In honor of his newly released film , I thought I should write something about the illustrious filmmaker Michael Moore. Too many people have already lauded the merits of his documentary, though, so I’ve decided to take a different approach. Instead of adding one more rave review to the pile I’ve collected some of the thoughts from the mind of this brilliant American polemicist.
Moore has been giving interviews since the release of his first film ( Roger and Me ) in 1989, so it wasn’t difficult to find a significant amount of material from which to cull his sharp insights. I believe that, like me, you will gain a deeper appreciation for this illustrious artist after reading Moore’s sage views:
On How Conservatives Misrepresent His True Image
[Conservatives] have created a fictional character using my name. Everything they say—he doesn’t love his country, he’s godless—is the opposite of who I am. I’m a person who deeply loves his country. I’m an Eagle Scout. My uncle was killed in World War II. I still go to Mass. ( USA Today )
On Patriotism
You do not seem to like the U.S., do you?
MM: I like America to some extent. ( Japan Today )
On American Culture
You could’ve thrown a dart at any town on the map in America and done a tour similar to the one I did in Denver of the military installations, of the nuclear missles, the military culture that we live in.
Historians will write about us in the same way we now read of the Greeks and the Romans—as warrior cultures hell bent on killing people. ( ABC )
On Optimism
Maybe what I’m saying is that maybe I’m just crazy. That maybe there isn’t any hope for the United States. We’ve had our moment, we had a chance to do great things with it. We started out by doing a few good things but then we blew it. And now, maybe there isn’t any hope. I still think there’s hope for you, for [the UK] and for the rest of the world. You haven’t quite turned into us yet. ( The Guardian )
On Proof of God’s Existence
There is a God because he’s sending Gustav to the Gulf Coast [at the same time of the Republican convention]. ( Hot Air )
On the Teachings of Christ
I am a very spiritual person—I don’t talk about it publicly that much, but I went to the seminary when I was in high school; I read the New Testament. And let me tell you something: There is nowhere in the four Gospels where Jesus uses the word homosexual, nor the word abortion. The right wing has appropriated this guy. It makes you think, what someone can do in your name a thousand years from now. And they have used him to attack gays and lesbians, when he never said a single word against people who are homosexual. Anyone who professes to be a Christian and does that is certainly not following the teachings of Jesus Christ. ( IMDB )
On Wealth and Capitalism
I’m a millionaire, I’m a multi-millionaire. I’m filthy rich. You know why I’m a multi-millionaire? ‘Cause multi-millions like what I do. That’s pretty good, isn’t it? There’s millions that believe in what I do. Pretty cool, huh?” ( Arcata Eye )
On Small Businesses
If the small businesses suck they’ll be driven out of business. If they got a good restaurant, people will go there and eat. You know in my town the small businesses that everyone wanted to protect? They were the people that supported all the right-wing groups. They were the Republicans in the town, they were in the Kiwanas, the Chamber of Commerce - people that kept the town all white.
The small hardware salesman, the small clothing store salespersons, Jesse the Barber who signed his name three different times on three different petitions to recall me from the school board. F*** all these small businesses f*** ‘em all! Bring in the chains. The small businesspeople are the rednecks that run the town and suppress the people. F*** ‘em all. That’s how I feel.” ( Arcata Eye )
On Gun Owners
These people [the NRA?] are insane and they have to be stopped. And the majority of Americans, according to every poll, want gun control. This group succeeds with a minority position and I think it’s time to hear from the other side; time for the other side to not be afraid to stand up for what they believe in and until we correct the mental problem, we have to put the guns away. So I do believe in gun control—guns have to be put aside until we can act more Canadian-like. ( The Guardian )
On His Opinions
Jeez, I think I’m right. The things I believe in, I believe strongly enough in them and I think I’m right. When I’m wrong, then I change my mind and I’m right again. ( The Guardian )
On Supporting Small Businesses
GJ: Did you try to sell your book to one of the small publishers?
MM: No. Why would I do that? Why would I want to go to a small publisher that has a hard time getting the book in stores and won’t be read by as many people? Why would I do that? ( Montreal Serai )
On the 9/11 Attacks
Q: Do you have a theory as to who did it?
MM: Yeah. I’ll give you a hint. If 15 of the 19 guys all come from one country, and that country’s called Saudi Arabia, and you bomb Afghanistan, did we miss? If 15 out the 19 hijackers came from Cuba, do you think we’d bomb Bolivia? I don’t think so. But we can’t bomb daddy’s oil buddies, can we? ( The Guardian )
On Why 9/11 Happened
Q: Do you have a theory as to why September 11 happened?
MM: Do I have to go through the whole next movie for you? There’s a company called Unical. They wanted to build a pipeline through Afghanistan - the Taliban were meeting with them in Houston for a number of years in the late 90s.
The BBC already ran the news here. That story exists - but the why was not because the third world was rising up to destroy America; the people who attacked America on September 11 were multimillionaires and billionaires. Even the minions they got to perform the act of murder were not people from the camps, the poor - they were middle class and upper middle class hijackers. ( The Guardian )
On His Financial Backers
Q: Did you have problems financing [Bowling for Columbine]?
MM: No. It was financed by Canadians, and it took them 30 seconds to give me the money. And they pleaded with me to take all that positive stuff about Canadians out because they were embarrassed by it. ( The Guardian )
On Good Hearted People
What’s always been great about people who are Democrats and progressive people, liberals, independents, whoever classifies themselves along that end of the political spectrum, it’s that you’re there because you have a good heart. ( Buzzflash )
On His Influences
Q: Who/what are the influences on your work?
MM: Monty Python ( The Guardian )
On Welfare Reform Programs
It’s not just problems with the welfare-to-work. It’s inherently evil. It’s an act of terrorism. ( Spliced )
On Serial Killers and Race
MM: You can’t name a black serial killer in the US.
Audience members: Wayne Williams.
MM: He did not do it. That’s a very good point - I wish somebody would make a movie about that. There are no black serial killers. That was the oddest thing that came out of that - that he and his stepson were black. ( The Guardian )
[Ed. note: Wayne Williams was the key suspect in the Atlanta Child Murders that occurred between 1979 and 1981]
On Colin Powell
Now this year, Colin Powell in all the public opinion polls would beat everybody. Is that amazing? Do you realize that we still have a problem with race in the country? A huge problem. A huge divisive problem regarding race. And yet Americans are so upset at what is going on in this country right now they’re willing to set aside their own personal racism and vote for someone they would not want living next door to them or marrying their daughter. ( Images Journal )
On Future Projects
And I’m writing a half hour sitcom for CBS called “Bob Is Black.” The first episode is about a guy named Bob who gets passed over for a promotion by a black guy. He’s mad, and he thinks blacks have it so good . . . The next day he wakes up and he’s black. It’s a very provocative, “All in the Family”-type show about a white guy who has to live like a black man in America.
The thing about Bob, he maintains all his beliefs. He’s still a white man. He thinks like a white man, he dances like a white man, has sex like a white man. But to everyone else, he’s black. So we’ll see if I can get this on. ( TV Barn )
On the War in Iraq
What do you think is the reason for the war?
MM: The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich. The U.S. government claims to bring democracy to Iraq; however, no country in the world takes such an assertion seriously. It is an illusion. ( Japan Today )
On Recycling
Recycling creates an illusion of saving the planet. ( Arcata Eye )
On Truth
AC: But documentary can be as manipulative as fiction, can’t it? If you want to make it that way, you can make the facts fit.
MM: But that’s true of anything. ( The Guardian )
While I have you, can I ask you something? I’ll be quick.
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