the reincarnation of suzy wrote:
Of course that was it, Revel, but some people like to make everything out to be much more important than it actually is.
LOL.
Suzy, you accusing anyone of a tendency to make everything out to be more important that it actually is is like Michael Moore accusing someone of bias.
suzy wrote: I doubt that Europeans are now walking around convinced that Americans are stupid because Michael Moore said so!
I haven't made up my mind yet whether you intentionally distort other's arguments, or are simply unable to understand them.
As if anyone who has objected to Moore's trashing his fellow Americans in Europe base their objection on Moore "spilling the beans," and/or bespoiling the previously high regard the Euros had for Americans. The European Left, whose collective derriere Moore is desperate to kiss, has thought poorly of Americans long before Moore lurched onto the scene. He hasn't, in any way, influenced their thinking, he has merely stated what they already believe.
suzy wrote:But apparently he wounded Finn's sensibilities, the big meanie.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Moore has a nasty streak in his personality, fueled by a a long simmering resentment of the dismissal he experienced at the hands of popular boys and girls during his youth. Being overweight, homely and a geek is often pretty tough on young people, and can leave them quite bitter. However, I don't see Moore as mean. Repugnant, but not mean. Repugnant not for his physicality, but for the lengths to which he will go to obtain the approval of a group of people who value him only to the extent that he is willing to rip his fellow Americans.
He reminds me of the teenage girl who is willing to join in ridiculing her younger sibling so that she might be accepted by the
in crowd. I find this sort of behavior repugnant, but then I hold loyalty to be a virtue.
Before you go off on your familiar rant about blind loyalty, let me point out that there was no noble purpose served by Moore ripping his fellow citizens to the European crowds. Ignorant or not, Americans were not about to rise a fraction of a degree towards enlightenment thanks to Moore's diatribe. His was not a call to action for the purposing of righting some wrong. Of course I could be in error. Perhaps he was hoping to enlist the Europeans to perform missionary work in America.
That Michael Moore is entitled to state his opinion is not an issue. No one is advocating that he be thrown in jail or have his citizenship revoked. He has worked hard to become someone whose opinions are discussed and debated. I can't imagine that he would object to anyone reacting to something he has said - it's what he lives for.
So what was the purpose of his remarks?
He wasn't trying to enlighten the Europeans on the nature of Americans.
He wasn't trying to correct what he may have believed was a failing in the nature of Americans.
Was he providing a cautionary tale to the Europeans lest they continue their slavish admiration and mimicry of Americans? Yeah, right.
He was attempting to curry favor with his European audience; hoping to evoke the applause and acceptance he craves. Moore is certainly smart enough to know that ripping Americans goes over big with the European Left. Apparently he is also venal enough to capitalize on this knowledge.
Is his a heinous crime? Of course not. Is this one of the most important matters to come before the world in centuries? clearly not. In the overall scheme of things its a pretty trivial matter, but then how many earth shattering issues are discussed in this forum.
If it has any significance it is in the fact that very many American liberals have made something of a hero out of Moore. Linda Ronstadt isn't the only wooly headed twit to declare Moore a patriot. I would never suggest that he is a traitor, because he isn't by any stretch of the term, but neither is he a patriot, and if he defines patriotism for a sizable group of Americans, we have a problem. Patriotism need not involve flag waving and it is certainly not a blind and absolute glorification of the nation, but patriots do not rip their fellow citizens to foreign audiences for the purpose of garnering applause.
If he wasn't a famous and powerful millionaire, I might consider him sad, but since he is, I 'm left with repugnant.
