Michael Moore is a jerk. He exaggerates (and sometimes fabricates) his facts to force his extremely liberal point of view on the rest of America. He has little respect for the truth, and he sensationalizes problems with America. He is so quick to criticize everything that is American, and he rarely, if ever, acknowledges what is great about the good ol' U.S. of A.
Irrespective of all this, I still think Michael Moore is one of the greatest celebrities in America.
For those who don't know who Michael Moore is, he is the author of the satires "Downsize This!" and "Stupid White Men," and writer, director and producer of the films "Roger & Me," "The Big One" and recently "Bowling for Columbine." He's also an outspoken supporter of Ralph Nader and the Green party. Every thing he touches reeks of his political agenda.
This does not make him an illegitimate film maker. Recently, "Bowling for Columbine" has been under critical fire. There are blatant inaccuracies in Moore's film. For example, Moore uses editing techniques to vilify NRA President Charlton Heston, uses misleading statistics to convince people that Americans are significantly more violent than every other nation, and uses aggressive, perhaps unethical, interview tactics to embarrass celebrities like Dick Clark.
Certainly these are legitimate gripes for Moore winning an Oscar for best documentary. Documentaries are supposed to be based on facts and the truth. Certainly, Moore's victory is a defeat for purely educational documentaries.
But critics of "Bowling for Columbine," and its inaccuracies should address their concern to the Academy, not to Moore's method of presenting the material. Moore is a satirist. He uses humor and sensationalism to portray his political views. This does not make him an irresponsible journalist, because he is not a journalist. Jonathan Swift, arguably the greatest English satirist of all time, was much like Michael Moore. In his infamous essay "A Modest Proposal," Swift argues that to ameliorate starvation in Ireland the Irish should eat their children. If that's not sensationalism and morbid humor, I don't know what is.
Michael Moore is a Swift for our era. He uses his quasi-documentary and books to satirize American culture. He does not reveal the problems with American society through particularly thorough investigative reporting, but rather through more entertaining means so he can grab the attention of more Americans.
But what value does Moore really serve? Many Americans don't share all of Moore's beliefs. If anything, America is on a more conservative trend after Clinton's scandals and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Moore however, exposes the issues the mainstream press doesn't focus on. This is especially important when news conglomerates show nothing but "Breaking News" about the war in Iraq. Moore makes us ask the questions that many Americans rarely think about. Moore deals with more fundamental, less interesting topics the public isn't interested with when presented in a typical news story format. Moore addresses the great economic disparity that exists in this country, and the failure of modern welfare problems to help not just the poor, but the country as well. Moore makes Americans think about the environment in a way the evening news cannot.
Moore is a muckraker, and America needs more of him. He is a Jonathan Swift, but he's also an Upton Sinclair, author of "The Jungle." He certainly doesn't have the same respect for the truth that the famous progressive had, but he does not need to. He exposes American problems, and people choose whether they're worthy to be acted upon. Even if ideas aren't overly popular, his style of satire is incredibly well liked -- "Stupid White Men" has been on the top of The New York Times bestseller for 53 weeks. Moreover, "Bowling for Columbine" broke the record for "documentaries" at the box office. America loves to hear what he has to say. As many of his critics/fans call him, he is the Rush Limbaugh for the Left.
Moore might have upset a lot of people when he decried the war on Oscar night, and indeed, this was in bad taste. But his actions on Oscar night does not change his satirical genius, or his capability to make the least-engaged citizens involved in political discussion. His ability to dig deep and discover serious injustices prevalent in American society is beneficial to all Americans. His ability to make his muckraking entertaining is priceless. I certainly do not agree with all of Moore's ideas -- sometimes I feel as if he would rather make the United States a socialist country -- but I certainly am glad he is here to challenge the status quo.
(Patrick Harvey is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at pharvey@cavalierdaily.com)
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