This from Jon: Pete Townsend clearing the air about his position on the war, and why his song Won't Get Fooled Again was requested to be, but did not get used in Michael Moore's Farenheight 911.
My opinion of Michael Moore has changed quite a bit over the years. It's not that my politics have changed as much as I feel like I've slowly outgrown him. His approach, the zeal and single mindedness with which he tackles his subject matter...it seems adolescent to me now. Like thumbing through a Stephen King novel and fondly remembering when you thought he was the greatest writer of all time (oh come on...you know you poured through his books in middle school, don't get all "My sixth grade favorite? Robertson Davies" on my ass).
But I did see F911, on opening day, and I'll admit I was delighted and moved. I'm glad it's out there, I'm glad it's doing well, etc. However I fully realize my feelings about the film were not formed out of an unbiased assessment of his endeavor, but ego-based wish-fulfillment instead --the pure joy of having my own thoughts and suspicions and standpoint splashed up on the screen. The phrase 'preaching to the choir' gets bandied about a lot, and they're right. All I know is sitting in a theater with a few hundred like-minded people (and realizing there are thousands more) was even more powerful than the film itself, and was the first time I had felt hopeful, safe even, in a very long time.
Moore isn't who many of us would choose to be the voice of the Liberal Left, but unfortunately he's all we've got, with an audience anyway. And in his defense, unlike his Neo-Con counterparts, he'll be the first to admit that his films and books are from a singular point of view, and that he has a clear agenda, which I applaud him for. When you factor in that only teenagers, fascists and religious zealots feel they can actually change the world, well... I'm glad he's retained his adolescent angst.
Posted by Antigeist at July 14, 2004 12:04 PM