Things were unusually turmoil-istic yesterday. My final shopping stop yesterday was totally embarrassing. As I squatted to get a can of artichoke hearts, I heard something rip and that something was along my behind. I quickly put a shirt I had over my sleeveless shirt around my waist. Just awful. I made plans to go to the movies with my girlfriend to get out of the house today. We sat in an unusual outdoor cafe with an indoor theatre and watched Farenheit 9/11. I never heard of Michael Moore until recently when I stumbled onto his show The Awful Truth a little over a month ago. And I became a big fan. Before the movie began, I ordered a frozen margarita and got a good buzz from it. You can take your cappuchinos and beers in real cups inside the movie theaters and not have to drink out of those cheap plastic things. This is the coolest place to be in Jerusalem on a Saturday afternoon. We laughed and cried in the theater, and I wondered where Moore got all that interesting footage. The movie was so well put together, so well edited, so simply narrated with a strong message. We laughed about Bush and did our usual girl talk - "He's cute, especially so in his younger days" "Yeah, I wouldn't throw him out of bed" "He's probably no good in bed though" "You're probably right - he's probably a MINUTE man". And then we got even more hysterical. What balls this Michael Moore guy has. We wondered if he was Jewish. I see the ping pong of slurs each of the US presidential candidates says against the other, and it seems so catty and petty. Can't they think of changing the country instead of bashing each other? I'm not impressed with either candidate. Maybe we need a shlubby, truck driver-looking, ballsy, gutsy, don't take no shit, stand up to anybody guy to be president. I vote for Mr. Michael Moore.
Sunday, August 01, 2004
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3 comments:
Gee. I really hated that movie. What alot of drivel, as though 9/11 was some sort of plot by American capitalists. What a load. I would've expected maybe a little more scepticism from someone who lives in Israel and tries to reach out to Arabs there. I think 9/11, like the Word Trade center bombing before it, was largely the work of Arabs upset about US Middle East policy. The people who took responsibility for the first bombing said as much. And from Michael Moore? Not a word about America's skewed Middle East policies. Good thing, too, because then he'd have no movie. The US's Middle East policy did not originate with Bush. The first World Trade center attack didn't happen under Bush, but under Democrat - Clinton. That tells me that the same policy is in place whether a Democrat or Republican is in office. And that's what Michael Moore's film not only obscures, but obfuscates. Bush's Middle East policy stinks, but no other American president's for the last several decades has been any better. And if Bush gets voted out and Kerry voted in, I can guarantee that little will change, and that the cause for 9/11 will remain. That's as long as Michael Moore and his ilk are perpetrating further lies about why it happened. Here's an important question to ask yourself (if you're an American citizen): what if Bush hadn't stolen the election and Gore would have won. Would 9/11 still have happened? Of course it would have. Would Moore have then been making a film lampooning Gore? Of course not. The Moore's slant on this is worse than useless: it's partisan politics, propaganda of the worst stripe. Anyway, you get the idea about what I thought of the film.
Jimmy
Hi Jimmy,
I probably would have liked the film even if Moore would have made one about the Clinton administration. I just simply like his stuff. It's unusual and the guy is ballsy - you have to admit. I guess it's something I admire in people, whether I agree with them or not. My understanding of the film was that it implied the war in Iraq began because of some kind of warped US commitment to the Saudis for their 800 billion dollars or so they funnel to the US. A thank you of sorts. So yes, I agree with you that US policy will probably not change much with Kerry or any democrat for that matter.
Hi Leah:
Thanks for your response. I was delighted to find your blog, as someone who has definite ideas and opinions about the Middle East and the U.S.'s role there, but little "on the ground" experience. What you call ballsy about Moore, I think of as pandering to certain political sentiments (liberal democrat): those are the people that will probably enjoy this film most. Again, my objection to this is that it turns a huge national tragedy, and one that poses a continuing threat, into a celebration of a politcal position that provides no answer at all to the tragedy. It's worse than misguided: it's downright sinister. On the war in Iraq: yes, it is something like that impression that Moore gives. At the same time, the fact that he presents the war in the same context as 9/11 suggests that, even within his own confused perspective, there is a connection - right? Well, what connection does Saudi Arabia have with 9/11? That a number of the hijackers were Saudi citizens? Ok, and so is/was bin Laden. So, what has the $800 billion to do with the hijackers and bin Laden? For the sake of Saudi funding to the U.S. those guys sacrificed their lives? bin Laden supports $800 billion Saudi investment in America? Makes no sense to me. Moore's "logic" simply fails on the most cursory examination. No, in place of that nonsense, I will continue to believe that 9/11 was perpetrated for the same reasons as the first WTC attack: the attackers in that instance sent a letter to the NYTimes describing their motivations. They were also Arabs - maybe Saudi citizens as well. And they operated under a liberal democratic American regime (Clinton's). Those were the real reasons 9/11 happened: if Moore can't face up to that, I feel sorry for him as a person. But when he tries to perpetrate a private delusion about it on the American (and worldwide) general public, I must object. Moore for president? I vote for preemptive impeachment. Sorry I can't be more agreeable :). Otherwise, I'm enjoying your blog.
Jimmy
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