Conspiracy Theories

The biggest problem with Fahrenheit 9/11 is that people will confuse it with A Documentary, versus A Viewpoint. The fact that Moore ignores America's unconditional backing of Israel (and how that sense of unfairness plays in the Arab world) then barely admits that the coalition includes the UK, torpedos his credibility. If he really wanted to present a documentary, he would've shown both sides. As I opined yesterday: he's getting better as a filmmaker, but much of the movie is still Vintage Michael moore.

If you've seen Michael Moore's prior work, you'll know that he never met a conspiracy theory that he didn't love. More Distortions from Michael Moore (by Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball) is an important read, highlighting several problems with the film. Some of Moore's conspiracy theories are red herrings; he could have done better, had he not aimed for theatrics. I suspect he's only marginally smarter than the target of this film.

Numbing: The Puppet's quote: "after all, Saddam tried to kill my daddy!" (he comes off as a Class A Goober, and appears to believe that alone justifies war). Was greed (by a few people) the real reason for the The Puppet's Oil War(using the al-Qaada attack on 9/11 as a pretext)? Does this make me a believer in Real Conspiracy Theories? Hmm.

Moore undoubtedly picked the juiciest of all the Bush-Saudi connections and ignored the rest. This is not to say that greed hasn't driven a lot of bad policy. The scenes of seminars explaining how to make obscene profits in rebuilding Iraq were most disturbing. Companies such as Halliburton come off smelling like huge rotting fish corpses.

I'm betting Michael Moore hasn't read the terrifying account of WMDs, from the week of 5 October 2003: George W Bush.com :: Official Blog

It bothers me that The Regressives (Christian Fascist Republican Party) appear in control, by proxy. Is there a goal of a Return To Mayberry, turning the USA into The Stepford Nation? What The Regressives won't accept is that 1) "Mayberry" was not idyllic for a lot of people; 2) the world is a place where hidden agendas are the norm; 3) problems cannot always be light-hearted and solved in a 22-minute episode (allowing 8 minutes for commercials).

Related: the "OREO Animation" on TrueMajority.org is a simplified explanation of the problem with our military spending.

Jill-Bob and I had a brief discussion about Mandatory Voter Testing, where people would have to prove they are logical. When someone indicates they're voting for someone because "he has nice hair", their voter card would be taken away. I like this idea! Good thing such a plan could never be abused, and that it's completely objective.

I found a Texas Request for Voter Registration Applications, and noticed that you're only required to certify that you're not insane. And over 18 years old. Hmm.

Unrelated: Godwin's Law FAQ (How to post about Nazis and get away with it)