The Frinklin and Fred Show

I saw Fahrenheit 9/11. Are they gonna take away my GOP membership card?

Yep, the Frinklin family recently rented the Michael Moore opus via the wonderful people at Netflix. It was the Missus idea; we seem to be running the gauntlet of anti-Republican movies. We have just seen Outfoxed, and Unprecedented is coming up. I have reason to believe the Missus is attempting to sway me.

So, since I am a Republican, everyone should be expecting me to denounce this mix of outlandish conspiracy theories, audacious lies and maliciously twisted half-truths.

Well, I’m not.

Do not get me wrong, that is the movie. Moore’s favorite play is to put himself inside the head of George W. Bush and automatically assign the worst possible motive for everything he does. According to Fahrenheit 9/11, the President doesn’t keep reading with the children after learning the second plane has struck the WTC because he is, at heart a normal guy who’s stunned and horrified. No, he does it because he’s busy coming up with ways to blame Iraq and make sure the Saudis aren’t blamed. In Michael Moore’s world, we don’t attack Afghanistan because, I dunno, it is a terrorist haven; base to those attacked the US and killed 3,000 people. No, we do it because Unocal wants a pipeline to Caspian Sea natural gas reserves and that pesky Taliban won’t let them. The view of Iraq in the movie is that of a peaceful place, where nothing happens except for pretty summer days made for playing in the park. It goes without saying that we brutally attacked these people for no reason whatsoever. And please, don’t go looking for any American troops who support the mission or the President. American soldiers come in two flavors in Fahrenheit 9/11: those who have been brainwashed into committing acts of conscienceless violence, such as singing along to “The Roof is on Fire” when yes, the roof is on fire and people are dying; or those so embittered and cynical they can’t wait to leave and see, like Moore and his ilk, no purpose in being in Iraq.

Not everything in this movie is wrong though. For whatever the reason, seeing our President frozen like a deer in the headlights for seven minutes after the second plane (I was always under the impression this happened after the first), is disconcerting to say the least. The relationship between the Bush family and the Saudis is also disconcerting, and it’s difficult to see the reasoning behind letting the Bin Laden family leave while the US airports were closed. However, as Moore himself points out, about 7% of the US economy is under Saudi control. Were they too get angry enough to withdraw it the results would be catastrophic. Finally, whenever a nation goes to war, they should see what it really means, to both the troops and those it is at war against. Nowhere on American TV do you see that.

You know what? None of this matters. Nothing that I say, I mean. Most conservatives are going to think me as some sort of liberal dupe for watching the movie. Most liberals are going to see me as a typical conservative liar who watches the movie just so I can disagree with it. And that’s where we are; beyond merely disagreeing with something, it has to be demonized too. Is there any more or less truth in Fahrenheit 9/11 then in an Anne Coulter book? Or the Swift Boat Vets? Of course not. We’ve become so Balkanized in this country that whatever you are on the political spectrum, you have talking heads to tell you not to worry, that everything you believe is right. And those people who disagree with you? They aren’t people of good conscience who have different views, no, those people are liars and cheats and thieves, don’t you listen to anything that they say.

I’m sure that this has always been the way, that back at the turn of the last century, each political party had it’s own newspapers and only printed what they agreed with. It doesn’t make it right, and it doesn’t make this any less tragic

Posted by Frinklin at October 12, 2004 05:30 PM