bad company]

Somebody get a heavy rope