Re: Michael Moore????? Why the criticism??
[QUOTE=GregWhelan]
Was just curious as to why he gets negative press when he is obviously striving for a 'better' America?[/QUOTE]
Seriously, part of it is that he is an open critic of the Bush administration. The way the Republican Noise Machine works, critics of the adminstration are villified and demonized, often on a personal level. Look at Joe Wilson, for example. Regardless of what your thought is on the whole Plame-Rove-Libby thing is, it is undisputed that the administration sought to counter the criticisims Joe Wilson had about the administration by attacking Joe Wilson personally. It is what they do.
Substantively, some of the criticims of Moore are warranted. His filmmaking is more entertainment than true documentary, and his films are unquestionably skewed to fit his agenda. On the other hand, they are pretty entertaining -- you just have to watch them with your eyes open about what you are actually seeing.
Moore's films get people talking, and for that, I think he serves a useful purpose. The problem, however, is that the message at times gets lost in the discussion over accuracy of his claims. Critics of F9/11, for example, were quick to criticize him for creative edits and things like that, and much of the debate centered around stupid shit that doesn't matter -- for example, right out of the gate in F9/11, footage is shown of a Gore rally on election day 2000 claiming victory. Critics of the film were quick to correctly point out that the movie implies that the rally was held in the evening, when in fact it was held that morning, or the day before, I can't remember.
The problem, though, is this: who cares when the rally was held? Ever see a politician express confidence or even promise victory about his chances before the election? Probably at every campaign stop. What does the timing of the rally have to do with the larger message in the film, that Bush is an incompetent boob who is both the beneficiary and promoter of the worst kind of cronyism, and that the Iraq war was a terrible idea? Answer: nothing -- but the debate shifted to the accuracy of the film on this sort of pointless minutiae and the greater message was lost.
Most hard-core conservatives would never watch F9/11. Most hard-core liberals don't need to see it to agree with the message. What the debate over its accuracy did, however, was to insure that many of the people in the middle that might have benefitted from hearing the message would discount it wholesale and never bother to see it. The Republican Noise Machine succeeds again.
[edited to correct typo]