James Herod, in the article Chuck0 posted, says Moore never attacks capitalism "per se," but that isn't true.
At the end of Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore provides s a monologue about how class divisions, exploiter and exploited, are hardwired into the US economic system, and how many if not most things in this society won't change unless that class system is abolished. Dunno if he uses the "c" word itself -- capitalism -- but a rose by any other name.... Turns out Moore was quoting Orwell, if memory serves, but when I heard this statement from Moore while watching Fahrenheit 9/11 film I was pretty surprised; it sounded to me like Moore's most extreme indictment of "the system" I'd heard from his lips, condemning the class system as hard-wired into our economy.
There are a lot of people who want to be anti-Moore because they know there is a group of folks who instantly, reflexively adopt a position contrary to Moore as soon as they find out he holds it -- just to be against Moore, because they hate him. It's nice to imagine one is on the side of such folks, but, personally -- fuck'em. Without lube. Just fuck them.
I'm not a fan of how Moore inserts himself rather self-aggrandizingly into his films as peoples' hero/savior, etc., even on issues he has nothing to do with. (Bowling for Columbine.) That gets old. But at base I agree with most of his propositions, even if his means of delivery can grate or get pitifully maudlin.
Do we need a guaranteed minimal degree of healthcare in the US? Yes. I'm sorry if Moore supports it, too, or uses tactics that folks don't like. But I support it anyway, as if Moore never existed.
Many people are against the universal healthcare idea now simply because Moore has made a film about it. A ridiculous reason, but many folks are ridiculous, and what they believe and why they believe it defies understanding. My gf's mom refused to vote for John Kerry in 2004 because "A vote for John Kerry is a vote for Michael Moore." How do you begin to pierce that bubble of incomprehension?
-B.
Chuck wrote:
"Moore's Sicko Analysis | James Herod, July 2007
Moore never mentions the word capitalism, nor does he attack an entire social system based on profit-taking, of which the health care system is just one instance. Moore never attacks capitalism per se, not here, nor in his earlier films."