Saturday, November 08, 2008
Pot, Kettle, Mao
In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity: Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth. But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of hate fizzle out in our lifetime.
I'm afraid this is not a good start. To suggest that this nation was founded in genocide, exclusive of all the incredible experimental values that Moore enjoys, is precisely the sort of nonsense Moore is known for. Adding fuel to the fire, he suggests that everyone who didn't vote for Obama is a racist.
Then, celebrating a supposed boom in scientific, academic and artistic creativity, he quotes..wait for it...Chairman Mao. We all remember Mao as a champion of academia.
We may, just possibly, also see a time of refreshing openness, enlightenment and creativity. The arts and the artists will not be seen as the enemy. Perhaps art will be explored in order to discover the greater truths. When FDR was ushered in with his landslide in 1932, what followed was Frank Capra and Preston Sturgis, Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck, Dorothea Lange and Orson Welles. All week long I have been inundated with media asking me, "gee, Mike, what will you do now that Bush is gone?" Are they kidding? What will it be like to work and create in an environment that nurtures and supports film and the arts, science and invention, and the freedom to be whatever you want to be? Watch a thousand flowers bloom!
But frankly, this bit is just extraordinary, coming from Moore:
We really don't have much time. There is big work to do. But this is the week for all of us to revel in this great moment. Be humble about it. Do not treat the Republicans in your life the way they have treated you the past eight years. Show them the grace and goodness that Barack Obama exuded throughout the campaign. Though called every name in the book, he refused to lower himself to the gutter and sling the mud back. Can we follow his example? I know, it will be hard.
We understand that willpower is not your forte, Mr. Moore.
17 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat Nov 08, 10:29:00 AM:
I wish someone would give him the time to read this on a prime time national broadcast. America really needs to get to know their liberal friends better.
By , at
Sat Nov 08, 10:30:00 AM:
Is Moore a liberal, or is he a totalitarian apologist?
By 
Steve M. Galbraith, at
Sat Nov 08, 10:36:00 AM:
Is Moore a liberal, or is he a totalitarian apologist?
It depends on the audience he's addressing/manipulating.
By , at
Sat Nov 08, 10:41:00 AM:
Either way, I hope we'll ignore him. Or send Barney after him, then ignore him.
By , at
Sat Nov 08, 12:16:00 PM:
We understand that willpower is not your forte, Mr. Moore.
I love subtle fat jokes.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sat Nov 08, 12:36:00 PM:
I really, really hate that guy.
By Andrew X, at
Sat Nov 08, 01:07:00 PM:
I am seeing a disturbing tactic on the left that seems to be working. In such a situation, one might be tempted to say the right should therefore emulate it, but I simply cannot bring myself to say that.
The tactic I refer to is sheer, unbridled, towering, breathtaking shamelessness. Like "Do not treat the Republicans in your life the way they have treated you the past eight years. Show them ... grace and goodness..."
I mean, if this statement were worded any closer to the truth it might not be effective. The absolutism of the lie that it is REPUBLICANS who have been the ugly hateful bile-spweres over the past eight years simply leaves a sane person gape-mouthed and speechless, while Moore and company roll merrily along. Maybe it is SUCH a staggering lie, that people have to believe it rather than process that a human could be capable of such mendacity.
Other files in the shameless folder: Putting, of ALL people on earth, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd front and center of addressing the Fannie Mess. Saying Sarah Palin was "prone to gaffes and dumb statements, and um... inexperienced." That article noted in NRO's Corner headed "What Obama Needs to Do to Win Over the Press". (seriously, not kidding)
See what I'm getting at? One would think that these preposterous ideas are so out-there that they are bound to fall flat. Center them just a bit more, and they would be more effective. But what if the opposite is true? What if their sheer absurdity makes them more powerful messages in some psychologically twisted way?
That's a bit "above my pay grade" to anwer. So I put it out there.
And who else can add to the Shameless File while we are here?
By , at
Sat Nov 08, 01:16:00 PM:
It's politics. What are you gonna do...
By , at
Sat Nov 08, 01:48:00 PM:
"Though called every name in the book,..."
Did any one call him "Chimpy?"
By , at
Sat Nov 08, 05:33:00 PM:
"To suggest that this nation was founded in genocide, exclusive of all the incredible experimental values that Moore enjoys, is precisely the sort of nonsense Moore is known for." -- Must be fun living in a fantasy world, but once out of it you realize, sadly, Moore's statement is true. Not that the "incredible experimental values" weren't there as well, but there's no sense putting up our founders and their morals on a pedestal.
By Anthony, at
Sat Nov 08, 05:55:00 PM:
Do not treat the Republicans in your life the way they have treated you the past eight years.
"Orwellian" is the best word for this. It's the exact opposite of what really happened.
By Andrew Hofer, at
Sat Nov 08, 06:29:00 PM:
"there's no sense putting up our founders and their morals on a pedestal."
I could not disagree more. The American experiment is right up there with the enlightenment and the industrial revolution in improving the lives of hundreds of millions.
While they shared morals of their time that they condemn (as surely we do) the postive consequences of their actions are simply staggering.
They belong on pedestals, and in the hearts of all who believe in improving the human condition.
By Andrew Hofer, at
Sat Nov 08, 06:31:00 PM:
er.."we condemn" and "positive".
Grounded my soaring rhetoric with typos, damnit.
By Charles Edward Frith, at
Sun Nov 09, 02:09:00 AM:
It might be unsavoury but didn't the settlers kill most of the Native North American Indians?
If so is that genocide?
By Andrew Hofer, at
Sun Nov 09, 11:54:00 AM:
Charles - nobody denied that, although you (perhaps unintentionally) are confusing settlers with founders.
In fact, Washington spent a good part of his early career pushing the Native Americans West, so we can tie important founders to killing, deceiving and marginalizing Native Americans.
My point is not they didn't do this, but what they did achieve for humanity viewed from 200 years forward. If you insist that past heroes live by modern morals, you will have few or no past heroes and deny that progress occurs in chunks not all at once.
By , at
Sun Nov 09, 12:15:00 PM:
Obviously the entirety of Washington's life should be viewed through our hyper-critical and thoroughly hypocritical modern Moore-ish moralistic perspective, and only the fact that Natives were displaced and killed should matter because, after all, it serves the Moore political view about modern America to demean the history of the place in addition to it's current government. Also, while we're at it, Americans in general have no claim at all to the country being any sort of an exceptional place, founded upon exceptional ideals, since the area's first immigrants weren't given the respect that being first to occupy land should deserve!
By Dawnfire82, at
Mon Nov 10, 10:49:00 AM:
I also hate when this crap gets brought up.
"Didn't the Americans kill all the Indians?"
Like it was a policy. 'Alright guys, we're here. Let's massacre these fuckers and take their land!'
No one ever seems to remember the massacres, the rapes, the tortures, the continuous raids and barbaric cruelties perpetrated by Indians on the American settlers. It was a conflict between civilizations, like what has happened all throughout history, and one of them lost.
To call that 'genocide' is a flat out lie, though a popular one these days. Thank you Howard Zinn.
For an example of an ACTUAL genocide, check into Ottoman barges loading up Armenians, sailing into the Black Sea, and dumping them there like a spoiled cargo.
See the difference?
