Michael Moore (3 Viewers)

[guy of the tiger]

Diction and contradiction
have become the skills
of assimilation
Razor honed to perfection
From the moment of creation
It's gone from identity crisis
To survival slingshot to rifle
Sin to revival
Try to get looked at
but not poked in the eyeball

Theres also this:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/cata...18:119170&redirect_dept=0&redirect_query=guns

the caption is "Low Prices on Brands You Trust"
hillarious.

 

[stunning]

he's simplistic and reductive and appeals to smug american liberals. he is genuinely dangerous when he's being super-simplistic about northern ireland or palestine, as in stupid white men.

Dude! Genuinely dangerous? Dude. No.

He said the solution to the Irish Question was to put holy water in a fire hose and spray everyone with it...thus baptizing an entire island and making everyone Catholic.

He wasn't serious dude! He was being funny. It was a piss take like. Dude?

Tell me you knew he was playing...

.|..|

 

[nlgbbbblth]

i heard nirvana before i ever heard fugazi.

ambivalently yours,

tom.

!bing

 

[rocktopus]

How was the Michael Moore thing on Saturday? Anyone go?

 

[roxy]

How was the Michael Moore thing on Saturday? Anyone go?

And did anyone read the kinda "letter to Michael Moore" article in the Irish Times weekend supplement last saturday?

I'm hoping Michael did, anyhow. He mighta picked up a copy as a keepsake.


I wasn't at the talk but I heard he said something about abortion which really got a rise out of certain sectors of the audience. Something along the lines of "an embryo is an embryo, a foetus is a foetus, a baby is a baby", ie, it's not a baby til it pops out. Hmm.

 

[egg_]

I think it's bizarre when people assume you'll hold one view just because you hold another, e.g. if you're anti-capitalist you're automatically pro-choice and vegetarian.

 

[pete]

'manufacturing consent' is a decent lil documentary

required reading: 'the biggest secret' - david icke

NO - SERIOUSLY GUYS.

andrew

ICKE IS ONLY HALF WRONG

 

[Goff]

ICKE IS ONLY HALF WRONG

Yeah, but which half? Ho Ho Ho!

Actually, Pete, he's half-right!

See, there's your pessimism coming thru again....

 

[nlgbbbblth]

I think it's bizarre when people assume you'll hold one view just because you hold another, e.g. if you're anti-capitalist you're automatically pro-choice and vegetarian.

happens a lot
particularly with people on this board

 

[stunning]

happens a lot
particularly with people on this board

I know I'm guilty of this...not guilty in a way that I mean to apologize for it though. Some of my best friends are anti-woman and anti-choice. That's a joke, don't yell at me, I'm cycling!

I think this assumption came from the fact that (outside of the very real and experiential ways we've seen and learned how capitalism oppresses women) in the academic setting we would have been taught about how capitalism is anti-woman and anti-choice. I think this is not a particularly Irish Catholic or Mexican Catholic or Polish Catholic thing.
In the U.S. you'd be hard pressed to find an anti-capitalist who isn't pro-choice. I'm not saying its better that way, I'm just saying that in predominantly Catholic nations - the church sadly still weilds an incredible amount of influence over people's philosophies.

Thomas

 

[Goodbye]

aaaaaaaaahahahahahahaha I'm anti-capitalist! I'm pro-choice! I'm a fuckin Vegetarian! yaaaaaaaaay!


Hugh, first discovered Noam Chomsky late one night on channel 4 stoaned out of my gills about 8 or so years ago and it was the most fasinating thing I ever heard a human say about other humans... his books did boar me to tears buh...


p.s. I'm also an athiest yaaaaay!!!

 

[jane]

maybe if it gets people reading noam chomsky, howard zinn, emma goldman, edward said, germaine greer, rudolf rocker, malcolm x, guerilla girls, john berger and a million others then maybe it's a good thing.

i heard nirvana before i ever heard fugazi.

ambivalently yours,

tom.

Yeah, Michael Moore might not be the most academic of writers, but his stuff can be a 'gateway' to more complex ideas. I think the American audience for his books sees in his writing a lot of things they haven't encountered before. If you've ever seen the American media, it's not exactly balanced. Scary people like Ann Coulter (I'm fascinated by her, like a trainwreck) get called 'intellectual' and get a lot more forums for their 'ideas'.

Michael Moore is an antidote to that for a lot of people, especially those who might not seek out more critical media sources. Sure, with the newfangled inter-web, anyone can look up a lefty news outlet, but a lot of them don't. As much as I like a lot of the writers you mention, Moore is a lot more accessible to those who might not normally think of being critical of the US government, or might not bother to read Howard Zinn. While he might not be a great intellectual social and political critic, he's definitely got a winning formula that has opened more than a few eyes in a country that often tends to follow blind nationalism. Even if they never read Said or Chomsky, if people begin to see how creepy it is that places that give a free box of ammo with every case of beer (a 'deal' offered at a combination off-licence/gun shop in the town where I went to college), then it's a good thing. If it even begins to get people to think about what's happening in global capitalism, then I think it does a great service.

I'd rather see people applaud Michael Moore for stating what is obvious to a lot of us than just watching Bill O'Reilly and drooling over Ann Coulter and drinking in her venomous, jingoistic twaddle. They and their ilk are probably even more simplistic and reductive. Plus, they're bullies, which makes the fact that they get a lot of airtime even scarier.

I saw Bowling for Columbine and loved it, but I've never read more than excerpts of his books. Sure, they're at the intellectual level of a 12-year old, but what's wrong with getting 12-year olds to think a bit?

I heard Fugazi before I ever heard of Nirvana, and I thought Nirvana was just something that appealed to trendy grunge kids in my school, and therefore was about as punk as [insert very unpunk band here]. It was only years later that I realised they inspired a lot of people to develop an interest in music that went beyond poppy drivel, and that they were an important band in their own right (despite the fact that they've never done much for me musically). It's only at the ripe old age of (ahem) that I can admit that, without Nirvana, a lot of really good punk and indie bands and scenes probably wouldn't have existed.

 

[jane]

In the U.S. you'd be hard pressed to find an anti-capitalist who isn't pro-choice. I'm not saying its better that way, I'm just saying that in predominantly Catholic nations - the church sadly still weilds an incredible amount of influence over people's philosophies.

Thomas

True, true. I have always been vehemently pro-choice, but since I moved to Ireland, I've become even more extreme. The very clear link between the Catholic Church and the legislation of 'morality' made it hit me harder than ever that abortion laws really are about women's control over their own bodies. I was shocked to meet women (and men) my own age who accused me of being a would-be murderer for being pro-choice. It was kind of upsetting, but it made me realise how many assumptions I make that people who agree with me on some things will agree on everything, and how maybe I shouldn't do that so much.

Now, it's as if the choice has been made much easier for me by the theocracy. 'Hello, England? Can I make an appointment, please?' Cavalier? Maybe. Off the subject? Tangential, perhaps, but once I get typing...

Thanks, Catholic Church, for your politically polarising effects!

 

[stunning]

'Hello, England? Can I make an appointment, please?'

Oh my God! That is hilarious!.|..|

When the "Tom Dunning & Your Boyfriends Do Morrissey" album comes out, I'm going to use that. I'll totally credit you though so don't worry.

Speaking of which...It's time for all of Your Boyfriends to start booking studio time.

Love,

Mrs. Steven Patrick

 

[jane]

crap. oops. sorry. accident.

 

[jane]

Oh my God! That is hilarious!.|..|

When the "Tom Dunning & Your Boyfriends Do Morrissey" album comes out, I'm going to use that. I'll totally credit you though so don't worry.

Speaking of which...It's time for all of Your Boyfriends to start booking studio time.

Love,

Mrs. Steven Patrick

Actually, Thomas, that's the 'censored' version. When I do the gesturing thing where I pretend to hold the phone up to my ear, it includes something about making an appointment to 'Hoover my living womb'.


Or....rug....

Oh schnap! She di'n't!

 

[thegoone]

im a prolife nonsmoker

let the party begin

 

[Goodbye]

Here, shut up thegoone!
I want to hear more from Jane...

 

[jane]

Here, shut up thegoone!
I want to hear more from Jane...

Aw, that's nice. I'm a pro-abortion (not just pro-choice anymore) chain-smoker, and we are more fun than those clear-lunged fetus-keeping non-smokers. When I finally do have kids, they'll come out stinking of some sort of gin-based amniotic cocktail, and will be wrapped in a rolling-paper placenta.

Speaking of tasteful illustrations, I posted this on Bored in Work, but maybe it's more suitable here:

http://www.godslittleones.com

I can't believe they STILL don't have a week 31 model!

 

[egg_]

I'm a pro-abortion (not just pro-choice anymore)

What do you mean pro-abortion?
Not attacking you, just don't understand what you mean ...