Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Michael Moore and the pledge to Conservatives

Moore can sometimes be a tricky character and not always as infinitely reliable as he at first appears, but this letter from him is largely witty and smart and very pertinent.

I particularly liked 9 and 11.
9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.

11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.

1 comment:

Matt_c said...

Not only does Michael Moore have an annoying persona but in the words of Hitchens regarding Fahrenheit 9/11:

To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability.

I despise how he abuses the documentary form and is yet acknowledged as an authentic honest voice.

Having said that your two extracts are ok. The opening is annoying though:

I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.

I appreciate he's being ironic to some extent - clearly the voters who voted for the Democrats don't own Congress at the expense of the Republican voters - it represents the American people - it is democracy. I just don't like the hyper-partisan tone, regardless of its irony.