While Michael Moore can be a bit of a loud boorish wingnut, he's a good counterweight to the some loud boorish wingnuts on the conservative side of the bully pulpit. Anyways, Moore has treated us to a story debunking the Oscar backlash:
And that, my friends, is the real point of this film that I just got an Oscar for – how those in charge use fear to manipulate the public into doing whatever they are told.That was one of the main messages I walked away from Bowling for Columbine with. While it's a far from perfect film, it does raise some good points. The media plays up our fears, because it makes for a more captive audience. A terrific Saturday Night Live skit from a couple of years ago was the "Action 8 News Watch". The point of this skit was all of the news about the news that news shows start out with: "The President was assassinated today, but president of what? We'll tell you at the end of the hour". The rest of the skit was full of the usual "deadly common household items", which the anchors would hint at as being "very common, you or your children could be using it right now" and then say "we'll tell what it is later in the broadcast." Building arbitrary fear into the news has become a staple of American life, long before color coded alert days came into it. And now we have an administration that dishes it out daily. "This man is a menace. We must go in and stop him, before he hits us."
On a local NPR station this morning, a man called in swearing undying support of the Patriot Act, even saying it must be expanded and that yes - the government should know what you're reading and investigate you without the courts interfering. He said this is because "we are in grave times." Horseshit! The situation today is only worse than it was in 1999 due to our middle east actions. Otherwise. sigh In the ten years since the first world trade center bombing, there have only been two successful attacks on American soil, and one of them came from within. There were plenty of attempts, and they were all stopped without the need for the PATRIOT acts! Yes, one devastating attack got through, and it is indeed terrible and tragic that it happened. And it's good that the American public has woken up to the fact that yes, it is a dangerous world. But these are NOT grave times. Well, they're grave times if you're an Iraqi civilian that didn't survive the "shock and awe" and other campaigns, but they're not so grave for us. If you think they are, you are caught up in the propaganda that this administration and their media cronies are pounding you with. And that reminds me of this quote:
"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."Who said it? Hermann Goering. My point: Be more cynical. If a quote from Hitler's appointed successor can sum up the current situation, I think it's safe to say that the current situation is fucked.