Reply #61: Why the scare quotes? [View All]

You've probably seen my work, anyway.

Meanwhile, you may not realize how much checking goes into a (nonpolemical) broadcast documentary...it takes a large part of my pre-production time. However, ultimately, every presentation of fact relies upon the presenter's choices about which facts to present, how to apply rhetorical and cinematic tools to emphasize or diminish points, how to choose experts to rely upon, and which others to pass by. lol - oh yeah, and about how many shoot days you can afford, and how to cover for the line producer who just got arrested for cocaine possession at the airport. To think there is a single shining truth to be shown in a documentary is to still be in tenth grade. Even the stuff I did for NOVA involved these kinds of choices.

That said, remember that this is DU (an opinion-posting place), not a documentary, and (!!) different expectations apply. I'm not anyone's Google mommy here. ;-)

I complimented Moore upthread...but not unabashedly or fervently, so out came the long knives. The usual suspects scanned my first post, ignored the actual point I was making, and then demanded I justify the opinion they've fantasized that I have - while notably not justifying their own. This is the kind of behavior that one expects from True Believers, as described so elegantly by Eric Hoffer. One sees it in Scientologists, fundamentalist Christians and Islamicists, anarchists - on and on, among those who've surrendered their personal identity to take on the identity of their chosen group and its prophets. Deep self-righteous nastiness feels sooooo gooooood. It makes you feel Important(tm) because you Have the Truth and It Has Unleased Your Terrible Swift Sword.

Here's a link. So good, so valuable, especially in these Bush-dominated times.
http://www.amazon.com/True-Believer-Thoughts-Movements-Perennial/dp/0060505915/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-2720660-8775239?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182181819&sr=8-1

I'm glad there's diversity of opinion at this site; exposure to ideas not identical to our own is the chief benefit of a discussion site. It's why I'm here - to exchange views with thoughtful commentators, even (especially) if we differ. Those who feel justified to vomit unprovoked nastiness at someone whose opinions they don't like are saying a lot more about who they are than about who I am. They also have zero chance of propagating their views...but that irony escapes them. I remember a spittle-flecked ranter at the airport in Chicago a few years ago. lol - I think he was pissed off about Peace (not actual peace). They all think they are sui generis. Actually, they are the grass of this world.

As I said previously, I admire Moore's skills, think he serves a useful and valuable function, and vote with my $$ by buying his films. But I do think we must be smarter consumers of media, and learn how to analyze works by Moore and other political film-makers. That whole truth-to-power thing, you know. (Personally, I treat Moore's films as guilty pleasures, as entertainment that also provokes thoughtful questions.) A failure to develop the skills of critical analysis gives other people the power to fill our heads with *their* ideas, at the cost of our own. In other words, to be under their power. (Picture Nuremberg for an image of that writ large.) Which is about as illiberal and antiprogressive a condition as I can imagine.