Michael Moore. (photo: Scott McDermott/Guardian UK)
21 September 14
readersupportednews.org
The following is an excerpt from a speech Michael Moore gave at Toronto International Film Festival this month.
Now look, I realize that in America -- 310 million
people -- there are a lot of stone cold idiots, a lot of stupid people
among us. In fact, I will grant you that there's a good 100 million
idiot, stupid, ignorant Americans. And, yes, that's a lot of stupidity
to be surrounded by. But that also means that there are 210 million
Americans who AREN'T stupid, who have a brain, or at least half a brain.
Don't worry about those other people. Instead, focus on the majority --
they're the ones who are going to make change happen anyway. But don't
tell them stuff they already know. Take them someplace they haven't
been. Show them something they've never seen.
When we were making Roger & Me, I asked
the Deputy Sheriff who was evicting the family on Christmas Eve, taking
down their Christmas tree and putting it and the kids' Christmas
presents out on the curb, I asked, "Do you do this on Christmas Eve
every year?" And he said, "Oh, I do four or five every Christmas." I
said, "How come I've never seen this?" And he said, "I don't know, I do
it all over town in broad daylight."
There are four TV stations in
Flint, all with news departments. Why have I never seen this on
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Instead, I get the same goddamn three
stories on Christmas every year: the Pope said midnight mass last night.
Shocker!
The weatherman on the 11 o'clock news is tracking Santa's
sleigh as it crosses Canada. He's always over Canada. And maybe if there
is a political story, it's about the ACLU wanting the nativity statues
taken off the lawn of City Hall. Aren't those the three Christmas
stories, year in and year out, on the local news? I never saw in all my
years in Flint a family's Christmas tree, in the presence of their
children, being tossed to the curb because their parents are $150 behind
on their rent. And I think that is a crime. And that's our job, to show
people things that they are not being shown. Don't tell them the things
they already know.
When making "Roger & Me," I told the staff, the
crew, the editors, we are making a film about the unemployment capital
of the U.S. -- and there is not to going to be one shot of the
unemployment line in the film. I am not going to use the same old images
that are used week in and week out. People are numb to these images.
They see them over and over again. We need to show them something that
will make them sit up in their seats saying, Jesus, this is not the
America I want to live in!
6 comments:
Words from the common man.
Michael Moore's net worth:
Michael Moore is a documentary filmmaker and author who has a net worth of $50 million.
Anyone want to bet that he lives in a gated community, in an area suffering from a drought and has a pool.
But that's ok, because he's a liberal, it's only one of his 9 houses and it isn't in Chaparral Pines or The Rim.
Sorry, but you're wrong. Traverse City, Mich. where Moore lives is not a gated community and is not suffering from a drought. I am from Flint, Mich., Moore's hometown. My brother went to school with him. I know a little about Michael Moore and I can tell you this: he is true to his beliefs and values. He is one of us.
You have got to be kidding. I'm sure he lives just like us.....in one of his 9 homes.
All depends on what you mean by "us." I'm sure he lives like "me," but I wonder if he lives like "you." We have become a nation of "them" who have way more than they need and "we" who struggle to get by. What's it going to take to make "them" realize that they better start playing nice and sharing their toys? This isn't a game.
You are so inconsistent.
You hate the wealthy, anyone that lives in a gated community and anyone that that says you can make it with hard work.
But yet you idolize this guy who is WAY beyond being a 1%er.
You make statements like.."We have become a nation of "them" who have way more than they need". and
"they better start playing nice and sharing their toys?"
Do you realize how much time, money, work and generosity is donated by the people that live in gated communities in this town. And believe it or not, a large percentage of them are liberal.
You hate them yet you idolize Moore.
I actually have two friends in Chaparral Pines. One is in the process of building a new house so he can get out (he's a conservative). The other (a liberal) tells me everybody he meets in CP is conservative. I just don't see how you can have liberal/progressive values and live in a gated community.
And I guess the reason I don't have a problem with Michael Moore having a lot of money is that he has done so much good in earning it - and, of course, he doesn't live in a gated community.
I don't know how you could know how much your neighbors give in money and "generosity" (whatever that is), but I don't doubt that there are good people in Chaparral Pines. The concept of a gated community which takes public water for its private golf course and keeps the rest of us locked out is just elitist and maybe even mean-spirited in my mind. Nothing personal.
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