Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to torontomike.com. I received the following submission earlier today.
Best Intentions
I've always been a cynic. I even slapped my own ass the day I was born because I didn't trust the doctor. My inclination to believe that all people are motivated by selfishness has served me well. Cynicism provides a grassy-green buffer of neutrality between truth and falsehood, just wide enough in which to graze whilst sizing up the intentions and motives of other human beings.
Speaking of grazing on the green stuff, I went to see 'Fahrenheit 9/11' yesterday. The documentary was well made - really well made in fact - and some of the content raised my eyebrows more than once. However, as impressed as I was by his artful collage of disturbing images, I have never been a huge fan of Michael Moore the huge person. My distaste for him has nothing to do with political leanings, as I do not necessarily espouse with either the Left or Right. My distaste has to do with motives.
I watched as Michael Moore was interviewed on a news magazine program several weeks ago. During the first part of the interview, the host graciously allowed Moore to dispense his political views and promote his film. Once the formal niceties had been exhausted, Moore was then asked some of the tougher questions pertaining to his motives for producing this overtly lopsided political film during an election year; suggesting of course that he was simply an opportunistic hypocrite and/or a paid propagandist for the Left. Moore appeared to be blindsided by some of the questioning as he blushed and giggled like a child that had been caught cheating at a Monopoly game.
Yesterday, as I sat enlightened through his excellent film, the irony of it all was not lost; "The love of money is the root of all evil." - even with the best intentions.
Marty
Michael Moore is an opinionated fellow, but he's never tried to hide this fact. He does support every opinion with a fact though, and he's done a very good job of backing up the validity of these facts.
I suspect Moore's motivations are more political than commercial. Moore was recently asked if he minded that people are downloading and sharing his documentary on the internet. Below was his response.
I don't agree with copyright laws and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it...as long as they're not trying to make a profit off my labor...
I make these movies and books and TV shows because I want things to change, and so the more people who get to see them, the better.
Call me a naive twit if you must, but I believe the guy.
