Michael Moore: Philosopher-Genius, Or Just Plain Kook from Flint, Michigan?
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Michael Moore
Michael Moore, in his new film condemns capitalism, but ironically stands to make a lot of money on peddling that idea.
You will soon hear more from media pundits about crazy Michael Moore and his new film "Capitalism: A Love Story."
Crazy like a fox, as they say, lining his pockets while tilting at the windmills of big business.
The perplexing question: Is Moore an intellectual who uses borderline slapstick schtick to help the public understand their society? Or is he just a self-promoting schmuck who coins millions off left-wing prejudices, much as the conservative blabbermouths profit from their minions?
Moore, 55, a native of Flint, is a for-real activist, being one of the youngest public officials when elected to the Flint school board at age 18. He was fired from the left-wing Mother Jones magazine and used his settlement to fund his first film. His 2004 "Fahrenheit 9/11" reportedly was the most successful documentary in history.
"Filmmaker Michael Moore gave residents of his adopted Michigan community of Bellaire an early showing of his new documentary on Saturday and urged them to help overthrow an economic system he said was beyond redemption," reported the Associated Press.
Moore had a lot of cheek premiering the film in Bellaire, no doubt attended by many wealthy vacationers from Chicago in Gucci shoes. Few poverty-stricken peasants from the hinterlands were likely to have been on hand.
"Capitalism: A Love Story," is a film based on the premise that greed and corruption have subverted U.S. democracy.
William Milliken, Republican former governor of Michigan, who watched with his wife, Helen, called the film powerful, commenting: "The message of the injustices that still persist and prevail in our society, that's a powerful message," he said.
The film was produced in a studio in Traverse City, that Moore described (obviously tongue in cheek) as "being in the midst of all the trouble." Perhaps no place in Michigan has more affluence than Traverse City, Michael, in case you didn't notice. Being in the midst of all the trouble would have been in Detroit, or in his hometown, Flint.
Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity no doubt are drooling in anticipation of bashing Mr. Moore and his new film, their jowls quivering with phrases of condemnation.
And, in so doing, they will prove how the American capitalistic system works: By employing the freedom of speech/free enterprise system, Moore will make more money, and so will the conservative commentators.
Ted Johnson writes in Variety: "Capitalism" is like a sequel to 'Roger & Me' in that Moore's message is that what happened in Flint, Michigan, twenty years ago is now happening across the country: Companies shutting down plants, scaling back wages and laying off workers, all in the name of higher profits. But this movie has a much larger scope, taking on the notion that capitalism was never enshrined in the Constitution, but was sold to us as the best possible system. In making his point he turns not just to workers who've been left behind, but to Catholic priests and bishops, who preach of capitalism as no less than evil."
Moore has a lakeside home near Bellaire, described by the press as "a rural village" near where the film was produced.
Moore surely did not show up in sackcloth and ashes for the two showings along with three cocktail parties that raised about $25,000 for the Antrim County Democratic Party.
The film blames the current economic crisis on financial deregulation that began under former President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and greedy business executives who undermined free enterprise with policies that fattened pocketbooks of the rich while impoverishing the lower and middle classes.
Moore gets into the act, of course, by trying to make a citizens arrest of AIG executives and wrapping crime scene tape around the New York Stock Exchange.
Moore has been a controversial figure since his first documentary, "Roger & Me," accused General Motors' chairman Roger Smith of injustice to workers in Flint, his hometown 20 years ago.
"Capitalism" also includes scenes from Flint, as Moore and his father Frank visit the site of the spark plug factory where the father once worked.
The film will be released nationwide on Oct. 2. From the early reviews, it will be a blockbuster, since everyone can relate to the evils of big business. However, the irony is deadly apparent in that Moore will profit big-time from the system he attacks in the film. ###
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