(Perhaps) The Last Words I’ll Write About Michael Moore
by Michael WilsonFor better or worse, I have spent the last six years or so as a “go-to” authority on Michael Moore. In 2002, he said some things about my country that I was hurt by and some things about life that I held to be untrue. I set out to make my first film, a little documentary called “Michael Moore Hates America” and began a journey that would be at times inspiring and disheartening. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people have seen that movie, but I’m now ready to close that chapter of my life with a few words about Mr. Moore and his opus on the death of American capitalism.
In the 1980s, Michael Moore was broke. He saw things he believed to be wrong in the world and set out to tell a story about them. His first movie “Roger and Me” was a success. He followed it with a bomb called “Canadian Bacon” and then rebounded by winning Oscars and smashing box office records. He built a better life for his family and put his daughter through private schools by creating and marketing a product a lot of people bought. He became a multimillionaire because of the power of the unrestrained liberties we know in America as Capitalism and Freedom of Speech.
Having visited many countries around the world, like China, as an example, I can tell you that those two liberties don’t always mutually exist. I’ve seen along the way that you can have economic liberty without political freedom (the factories in China are going gangbusters, but you can’t say whatever you want). But you can’t have political freedom without economic liberty. If it is required of you to receive equally from the state, the state WILL curtail your ability to express yourself.
Moore has marketed the hell out of himself as a rabble-rousing champion of the Little Guy and the Little Guy has bought so many books and movie tickets and to Moore’s $30,000-a-pop speeches that he must not know what to do with all of that green. Now, one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time is about to release a new product in the marketplace, hoping it will make him even richer (because every filmmaker wants people to see his movie, money is a byproduct of successful box-office). But this product reportedly decries the very system that has brought Moore unimaginable riches and a better life for his daughter, and anyone he chooses to share the wealth with.
In his upcoming film “Capitalism: A Love Story” Moore reportedly says, “Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil.”
I cannot express how these words break my heart. I’ve always held out hope that Moore is not a bad person, despite a lot of evidence I’ve seen first-hand and heard second-hand. I’ve always just hoped that we disagree on a lot and that his heart was in the right place… a place of compassion for the downtrodden. But this changed when I read that line today.
Michael Moore is actively working to deny people the same opportunities that he has had, the same successes he has experienced, the same chance to make your own life better through hard work, sheer determination and rugged individualism. These are principles that our Founders understood well as they forged a new nation where the individual would triumph over the collective and where a shot at the brass ring would come with the risk of failure. They understood these ideas so well that they pledged their Lives, their Fortunes and their Sacred Honour to defend them against an oppressive government that was trying to prevent them from carving out their own destinies.
In the last few years, I’ve experienced Capitalism first-hand as a small business owner. There have been some ups, where we have had a little extra in the bank account, and were able to grab a few extra clothes for the kids, or a few rides at Nickelodeon Universe (at the Mall of America here in Minnesota) and a lot of downs, where we have had to scrape and skimp and choose to cut things that Socialism certainly might provide, like health insurance for me, a luxury that I’ve gladly skipped out on so that we can afford to cover my two children. But in a capitalist system, my destiny is mine, and mine alone. And the sacrifices we make as we try to get a new business rolling will almost certainly pay off, if we work hard enough, long enough and outlast the punches that life throws at us.
Rocky Balboa said, “The world ain’t all butterflies and rainbows. It’s a mean and nasty place and it’ll beat you to your knees if you let it.” But my 18 month-old son is running around the house behind me as I type these words and I don’t intend to be beaten. I intend to show my son that he can count on himself and his character and his determination and smarts because Capitalism allows you to fight through the punches and take the hits and push through the pain to a better life. I will teach him that an extraordinary life is possible.
America is a shining city on a hill, a beacon for all those in the world who yearn for liberty and freedom. She remains the greatest example of how an individual can take an idea and turn it into a life of beauty and success. And while she is not perfect and never has been, I believe in her.
Michael Moore will undoubtedly make a brilliant case for why this nation of individuals should be broken apart brick-by-brick and remade into a nation of the collective where outcomes are largely equal, but where the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life is extinguished forever. The folks in Washington right now are doing their best to bring Moore’s vision of a great nation of the equal to life by shutting down the engine of liberty and forever transforming how we all live our lives.
Part of me hopes that Michael Moore’s movie makes hundreds of millions of dollars and that he suddenly wakes up from the slumber of logic he has been in for many years while the opportunity to choose to help the downtrodden and poor has passed him by. But I now see what Moore truly is in a different light, and success will only encourage him to lie to more people and mislead them about the opportunities that await them, should they only dream. After all, he’s a rich and powerful capitalist. The same thing he’s teaching his audience to hate. Irony, in a word.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
78 Comments
My heart breaks too.
Long after Moore has turned to dust there will be American capitalism.
Moore hasn't figured out yet that he is nothing more than a big fat hypocrite….or maybe he has.
Michael Moore is an evil non regulated thing as big as some small state capitols. My only beef with your article is that the term "capitalism" has become a marxist pejorative. I prefer that we call what we do, free enterprise. It worked for Mike Moore and it can work for you.
No wonder he seems to be so angry. It must be difficult rationalizing his success in a system he loaths.
but i notice he doesn't turn down the money or give much money away. hmmm
No wonder he seems to be so angry. It must be difficult rationalizing his success in a system he loaths.
but i notice he doesn't turn down the money or give much away. hmmm
If Michael Moore is so committed to the downfall of capitalism, might I suggest that he start the ball rolling. He can divest himself of his ill-gotten gains from the evils of capitalism by writing a multitude of $50,000 checks, made payable to An American Soldier/Sailor/Marine. He should never forget the thousands who put their lives on the line every day so he can generate his swill.
And Oliver Stone can follow suit…
And they can both eat my shorts.
Moore is a short fat pig. And with the girth he carries around will probably drop dead of a heart attack. Oh well.
That's what I've been saying! If he thinks capitalism is so evil, then why is he content to profit from it? Surely any anti-capitalist with a conscience would refuse to accept the profits from this movie and would donate them to worthy causes. Until he does, he's nothing but a big hypocrite.
Mr. Wilson,
I'm a homeschool mother. I will use your article to teach my children that real men do stand up and fight the good fight. You are a good man Mr. Wilson. Blessings upon you and your family.
Ouida Gabriel
Mr. Wilson, as a Veteran and Mother, I appreciate your column more than I can convey. My husband and I are continually trying to instill in our kids the pride and respect for our America, and you summed up a great part of it beautifully. This is the greatest country on the planet, for many reasons. Thank you for defining one so profoundly.
With great respect,
God Bless, and God Bless America. We especially need it during these troubling times.
Julie
What will really be sickening is when the 20-million-bucks-a-film liberals give him a standing ovation at some awards ceremony.
This is a fabulous piece Michael! I will be incorporating this into my homeschool lesson as well!
In Moore's world, we would all be wearing drab gray or green uniforms, with small funny hats, carrying a small bowl of rice and bowing to Dear leader. Oh and Moore would be 300 lbs. lighter.
Don't you just love Champange Socialists. If his film makes it to No1 in the box office, do you think he will get the irony? What a Muppet.
I've seen your movie, Michael Moore Hates America, and it was a very honest and revealing look at the mind of Michael Moore. He is a master manipulator, a deceiver in the truest sense of the word. This man has made a fortune with lies and clever editing.
When I first saw Roger and Me many years ago I was impressed with Moore. I really believed he had Flint's people in his heart. Now it's painfully obvious that he used their situation to demonize Roger Smith and to further his own ambitions. Michael Moore is a despicable human being and you should be commended for exposing this fraud in your movie.
I agree. Moore had the opportunities and has made his money, now he would deny those opportunities to others. Some would get rich, most would make a decent living,. a small hand full would lose. But those hand full would get a hand up through charities, not the government. Capitalism and liberty isn't always nice, but neither is life. Without those difficulties there is no growth. No progress. Without capitalism and profits there is no need for discovery.
A must read:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa018.html
One thing through. He may make an argument against capitalism. But really what he is arguing against is corporatism and socialism. The manipulation of the markets that has caused so much turmoil, approved by the government, is what he is really arguing against. But then he will argue for MORE corporatism and socialism.
I don't think Moore is stupid, maybe he is, or maybe naive. But if he does know the difference between what he is really arguing against, and what true capitalism represents, then he is an evil man. He would deny the opportunity to raise a family with independence and freedom. He would deny people the most important thing that our founding fathers fought for. Self-determination. And what's even more evil. He will claim his denial of self-determination is American, patriotic.
Michael Moore personifies Jim Taggert from Atlas Shrugged.
MM is a perfect example of liberalism in corporeal form. Very corporeal. Too corporeal by 5/8ths.
I think one day he got up, looked in the mirror, and thought "Man, I'm a big fat idiot." Next thought, "So what? So are a lot of people." At this point his movies went downhill, becoming ongoing attempts to see just how outlandish he could get and still have people praise his work and buy tickets. Now he has spiraled down to saying capitalism is evil, capitalists are evil, therefore I am evil, and you big fat sheep somehow still praise me.
Gee, where can he go next? A searing expose on illegal drug use in this country, the wrongheaded war against the drugs and their users, the great benefits of their use, with many heartwarming tales of all the hard-working entrepreneurs that have lifted themselves from poverty by dealing. Pay attention and you may notice his seemingly miraculous weight loss during filming.
What a jerk off. I hope the movie fails as well as his heart.
Well said……the very thing he's against is the thing he's used to get where he is… what a loser
He's like the rock star who sings about drug use and makes millions from it, then later claims in an interview that he's never tried them.
The sorry part is, Moore is the momma duck and all his ducklings will blindly follow him. They'll come out of the theater with a transfusion of socialist blood and sign-up with Obama's "Saul Alinsky Brigade," while Moore rakes-in millions.
In the meantime, even the Russians are laughing about our move into socialism – they've already proved it doesn't work.
I find it hard to believe that that pig could actually spawn- I feel for his daughter. In her case, teen loathing for one's parents might actually be justified.
Yes, even the Russians are laughing themselves sick, watching our great country devolve into a third world socialist cesspool.
I think Michael Moore has lost the distinction between Capitalism and greed. Greed is a ubiquitous human condition under capitalism, communism or anything. The answer to greed is in people's hearts and in empathy for the condition of the people affected by others' decisions. But to legislate empathy? How can that work? Even liberals say you can't legislate morality. Why try to do it with communism? It's a mental muddle. While I do wonder why profiteering seems to have so much sway now, I think it's easier to nudge capitalism back into place. Forget Michael Moore–who will stand up to the profiteers and still stand up for capitalism? Who?
Typical liberal/democrat, do as I say, not as I do..
Moore was handed his success by his agenda and nothing more. I've watched a great many documentaries and Moore hasn't done anything the 10,000 Day War or In Our Own Backyard did better without resorting to FICTION. I personally wrote off the "Oscars" after a made for TV movie (any resemblance to real characters and historical situations is about the best I could do) was given the nod as a documentary when it had already been shown to be "enhanced" by Moore's imagination. This to me smelled too much like pop artists winning "rock" awards at the Grammy Awards. Its not the content being lauded but the artist's bias and we were all out of his or her true category.
Should there be a better actual documentary blocking the path, Moore's latest will get its kudos from Oscar in screenplay, special effects or whatever they can wiggle him into.
Thanks! I just added "Michael Moore Hates America" to my Netflix queue.
Since Moore earned his wealth as an evil capitalist, when will he give his millions to those who are more deserving?
I ain't holding my breath about it, tho. These guys believe "it is good for thee, but not for me." This more than anything else is what makes these people so evil themselves.
Well he is who he is, why the surprise? As for his latest epic, really is anybody going to pay money to see it? And if they do well they just burned 10 bucks! Michael Moore only interest is Michael Moore, end of story. He came up with a formula that works for him, and he is milking it for all it is worth. In the kind of State Moore would like or says he likes, is the kind of state that would take the Michael Moore's and take them into a room with lots of mattress padding and just put a bullet into the nap of his neck. The American People made a mistake in the last election, the same American People will start correcting that mistake, in November 2010. They already have started it, I see real panic with the left out there, gee's when you have 60 votes in the Senate you pretty much get what you want , unless its not what the american people want, gee how about that!
He doesn't want anyone else to do what he has done and become successful like him because then that would mean he's not the only one capable of succeeding. He likes being part of the elite and he knows full well what those benefits bring him. That's why he cozied up to Castro. His one downfall is actually believing that his public is really that stupid to believe his lies.
I believe that there are enough socialist and communist countries in the world that if Moore and jackoffs (Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, etc.) like him want to live that life, then they can go to one of those other countries and do it. America is one of a kind and should stay that way.
Michael Moore is a FAT CAT. Don't be disillusioned.
There's an ugly stain on that red carpet. We'll remove it with daily applications of intellect disinfectant and truth bleach, available to all, in this marketplace.
I believe Moore cultivates that image; using his fat and slovenly appearance to appeal to his European audiences as the stereotypical example of the fat, stupid, American. His looks are part of his America-trashing "act".
Moore is a big fat hypocrite, and everyone knows it. I really wish these people who love Chavez or Castro so much would move to those countries they rule.
Also as a friendly reminder, Larry Elder also did a rebuttal documentary to Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" called "Michael and Me" which those of you interested might want to check out as well.
I watched the "Michael Moore Hates America " documentary last month. It revealed how Moore is a dishonest documentarian and a self loathing America hating douche! I have no interest in his crappy propaganda.
Michael Moore is a fraud, people. He knows EXACTLY what he is doing. He discovered that there are a lot of dumb wannabe libs who will believe anything you put on film, if it falls even remotely into their warped view of the world. Must have been quite a pleasant shock to Moore to have that light-bulb go off. That you can make a film that is total BS propaganda, and people will: a) pay money to see it, and b) believe everything in it. Wow, what a power-trip. You can take any pet peeve, and off-the-wall lib mantra, turn it into a badly put together, over-the-top string of BS film clips, call it an “exposé” and presto – fame and fortune. He laughs all the way to the bank.
I think Michael has sorley forgotten the difference between capitalismn & corporatism as noted by him screaming at the CEO's in the movie and complaining about bailouts. These are the faults of corportaism not capitalism.
Because these are your last words on Moore, I decided to spend time reading them. Normally, Moore's on my black list of people I do not let pollute my life.
It's more evidence Moore is actually a communist. Marx's theory was that once a person or group of people obtain control of a scarce resource, they immediately construct fences to keep others out. Now that he's rich, he wants to keep it all among his group of celebrity friends. They can enjoy being rich, but no one else.
It's actually fairly common in America. People get rich, then they spend their wealthy, later life, decrying about how terrible it all is. Warren Buffet is currently doing the same thing while kissing up to the president.
Someone should challenge Moore to donate ALL of the proceeds of the movie to REAL charities (not the DNC) and only take a salary equal to the average income for the time he spent on the production. Further, he should dispense will all of his financial holdings and sell off his Haliburton stock and step into a spot of fiscal equality with his comrades.
The only thing you learn from a Moore documentary is that he wants you to be angry
And God help us, it works. Just not in the way he hopes it would.
And big business has no beef against the Left's agenda — statism has proven to be an effective method of filling the "public" trough, except that the money seems to bypass the public somehow and get into the pockets of corporations.
the thing about Moore that rankles is his sheer monstrous hypocrisy…
He hates capitalism, right? Talk to those who have had the misfortune of working with him. He is demanding, and spoiled. He has NO problem demanding huge speaking fees and living a lavish Upper East Side lifestyle.
Namely, he loves money- and lots of it. His demeanor is that of a childish spoiled brat. The 'everyman' thing is a guise, his slovenly appearance lends to that so he plays it up. But he considers himself of the cultured elite.
His demands include expensive hotels, limousines, and chartered jets. He is abusive to anyone he considers his lesser- his staff included. He has no sense of humour as well.
Get the picture?
"I believe a man is happier, and happy in a richer way, if he has the “freeborn mind”. But I doubt whether he can have this without economic independence, which the new society is abolishing. For economic independence allows an education not controlled by Government; and in adult life it is the man who needs, and asks, nothing of Government who can criticise its acts and snap his fingers at its ideology. Read Montaigne; that’s the voice of a man with his legs under his own table, eating the mutton and turnips raised on his own land. Who will talk like that when the State is everyone’s schoolmaster and employer? Admittedly, when a man was untamed, such liberty belonged only to the few. I know. Hence the horrible suspicion that our only choice is between societies with few freemen and societies with none."
–C.S. Lewis
Marx's theory was that once a person or group of people obtain control of a scarce resource, they immediately construct fences to keep others out.
Government authority, as the Soviets could tell you, is another of those resources.
The Moore message: "Profits are for me, but not for thee."
I've never even bothered watching any of his movies because I try not to patronize the work product of the most egregious starfucked Hollywood hypocrites….but I do have one interesting tidbit about Moore to share that is probably not generally known…How much of his capitalist dollars do you think he needed to spend per week at the Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa in North Miami last year trying to address his (beyond)obesity problem? Someone I know coincided there with fat Moore and you can check out the website to see Capitalism at its best (http://www.pritikin.com/index.php?option=com_cont... and see that he shelled out between $5400 and $9400 per WEEK to plop his big fat self there and get fresh mango and blueberries for breakfast and other lean delights for lunch and dinner–too bad it didn't do any good–I guess it's the fault of Capitalist Pritikin, not fat slob Moore.
What's the difference between Michael Moore and a sack of shit?
The sack.
"Irony, in a word."
Don't you mean – Irony, in a plus size hugo boss tux.
I think that Michael Moores movie would prove more of a point if he relinquished any salary he was to receive from it as well as any profits. Those should all be "taken" in the words of Hillary Cinton and used for the good of us all. I wonder how well that would go over with Michael. If he declines, I guess he is an evil capitalist.
It's very good.
All viewing of this film should be free then, correct? Then we should limit Moore's diet to that of the poverty level, take all his wealth to redistribute for the poor. After all, what better way to lead than by example?
Agree.
Great commentary. Thanks.
"Michael Moore will undoubtedly make a brilliant case…"
The hell he will. You know how this works. It´s a mix of straight lies and technique: editing, music, rhetorical devices. History is twisted, quotes and anecdotes selected and edited. What doesn´t fit the mold gets ignored, or ripped out of context.
The only thing you learn from a Moore documentary is that he wants you to be angry, hate certain people and think a certain way. Well, I knew that already and I don´t need to watch another second of his work. I don´t care in the least whether he "wakes up from the slumber of logic" one day like some left-wing Albert Speer, or whether he appreciates the irony of his success. First, he won´t wake up, ever. Second, the lies are out there, the damage is done. I say to hell with him.
"Roger & Me" is a pretty darn good movie. In this one Moore was smart enough to stay out of the way and let the movie images make his case. The final series of shots, where scenes of people being forcibly evicted from their homes on Christmas day, over laid on top of the GM CEO reading the company's Christmas message is pretty moving.
After that I think he just became way too infatuated with himself. Kind of like Obama. It's not the message that's important, its the messenger.
I watched part of Canadian Bacon before turning it off out of sheer boredom. And then he went off the deep end, and I've ignored him ever since.
At his death many adjectives will be used to describe Moore including Academy Award winner. Other words that would come to my mind are hypocrite, sellout, liar, ideologue, useful idiot, millionaire marxist, traitor, shameless self promoter, overrated, morally repugnant class and race divider and really, really, really fat.
Which is why Big Business does not care about free markets – but you should.
And don´t forget: any business big or small that delivers a product in a free market and thrives doing so, provides a service to society. It answers demand, employs people, invests money, delivers growth. These businesses – even if they are not nice or pay insane bonuses – create all the wealth there is, for as long as they exist. Including every dime the government spends.
The way I see it, this movie is the end of Moore no matter how it turns out. He simply won't have anywhere else to go after this. You know he's dug past bottom when he turns out an openly pro-Communist film.
Seriously, what can you possibly follow THAT with for your encore?
Excellent quote. Of course, anyone who quotes C.S. Lewis has already gotten my attention.
I think Moore's been steadily losing credibility with Americans ever since Fahrenheit 9/11. Attacking capitalism itself is a sure way to alienate even more people. Capitalism may not be a utopian system, but the suggested replacements are far more riddled with flaws, and the realistic person must realize that there can be no perfect society so long as people themselves are imperfect.
More to the point, Moore's hypocrisy in condemning the very system that has allowed him to earn fame and fortune must be blindingly apparent to even the most obdurate observer…
Perhaps he won't mind the bankrupt California state government collecting all profits from the movie?
Nobody is saying that capitalism should be entirely unregulated. We are saying that regulation should be minimal.
The problem is that those who believe regulation is the answer to everything simply refuse to look at the real world. In the real world, regulation does not solve problems. Market forces do. All this nonsense about green energy – what made the Prius a success? It wasn't government. It was market forces, people who believed that buying a Prius was a good thing.
We have an unbelievable amount of business regulation in this country yet we still have monopolies. And that regulation costs a staggering amount both in real dollars and in potential earned dollars. And it costs us our freedom.
For example, something no statist can refute is the fact that if we opened health care up as a truly free market, everyone would be able to afford health care. That's an undeniable fact. The 'untenable status quo' we have now is entirely the product of regulation and government interference.
Capitalism is not evil. A free market is the best assurance of a lack of evil, because there is no master.
"Michael Moore is actively working to deny people the same opportunities that he has had, the same successes he has experienced, the same chance to make your own life better through hard work, sheer determination and rugged individualism."
I read your article a few times, and I can't see how you arrived at that conclusion. How did you draw the line between "Michael Moore releases a movie about why capitalism is bad" and "Michael Moore oppresses people?"
Mark, we've never experienced a truly free capitalistic system. They've over regulated it and stifled it. If you want to know how one works, just check out your local black market.
Michael Moore, Al Gore, and Oboma Kool-aid!!!! On Sale in aisle 3! Buy one, get two free!
Most of the comments here are shooting the messenger. Try shooting the message – it might be more constructive
No Mikey Moore would be what is known as a "cadre", endlessly preaching to the masses, deciding who lives and dies and how labor will be divided and families torn apart. Give this guy a chance, and you will have a petty tyrant.
Long after Big Hollywood had rusted and fallen into the sea, there will be people watching Michael Moore's movies. And I'm more of an authority on Michael Moore than you are. "Go-to Guy?" Only if I need a drink or a toewl or something like that, Schmucko.
Thanks for your column, not only because it exposes Moore as the pathetic hypocrite he is, but because you so clearly and passionately crystallized the beauties of American free enterprise – emphasis on the "free". There are unfortunately many people, mostly the young and gullible, in America right now who want nothing more to be taken care of by the government, believing that it will make life easier. Freedom, individuality, success and prosperity have never been easy to obtain. They have to be pursued. No government or ruling body can give them to you. "The pursuit of happiness" was put into The Declaration of Independence for a reason – because it's not dependence, but INdependence, that makes the pursuit possible.
No, Mikey Moore would be what is known as a "cadre", endlessly preaching to the masses, deciding who lives and dies and how labor will be divided and families torn apart. Give this guy a chance, and you will have a petty tyrant. And, he would get more than enough to eat, you see, he is special.
People like him force up health care costs. Him, Rosie O'Donnell, Claire McCaskill, Debbie Stabenow and so many other liberals complain about insurance when they should be dieting. Moore has more Chins than Liz Taylor did in her hey day.
"America is a shining city on a hill, a beacon for all those in the world who yearn for liberty and freedom."
Bollocks.
Hello Mr. Wilson, I’m from town. Thank you for this blog. Everyone I know in Minnesota took great offense with many of the critics’ reviews of your movie. We thought, “How out of touch are these Hollyweird types?” We were certain that if these same critics watched the same MMHA, only trading its Minnesotan documentarian/protagonist for one from, say, Chicago, they would have felt differently about it. They never would have bought that chin-stroking, socks-with-Birkenstock’s ponderousness as being genuine thoughtfulness. They would have seen it as the posturing that it is: a Young Conservative looking for a niche, and finding one as the guy who would not succumb to… what was it again, “the shrillness of the American conversation?” Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you aren’t a doofus. I’m just saying that national critics are all too quick to take certain strains of stupidity at face value, if it comes from certain parts of the Midwest. (Look at Mark Borchardt from Wisconsin, and how it never occurred to anyone, nationally, that he was in on the joke.) Since that is terrifically offensive to me, I’m posting this to thank you for being such a public reactionary after all. If only one nationally syndicated columnist rethinks his overly-soft image of us, this blog will have done its job.
1) I can t disagree more with this analysis and I feel sorry for the poor fellow who wrote it because I can see a lot of bruised feelings in between the lines, including the lines of the commenters above, and I can't help having compassion for him and you all (let it be clear: compassion, not pity). If Michael Moore is successful at selling movies that criticize capitalism, President Bush, HMOs, Detroit and other "American institutions", turning a significant profit and putting his daughter to private school in the process, we need to ask ourselves WHY? Because nothing forces people to see a Michael Moore movie, nor buy one of his books, and hardcore lefties democrat activists are not a big enough market to explain Michael Moore' tremendous success. Therefore, denouncing him as an America hater is a total nonsense and waste of time as stupid as denouncing our fundamental freedom of speech under our first Amendment. It will only flatter the ego of a couple of Sarah Palin like right wing activists which is an uncertain market nowdays. Michael Wilson, lets be honest, this is why you never made a buck creating your movie compared to the millions that Michael Moore raked for sicko and the likes.
2) The success of Michael Moore can be explained by supply and demand. The reason for his extraordinary profit taking is that Michael Moore today has a monopoly. He is adressing big sticky markets (things that impact the lives of a lot of people) and he is the only one who does it taking the little guy point of view. If you hate Michael Moore so much, and want to support capitalism, you need to create some competition for him using the same tricks. Be imaginative and entrepreneurial instead of just being envious and stupid. I believe Michael Moore financial success is a byproduct of him pointing out real flaws in our system that can be improved. Whether we agree with him or not, we must recognize he has a point and an audience and maybe we can even learn something from him. I suggest for your next film, try to think ahead of Michael Moore instead of just hating him. My suggestion: American recycling. Green is in the air, and we R poor @ recycling. This could be interesting… and I will maybe even enjoy watching your movie (you can add me in the credits if you want…:))).
3) The greatest irony of it all, is that those like Michael Wilson who defend capitalism for the right reasons but do not understand how it really works will stay poor and feel that the greatest injustice is on their shoulders while hating Michael Moore for his financial success while those like Michael Moore who understand how capitalism works but believe the system has tons of flaws and can be improved will profit from it. The bottom line is: capitalism has no moral, and it is high time we dust off our American Idealism and ideology and wake up to this reality. And all of you who truly believe that to succeed in today's capitalist system you need to work hard and be a honest person just need to look at the bank AIG executives, Madoff and the likes who ran our economy into the ground with subprime mortgages and Ponzi schemes to realize their belief is at odd with reality. Unfortunately, in America, capitalism has been dominated by too much greed without rules, hence the need for reform, and if you believe reform is needed, then Obama is not a bad choice after all [probably why he got elected but this is another story...]
4) To make it plain and simple. If your kids steal your money on your bank account, you will not let free market solve the problem (otherwise, you will get broke). You will talk to them and create some rules how they can withdraw cash teaching them in the process that money needs to be earned. You will inculcate these values to your kids, not capitalism which has no value whatsoever (have you ever opened an economic 101 bachelor textbook and found out that capitalism had values? If you have, please send me the reference!!!). And this is a good thing, because capitalism is not the answer to all of our woes, as much as socialism or communism (we all agree here) is not the answer at all. I know this might be a shocking realization for some of us, but this is the plain truth. This statement doesn t make me a socialist. I am a die hard believer in capitalism to the extent that there are some regulations which prevent the kinds of catastrophies that happened to us lately. If you are interested in economics, read the theories of Hyman Minsky and how he explained the subprime crisis.
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/02/04/...
5) To conclude.
Of course, Michael Wilson, this is not your last word on Michael Moore. You are going to learn from your failure, and get better, and maybe even become a real competitor to Michael Moore to capture the imagination of the little guy. In the end, competition of ideas is good, and it will benefits everybody on this forum and beyond so that we can all brighten our mind and keep learning instead of just passing hastive judgements.
[...] don’t think Michael Moore hates America like some say. To the contrary, he loves this country because he’s making a very good living [...]
[...] you want to read more on Mikey’s hypocrisy, check out Michael Wilson’s [...]
me too! i am excited to watch it tonight
You must be logged in to post a comment.