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Moore is not less
Feb. 22nd, 2013 10:25 pmI've been listening to the audiobook of "Here Comes Trouble," the memoir filmmaker and activist Michael Moore published last year (or was it 2011?) on my way to and from work. They're mostly stories from childhood so far, but the one with which he leads off was the negative response to his March 2003 acceptance speech at that year's Oscars for "Bowling for Columbine," where, to angry boos, he warned the world about a fictitious president going to war for fictitious reasons ... four days after the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq.
At first, I was surprised to hear how much danger and threat he was under in the years following that. I remember that speech at the time he made it; I remember he was one of the very few public people willing to criticize the action - some friends and I also thought Bush & Co. was lying about the WMDs, but of course we weren't (and still aren't) famous, and we sure couldn't get the exposure to be noticed like someone of his level of fame could. (My LJ doesn't go back to 2003, so I can't prove it in writing - but I can definitely prove I had been a skeptic of the war for a long time by January 2004, when I wrote this entry. Kudos to my lone commenter at the time who also saw the writing on the wall.)
Moore's account forced me to remember what things were like 10 years ago ... and 12 years ago ... and just about six years ago. I don't have children; I won't have them; but if I ever have nieces or nephews, or am in some way in a position to speak with people much younger than me in 20, 30 years, and they ever mention the early 2000s to me - perhaps after reading about Moore's speech, or anti-war protesters, or history, or any other number of sources - and they say "that all sounds too crazy - people weren't really THAT gung-ho about the wars, were they?" Well - it occurs to me that I will be in a position to say "All that, and worse." And if my memory holds up, I can tell them about that speech and its reaction ... and my Thanksgiving that was ruined because an entire houseful of people who worshiped Bush/Cheney as infallible made me feel two inches tall for disagreeing ... and the friend I lost over similar disagreements (not me dumping her, but her refusing to further speak to me because I asked her politely to stop sending me hatefully racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-tolerance political email forwards).
At first, I was surprised to hear how much danger and threat he was under in the years following that. I remember that speech at the time he made it; I remember he was one of the very few public people willing to criticize the action - some friends and I also thought Bush & Co. was lying about the WMDs, but of course we weren't (and still aren't) famous, and we sure couldn't get the exposure to be noticed like someone of his level of fame could. (My LJ doesn't go back to 2003, so I can't prove it in writing - but I can definitely prove I had been a skeptic of the war for a long time by January 2004, when I wrote this entry. Kudos to my lone commenter at the time who also saw the writing on the wall.)
Moore's account forced me to remember what things were like 10 years ago ... and 12 years ago ... and just about six years ago. I don't have children; I won't have them; but if I ever have nieces or nephews, or am in some way in a position to speak with people much younger than me in 20, 30 years, and they ever mention the early 2000s to me - perhaps after reading about Moore's speech, or anti-war protesters, or history, or any other number of sources - and they say "that all sounds too crazy - people weren't really THAT gung-ho about the wars, were they?" Well - it occurs to me that I will be in a position to say "All that, and worse." And if my memory holds up, I can tell them about that speech and its reaction ... and my Thanksgiving that was ruined because an entire houseful of people who worshiped Bush/Cheney as infallible made me feel two inches tall for disagreeing ... and the friend I lost over similar disagreements (not me dumping her, but her refusing to further speak to me because I asked her politely to stop sending me hatefully racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-tolerance political email forwards).
