[lbo-talk] Oil, Conspiracy Theory, and F 9/11 Re: Dude, Why are you fronting?

[joanna bujes]

Not to put words in Doug's mouth or anything...but the carping, 
hyper-critical lefty reaction to F9/11 is disappointing. Here we have a 
movie that is packing the theaters, inspiring documentary makers, 
criticizing the media-as-usual, and will likely prove to have more of a 
political influence than any lefty blog I can think of. And instead of 
talking to each other about what the next step is, we write little 
nitpicky articles about all the little ways that Moore went wrong.

I'm actually not that crazy about Moore, but I really appreciate his 
ability to inspire ordinary people to want to underrstand what's going 
on and to want to change it. A while ago, a now obscure Russian writer 
wrote a didactic novel called "What Is to Be Done?" I read the book; it 
was well-intentioned but very short-sighted, very naive, sometimes 
silly. Nevertheless, this book touched a very sore nerve at just the 
right time. It is forgotten now as is its author. But Lenin's "What Is 
to Be Done" depended on the popularity and appeal of that book, and is 
held to be a classic by some.

Never mind blaming Michael Moore for not being what he is clearly not -- 
a subtle, brilliant revolutionary. He is a muckraking celebrity with 
some guts and the willingness to work for change. Surely he could have 
retired by now. But no, he made a movie that has prepared the ground for 
you to do some good work on, and his next movie will be on health care. 
I'm satisfied. You?

Joanna

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:


>> Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
>> Wed Jul 7 13:08:16 PDT 2004
>
> <snip>
>
>> Joseph Wanzala wrote:
>>
>>> Michael Moore is one of America's most famous dissidents.
>>
>>
>> So he must be a liar, a fool, a dupe, or a hack. Let's piss all over 
>> him in the interests of deeper marginality! Because marginality is 
>> pure and is rich ground for paranoia to grow in. It makes us feel 
>> safer to have no influence and to mutter bitterly about the secret 
>> conspiracies of the powerful, whose details are mysteriously 
>> revealed  to us, so that we may feel even more powerless.
>>
>> Doug
>
>
> What distinguishes Michael Moore's conspiracy theories about oil 
> (especially the UNOCAL angle), the Saudi Connection, Big Tobacco, etc. 
> from the sort that you would normally be the first to hold in contempt?
>
> F 9/11 is certainly popular, and there are many things that I like 
> about it (which I posted elsewhere), but there is no question that 
> Moore, because of his popularity, will make some common conspiracy 
> theories more popular -- and probably more respectable -- than before.