i saw michael moore's fahrenheit 9/11. i enjoyed it. i am amused by the punditocracy howling all over the media about michael moore and truth and lies as if documentaries are somehow objective. the myth of objectivity persists in the popular media. i learned long ago that the world is not run by the sharpest tools in the shed. i don't mind michael moore having his say any more than i mind talking heads of any ilk broadcasting their best ideas to a coalition of willing consumers.

in as much as i am able to i try to keep my critical thinking skills sharp. seeing this film helps put various threads into perspective for me. such as a reminder of the arrogance of the elites. and the personal tragedies imposed on ordinary people by that arrogance. and the amazing strength of ordinary people in the face of outright betrayals by their so-called leaders.

those who walk slowly can, if they follow the right path, go much farther
than those who run rapidly in the wrong direction - descartes

one component of the rush to watch a liberal screed like fahrenheit 9/11 is the absence of true liberal content in the media. conservatives not only control the media, they also control the bounds of the conversation. moore's documentary could not generate sellouts and record ticket sales if the news media had already told the same story. instead, moore's point of view, missing in action from the daily dose of safe and approved patriotic preaching that passes for our national media, touches a nerve missing from the national conversation. this is the "emperor has no clothes" moment for the media titans. if they were so right, then why is moore's documentary, with all the wrong and unapproved information, a blockbuster?

i saw a bumper sticker in arcata: 11/2/04: end of an error
posted by Will Ross at 17:58