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Fahrenheit 9/11

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At first I liked this film.  After awhile I felt kind of bitter at this film.  Despite the fact I think Moore does offer some effective challenges to the dishonesty of the current US administration, he does things in such a way that completely turn me off. 

The first section of the film didn’t engage me.  I was beginning to nod off.  It did pick up when I started seeing footage of the families of people who had lost loved ones in the war.  This was the best part of the film.  In times of conflict we need to be reminded of the human cost for war. There are times when I felt tears welling up as I was deeply impacted by the suffering of people in the Iraq war.

In the film Moore appeals to the emotions of his hearers but fails to bring a compelling comprehensive argument.  He does his best to portray G.W. Bush in a poor light.  There were times he seemed to be mocking the president and other members of the US administration.  These portrayals failed to convince me Bush is the idiot Moore makes him out to be, but they did convince me that Moore will resort to petty and immature attacks. Much of Moore’s argument is flimsy and it’s based on a lot of innuendo and circumstantial evidence.  The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation did a far more honest documentary on the links between the Bin Ladens and the Bush family.  

There are many who live insulated by right wing politics and ideology.  When someone like Moore offers an effective challenge people usually respond in one of two ways.  Reject the message because Moore is perceived as a Bush hating, biased, and dishonest left wing nut.  The other is to see what Moore presents as the light of salvation illuminating the path out of ignorance to freedom.  The problem is that neither reaction serves people well.  Just because someone is biased that doesn’t mean they are wrong.  Just because Moore exposes the lies and inconsistencies of the current US Administration that doesn’t mean everything he says is the truth.

I found inconsistencies and half truths in my first viewing.  In one segment Moore mocks the coalition of the willing by citing only the weakest countries on the list, complete with imagery that would mock their military capability.  He failed to mention England, Spain, Japan and the Ukraine.  Check out spinsanity if you want to see someone cut through more of the BS in this film. 

In the film Moore quotes George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984.  Orwell would roll over in his grave at this.  The blatant emotional manipulation and the doctoring of truth found in Fahrenheit 9/11 is employed by the totalitarian regime found in 1984.  I would argue that Moore’s film is a tame version of Orwell’s “2 minutes of hate” where the regime to forced the people to view propaganda which inflamed the emotions of the people and demonized the enemies of the state.

I was probably not in a very receptive mood for this film.  In the recent election the party I supported resorted to using emotionally manipulative ads.  In our age of mass visual media democracy has suffered.  The sad fact is fear motivates more than hope.  The ignorance of the electorate tempts political parties to sway their vote through manipulative means.  This contributes to even more cynicism and more ignorance.  Each year the manipulation becomes more blatant and less people show up to vote.  Fahrenheit 9/11 is just another example of the sad state of democracy in North America.