Isaw Fahrenheit 9/11 tonight. Depending on who you ask, my ticket stub is good eitherfor admission into the left-liberal Hall of Fame or the corner of hell reservedfor Communists and people who buy foreign automobiles. For the record, I likedthe film -- so that should help you clarify what box you want to put me in.
Regardless of whether you agree with Michael Moore’s politics or not, Ithink the film is significant for a number of reasons. First, it communicates apoint of view that differs from the mainstream line of thought. By acting as acounterpoint to the general position on the war on terror, the film incitesdebate. Even if you disagree with the film’s position, its very existenceforces you to process its content in some way and think about why youfind it so great/horrible. Prior to Moore’s film, there really had beenno mainstream media vehicle critical of the Bush administration’spolicies; since what most people think about is largely driven by what’spresented by the mainstream media, a whole side of the dialectical process wasmissing prior to the film. It’s much easier to make good decisions whenyou have two differing positions to compare and contrast – it gives you abasis for examining their relative strengths and weakness – than it is toform an informed, reasoned opinion given only one point of reference. Moore’sfilm injects a different opinion into the public forum, and I think that’sa very good thing.
On a larger scale, though, Moore’s film tells us that it is still OK to publiclydisagree with the politically correct. I got a little bit scared when George W.got up in front of Congress and gave his “you’re either with us oragainst us” speech. At the time, he was directly addressing the leadersof countries who harbor terrorists. However, there was a more subtle, moreindirect consequence of that line – whether he intended to or not, he wassetting new standards for the acceptable range of political opinion (if you don’tbelieve me, ask yourself this: in January of 2002, would you have feltcomfortable telling someone you sympathized with the plight of the Palestinianpeople? Would you feel more comfortable doing that today?). Looking at history,times of war are characterized by the need to identify others as either friendor foe – even off the battlefield. In these times, the definition of “enemy”tends to creep toward “someone who disagrees with the mainstream”. Assuch, it becomes socially taboo to hold contrarian opinions. However, thecornerstone of democracy is the idea that people are free to think forthemselves and hold whatever opinions they want, regardless of how politicallyunpopular those opinions may currently be. Furthermore, they have the right toopenly express those opinions in public, without fear of political or social repercussions.By proudly proclaiming the contrarian viewpoint in a visible and public way,Moore’s film tells us that it is once again safe to be a free thinker.
DidFahrenheit 9/11 change my political views? Well, I’ll put it this way –I’m no more likely to vote for Bush now than I was before I saw the film.But, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think changing people’sminds was really Michael Moore’s primary intent.
