Got into a heated debate this weekend with a neighbor over Moore's film and the war in general. Working class guy, Greek immigrant, incredibly nice and open, the kind of guy who, if he sees you walking near his house, yells out, "Hey Dennis! Come and have a drink! Just one drink!" Full of life, and it seems, full of fear. I asked if he'd seen "9/11," and while he said he'd like to, he was afraid that it would be more Liberal Press lies about the president's holy crusade. When I prodded him on this, he erupted about the out-of-work slackers who protest the war while guys like him and me work for a living and contribute to society (my response that there are plenty of working people marching against the war was pretty much ignored), and about how only Fox News was "pro-America" while the "Communist News Network" undermined our efforts to eradicate the 9/11 terrorists in Iraq. And so on. I knew he leaned to the right, but till now had no idea how much. It took me a half-hour to untangle as much of the above as I could, and though he conceded some things, and admitted that perhaps he over-simplified a few of his points ("CNN is pro-communist?" I asked, letting the question hang there for a moment to allow the absurdity to sink in), he stood his ground overall, defending a position that rests on fantasies, ideological need, and fear.
So, comrades, how do we approach people like this? In my case, I'm in good with the guy, so my lefty takes, while strange and to a degree frightening to him, don't come from an an unknown place. But what if I just met the guy, say, after a screening of "9/11"? If, as many here have suggested, it's up to us to take what we can from the film and expand it to those in our daily lives, then what is a good approach? Because at some point you will hit a wall. Do we chip at it, try to smash it, or simply climb over it?
DP