Fahrenheit 9/11

Fahrenheit 9/11 has just opened in the US. A strange event in itself. An eye-opener into the American scene today….

First, the main media here tried to dismiss the film as of no consequence, and worse, Michael Moore was just making a fuss about Disney refusing to show it as a publicity stunt. No question of “censorship,” not in America!

Then those damm (sorry, beep) Europeans gave the movie the first prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The explanation then was that this was just politics. An attempt by the Europeans to get at Bush ― the film itself of course still had no merit.

Then when it became clear it would be seen in the US, the media then started on how biased it was, clearly not a “real documentary” which of course is “objective.” You kind of blink with disbelief at what you are hearing. So, you might be watching Fox TV channel — which is like “Bush TV” or a state-run station in the old communist block it is so gung-ho and uncritical of “the commander in chief” — actually complaining of other people being biased! They really seem to believe their slogan: “Fair and balanced reporting….” And their stuff is beamed into every living room in the country. At least you have to go to a cinema and pay to see Moore’s view of things. So, you switch channels, and find one of the other “news” channels, but they all seem to have the same scriptwriters.

The Bush lovers are clearly livid about this movie. Having spent all summer beaming their attack ads against Kerry… hey now there’s some objective footage for you…. They want to find any way they can to have the film banned.

Then finally the film opens. At least there are now some people talking about the movie who have actually seen it, rather than just believing what others are saying about it. Despite all attempts to the contrary, including all the compulsory, “of course I don’t agree with everything he says,” stuff, the people who have seen it have to admit it is a good movie. Michael Moore knows his trade.

The basic points of the movie are how Bush in fact didn’t win the 2000 election. He was declared President by the Supreme Court, (Friends of Bush’s Dad, as Michael More puts it), and if Gore had simply said he would accept a total recount of Florida, he would have won. There is an amazing scene where one black representative after another comes forward to object to the way that election had happened, but not one Senator would support them. Without one senator’s signature, they cannot speak at the joint session of Congress. Then there are lots of Shenanigans around who financed Bush’s business deals. And lots of shady stuff with the Saudis, oil money connections etc.

Then there is Bush spending 40% of his time on vacation, including the critical days leading up to 9/11. A clear “asleep at the wheel” scenario despite warnings that Al Qaeda wanted to attack the US using airplanes.

The most amazing scene has Bush visiting a children’s classroom while the planes are hitting The World Trade Center. Then he is shown being advised that a second plane had hit. Perhaps we ordinary people who didn’t have the benefit of the $30 billion intelligence budget might have needed the second hit to realize this was a terrorist attack, but not if you have been warned already.

And there Bush sits, reading “My Pet Goat” with the children, looking like the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlights as Moore adds the exact time…. So you know what is happening in NY as he sits there, looking like he is waiting for someone to tell him what to do now! Amazing footage.

The attack on Afghanistan is presented like a Rawhide episode with all the usual suspects dressed up as cowboys. Moore’s point is that this was done all rather half-heartedly…. Iraq was the real agenda. And then stories of how they didn’t put much effort into getting Osama bin Laden. The implication being it might have distracted people from the need to get Saddam. Lots of clever cuts demonstrate how the administration cunningly persuaded a majority of Americans that Saddam was somehow linked to 9/11.

Then terrible scenes of Iraqi and American casualties…and families in the US realizing they have lost their loved ones for no good reason.

When this is linked with scenes of marines recruiting young “have not” kids in places with no job opportunities, and is spliced in with footage of the “haves” drooling over the profit possibilities in Iraq….

It really then emerges as an “anti-war” movie.

It is reminiscent of that wonderful scene in the movie “Reds” where Jack Read, just back in the US from Russia, is expected to give a long dissertation on the origins of the First World War. They applause as he stands to speak. He then says, “Profits.” And sits down again. Speech over…everyone very shocked!

And Michael Moore’s main point is that if you are going to send people off to their death in a war, not to mention who else will get killed in the process, you better have good reason. And in this case, there were no good reasons.

I guess the most shocking thing about this film is how shocked so many people are by it. And that perhaps reveals something about the US today. In most advanced societies, all the stories that give this movie its impact, would have been well known already. But in the US, there really is a real lack of good critical news coverage.

But this is not just the fault of the news networks. If people wanted to watch in-depth world news, others would pay for it with advertising. But it seems they don’t.

It is all very well for The New York Times to now be saying, “For example, audiences are shocked by the now-famous seven minutes, when George Bush knew the nation was under attack but continued reading ‘My Pet Goat’ with a group of children. Nobody had told them that the tales of Mr. Bush's decisiveness and bravery on that day were pure fiction.”

But during the period leading up to the Iraq war, they were so busy bolstering the flimsy intelligence to support the war effort, they didn’t seem to have the space to say this then. (The New York Times recently admitted failing to confirm all their sources about the presence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction on an inside page somewhere….)

So, as always, “the conspiracy theory of history” doesn’t really work. No one is consciously trying to make Americans dumb so they don’t ask awkward questions and don’t notice what is happening in their name. It is much more like the ancient story of the Emperor’s invisible clothes. Not just the King, but also all the courtiers, and almost all the ordinary people on the street — they all have an interest in convincing themselves that the King is not naked. That is how beliefs work.

But not all is lost. The tide seems to be turning at last. A lot of people are feeling very deceived, which is why this movie is generating so much heat. So watch out for dirty tricks as the election gets closer! Like delaying the election if there is a terrorist attack for example….

And perhaps the best comment on this came from an American writer during a television interview in the UK soon after 9/11.

She explained that “only about 7% of Americans have a passport.” And many of them “came to America to escape from the rest of the world.” She was black but didn’t comment on her own origins as an American, but you could easily see where all those mad statistics about how 60% of American high school kids think Timbuktu is the capital of Disneyland…or whatever came from. Frankly, she was clear: Americans didn’t kind of care too much what was happening in the rest of the world.

Then she continued by explaining that Americans have this compact with their government. The government takes care of rest of the world, doing whatever is needed to make sure that the people inside America are left alone to get on with their business. Which is business.

“It is like the wife takes care of the house and the husband takes care of the world outside,” she said.

Then suddenly, she explained, referring to 9/11, the housewife discovers that her house has just been sprayed with machine gun fire and she runs out into the street to find out what the hell is going on! And her neighbors ask her, somewhat incredulously, “You didn’t know you were married to Don Corleone?”