Being an American citizen since birth with an average IQ and countless hours logged into one medium or another, I find it hard to believe that only a few reporters or right-wing conservatives could withstand the hype that Michael Moore's movies perpetuate. The notion that Moore has deceived, or even lied, is ridiculous. The various points that all three articles make, and they all made the same points, are just as deceiving as Moore’s own.
Granted, somehow Moore fudged the international murder numbers, still his point was not whether Germany had 381 (Moore’s number) or 164 (Germany’s actual number) but that neither compared to the total of the United States. The ironic part of this is that Moore exaggerated not only the US numbers, but the others as well…so why would a man trying to make the point that America has more gun violence increase the number of gun related deaths in foreign countries? Obviously these articles are not finding the same information that Moore found, and I’m sure that here in America, the land of endless information gathering, organizations from the FBI to local law enforcements, to medical records would all report varying numbers. So how can you blame Moore for using false facts, when in reality it would be impossible to pinpoint the total number of deaths? That is, unless you’re Australia. I would hope that anyone could count to 64, I mean, ummmm, 65. (There he goes ago, trying to prove himself wrong.)
Another point made more then once was how Heston was misquoted. I’m sorry, when those two kids walked into that school and shot their teachers and classmates the community (meaning anyone in the Denver area at the time, whether you are visiting or not) should respect not only the wishes of the community, but the lives of those young people. I don’t care if New York state mandated that the NRA hold its meeting, Heston still had a choice whether to show or not. All the NRA members had the choice to show or not. Therefore, stressing the point of Heston’s intentions is not misleading. He did not care about those kids in Columbine, he only cared about the money for his speech and his gun. And as far as editing is concerned: A – if you try to tell me that documentaries are not allowed to edit speeches, or stream together separate video tracks, then I’ll call YOU a LIAR. You’re going to tell me that a documentary animals does not cut from eating, to sleeping, or, my god, from one animal to another! My god, that brown bear looks nothing like that one! This director wants me to believe they are the same, how dare he! B – the fact is that Heston said all those things! Moore did not splice together words to make Heston say any of the following:
"Good Morning. Thank you all for coming, and thank you for supporting your organization. I also want to applaud your courage in coming here today." [Footage of protest outside] "I have a message from the Mayor, Mr. Wellington Webb, the Mayor of Denver. [picture of Webb, then back to Heston] He sent me this, and said 'don't come here. We don't want you here.' I said to the Mayor this is our country, as Americans we're free to travel wherever we want in our broad land. [cut to crowd cheering, then back to Heston] Don't come here? We're already here."
I left the remarks in for emphasis. Heston knows full well that he was under the watchful eye of America. Heston, and the rest of the NRA, knew that it was poor judgment and bad moral test to hold a gun meeting the week after a school shooting. But Heston demands that the right of the gun holder must not be questioned, and that is what Moore pieces together. Moore points out that Heston felt he had the right to attend that meeting because of the NRA members that would be disappointed because their meeting was cancelled. It is unfortunate that such a great man as Heston would make a point about gun ownership in the wake of such a horrible incident, but he did. As a US citizen I understand the right to free speech, but just because you are free to do so, does not mean you should speak at any given time. In Heston’s case, both incidents were not proper timing for gun owner advocacy, and the manner in which Moore portrays Heston is not only an accurate summary of how Heston felt the week after the shooting, but still felt months and years later! You are not going to convince me, or anyone else, that Heston was wronged by Moore when the words speak for themselves…whether they were said seven days after the shooting, or seven years. Heston still said all those things.
As for the cartoon about the NRA and KKK, I myself find it interesting that one was declared an illegal terrorist organization at the same point that the other was formed. Yes, that’s right, I was able to follow that little tidbit of information that the KKK was “declared” an illegal terrorist organization. Actually, I think that was a major point of the cartoon; not that they were formed at the same time (which for some reason all three articles assumed the ignorant masses were led to believe), but that the KKK was declared illegal so all of its members formed a new group called the NRA. That certainly makes more since, despite the fact that it was fronted by Grant. But then again, how many former KKK members joined the NRA that first year….I wonder? Out of all three articles all that was pointed out was that the Grant dismantled the KKK. Nothing said about where they all went to. Did they just take of their robes and hang up there pointy little hats and say, “ahh, shucks! Guess I’m gonna have to get rid of my guns now, hehe..” of course that is what the right-wing view of Moore’s film would like you to believe. That the US government banned and dismantled the KKK back in 1871, that the NRA formed in 1871 had no former KKK members, and that African-Americans were able to carry guns and have not been terrorized by white supremacy groups ever since. Now who is lieing?
Moving on to the Flint shooting. Only a right-wing conservative would blame the family for raising such a horrible child, as all three articles lead you to believe. This country has a horrible disease, its called capitalism. That’s right, capitalism! Minorities in this country grow up in ghettos, why? Because their parents grew up in ghettos and their grandparents grew up in ghettos. The argument is, “they are given an education, but many just don’t use it to their advantage.” Haha, don’t make me laugh. If you think that a kid growing up in East St. Louis is receiving the same education as a child in Beverly Hills, I want some of whatever you are taking my friend. Kids, like the boy in Flint, are violent because they are on the bottom rung of social ladder which offers no solution for their problems, but perpetual punishes, alienates, and condemns them for becoming thugs. Of course the only way this system would stop is if upper middle class society decided to help the poor, but why would they ever do that? Why would we institute national health care and equal school budget funds for each child? That’s not the one-sided, inequality that the privileged are use to. Oh yea, the idea that we are all created equal is a dream that was lost over 200 years ago. We are not all equal, just as equal as our bank accounts can make us.
One more point that these articles ridicule was Moore’s attack on the US government and its aid given to Saddam and the Taliban. The only problem found with all these disturbing facts is the aid given to Afghanistan in the months leading up to the September 11 attacks. Forget the fact that Reagon and the first Bush administration fully armed Saddam, let alone other dictators in Africa and South America. All those actions, while accurate, do not matter because Moore was wrong about the aid sent to Afghanistan. I’m not even sure where to begin researching something like this. Obviously my resources are limited to the internet, and we all know how accurate that is. According to the USAID website, they would led us to believe that they only spent $11 billion dollars in Afghanistan during the time in 2000 – 2001 leading to the attacks. But now I have to ask the question a stressing false facts based on the part of our right-wing government…what country were all the terrorists from that destroyed the WTC? O that’s right…they were form Saudi Arabia, haha with all this fighting going on I would have thought they were from Iraq. Silly me.
This point of this article was to clarify the corrections previously made by those trying to discredit the works Michael Moore has accomplished. By forcing America to look itself in the mirror, many citizens have become frightened by our own reflection. They would rather destroy Moore’s reputation, thus labeling his works as null and void. Unfortunately, the problems that Moore raises, not just in Bowling, but Roger and Me, and The Big One, are not going away. Especially if your attempt to do so is to attack the messenger. Do you honestly think we don’t have gun, or violence, problem in America? Do you really believe that big business is our savior and that it’s a persons own fault if they are fired, or downsized, and left without a career at 40 with only a high school diploma? And I don’t feel sorry for the big wigs that are only doing their jobs when they fire 40,000 people because it would be better for business. Screw them, they will get theirs in the end.
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