10/06/2004 Entry: "Michael Moore"

5ish years ago I met Michael Moore when he did his traveling Mosh Pit in Ames. I don't really feel like telling the story, but if you rent season two of the Awful Truth you'll see me moshing without a shirt on in the winter and crowd surfing Alan Keys. No, really. I managed to find some random clips on the internet, but not the entire thing. *sigh* When I find my original e-mail of my story of what happened I'll post it. When I find it. Anyway, random clips:

From Unofficial Michael Moore:
Intro.mov
Bush.mov

And from Boinka.com:
Crowd Surfing Alan Keys (divx) (Locally hosted so I don't destroy Mr. Boinka.com's server - where this came from)

My point is, the people I met on this trip my freshman year at ISU really turned me on to what was actually happening in the world and politics. Talk does a lot more than people say it does. Talking opens minds. That's why you should never stop ranting, they opened my mind, I've opened minds since, and now those people are opening minds. NEVER BE QUIET. That being said, Michael Moore himself seems to be filling a different niche' now than he did five years ago.

I went and saw him speak tonight, and it really wasn't all that impressive to me. He's moved from appealing to intellectuals to appealing to more of the masses. Now, this used to be something I thought was unintentional. The glaring half-truths in F911 and Bowling used to bother me, because I thought they were detracting from his very true message and he was just getting carried away. Now I think it's just that people like me are no longer his target. He's moved to being more of a pep rally cheer leader. And really, he's probably more effective for his cause, although a little less honorable/ethical. I don't know if I agree with this new direction - well, scratch that - I KNOW I don't agree with this new direction, but at least now I believe he's doing it on purpose rather than by accident. This, for some reason, puts me more at ease. He knows EXACTLY what he's doing, and frankly, I'm glad he's here to balance out the Hannitys and Ann Coulters. I'd rather no extreme spinning liars exist, but at least we have on on our side now.

I think Moore is in a conundrum. I think he could be effective while being 100% honest at getting people to agree with him. (The evidence against Bush is damning enough on it's own.) Unfortunately, agreeing with him doesn't make people vote or do anything. He has to get them angry, hence the sensationalism. It's not the way I think the world should be run. But, again, it's better than just having sensationalists on the RIGHT. We don't have the moral high ground, but at least things are balanced.

Oh yea, speaking of balanced, Ann Coulter is coming to speak at ISU soon. For $30,000. (They paid Moore $4,000) Saying Ann Coulter balances Moore is like saying a Nuclear Bomb with an attitude problem balances out a sling shot. ANN COULTER IS A CRAZY PSYCHO BITCH!

It's the classic Monkey Vs. Robot battle. Moore = Monkey. Coulter = Robot. (editors note: Ann Coulter being an evil republican robot is not an idea that is new or original.) Except in this case the monkey would rather pick flowers and the robot is crazy, has lazer beam boobies, and takes it up the ass from Hitler. Thankfully, the only people who take her seriously have got to be the historical Pat Buchanan supporters, and it's not like they'd ever vote left anyway.

(Hell, they're probably too busy at Clan meetings to vote, period.)