I saw it today. Still processing - there's a lot there to think about. Moore (as he often does, agree or disagree with him as you might) takes on way too may issues to delve into them in as thorough a manner as you might like, and sometimes it seems like he gets sidetracked by the tempting possibilities rather than sticking to the grim verifiable facts (of which there are enough to keep all the damn hippies in America on blood pressure medication for the next decade or so). On the other hand, it's such a fucking relief to hear a voice on the liberal side that's as unapologetic, as impassioned, and as "on-message" as those on the right. Say (or snarl or shriek) what you will about the Bush administration, damned if they haven't got the branding thing down.
Anyway, I hardly feel qualified to go into this all right now. Right now, I have two questions:
1) Where did our rage go? There's footage at the beginning of the film the protests in the wake of the 2000 elections. Citizens were incensed! Congresspeople were up in arms! And what-the-fuck-ever, whether the studies in the aftermath say that Bush or Gore would have "really" won, it doesn't matter. The fact remains that the American people allowed a Presidential vote to be decided by nine justices, rather than by a count of their hard-won votes. And then, then, in the wake of all the horrific acts that came after, it was all just sort of forgotten. There have been so many things to be mad about or scared by, we don't know where to turn or what to focus on. I know that I, for one, have become numb to the onslaught of shitty things that seem to be revealed every day. How funny is this anymore, really?
2) What do we do? I hope that Kerry gets elected, I'll do what I can to help with that, but let's be real - the trends that allowed this administration to start empire-building right under our noses, not to mention hacking the Bill of Rights and Constitution to shreds, started long before Bush's tenure. And I think the blame lies with us, really. We don't pay attention, it's boring or confusing to keep up with all the shit that goes on in Washington, and so we start electing the candidate who sounds best without really looking too hard at the details, or identifying with one "side" or the other to the exclusion of all rational discourse. I know I've been guilty of both of these things. Just getting Bush out is not going to solve the problem (although I sure hope it happens and that it helps keep the damn world from blowing up). We need to get on the ball here and realize that there are always a certain number of fuckers on either side who are waiting for opportunities to fulfill interests other than ours. We need to keep our eyes peeled.
To make a start on my new vow to pay attention, here's a little something that may interest you. Keep your guard up come November, guys. With all the shit that's gone down, I wonder how paranoid it is to ask, are we even going to have the chance to throw our votes away next time?
Posted by hilatron at July 11, 2004 06:31 PM | TrackBackgod it all makes my head hurt.
Posted by: EV at July 12, 2004 08:16 AMAhem. A certain 'bot of your acquaintance, Hilatron, has been known to mutter fiercely and frequently during the past three years, "Why aren't we all out marching in the streets?"
WHY AREN'T WE ALL OUT MARCHING IN THE STREETS?
Anybody up for organizing simultaneous mass demonstrations in several major urban centers? We have no shortage of issues: the wage gap, the wars, no jobs, no housing, no RIGHTS, no education, no infrastructure, no services . . .
And for anyone about to say, "Yeah, but they did all that in the 60s, and it didn't do any good,"
you're wrong. Those protests stopped the war in Viet Nam. They got that thug Nixon out of office. They made life a little better -- until about 1976 -- for the poorest and/or most disadvantaged US citizens. We'd be even worse off now if the hippies et. al. hadn't marched.
There's a lampost in a neighborhood near a friend of mine's house which has been spraypainted to read: "If you go to war, we will riot."
Only I don't remember any riots.
And I'm pretty sure we went to war.
I think part of the problem may be that the potential revolters realize that the "establishment" has a whole lot more control and power now than they did in the 60's. Another part of the problem is that the young people of today grew up in an era of microwaves, music videos, and the internet. We're used to instant results. And when the post-2000 protests failed to unseat W, and the pre-war protests failed to prevent or even delay our assault on Iraq, I think a lot of the protesters became disheartened and frustrated, and have given up much more quickly than their 1960's counterparts.
I had hoped that this film would have inspired and incited a new wave of protest and public rage among progressives, which I had hoped would lead to heightened levels of anti-Bush awareness and discussion amongst the undecided or apathetic, thereby swinging the polls definitively in Kerry's favor.
Or at least I'd have liked to hear Kerry comment on the film.
Posted by: aaron at July 13, 2004 01:42 PMYeah, I think that you both have good points, but there's something more that's missing. I mean, there were *massive* protests in the weeks leading up to the war, and they got no response other than snickering from the media and the government. No one even felt the need to respond with anything more substantive than "You anti-American pinkos!" And yeah, we should have kept it up, but I fear that there's a bigger problem here: liberal Americans have let ourselves become marginalized, and worse, have let ourselves be convinced that we are an unsupported minority in Amwerican politics. You hardly hear any liberal discourse that's not phrased like it's an apology, or a dirty confession. We're on the defensive, and we're allowing extremists on the far right set the tone of discourse to a level of "You're a weener!" "No, you're a weener!" How many good solid fact-based arguments (hint: not "NO BLOOD FOR OIL!") were there against the war before we went in, and how many did you ever hear on the nightly news?
I think that the American left has lost something that made the protesters of the 60s successful: a sense that they were a part of something positive, and not just reacting to something negative. I think, because it plays well on TV and in the movies, that it's easy to get the impression that protesting *against* things is what being progressive is all about. But this misses the point, that there's a backbone to the movement that consists of building up something better to replace the bad things you want to tear down. I think this contributes to the increasingly heated, divisive and nonsensical discourse between the right and the left in this country. And while we all carp at each other, both the political parties veer away from representing *any* Americans, even the moderates that still make up most of the voting populace.
This probably makes no sense - it's just something I've been mulling over lately. I think we need a "Liberal's Guide to Civic Duty" to remind us that our job doesn't end with pointing out the terrible things that are happening. We also need to know enough to suggest a positive alternative, and work toward it. As someone who's pretty confident, although chagrined, in predicting that were it not for 9/11, the War on Terror, and the various excesses of the military, I would not be able to name the current Secretary of Defense, I realize that I have a lot of damn work to do.
Posted by: Hilatron at July 14, 2004 09:20 AMI've been trying to be active in getting GWB out of the office he stole. I will do my best.. and I sometimes wonder if it is enough.
I'm with you.. we burned out.. its time to energize again.
Posted by: Lizzie at July 14, 2004 03:08 PM