Michael Moore strikes again!

[Derek Seidman <derektheredrebel@xxxxxxxxx>]

> >Michael Moore is not exactly an expert when it
> comes to the nature of
> >commodity production/overproduction and the
> appearance of a shortage.
> >
> >dms

Yuuuuuuck!!!!

I stayed up last last night to watch Michael Moore
appear on The Late Show with Conan O'Brien. It was a
day after his new Bush-bashing book "Dude, Where's my
Country?" was released, and so he's making the rounds
on the TV shows to promote it (which he now has the
star-status to do).

Mike came on right after Charlie's Angel Lucy Liu (who
had to deal with Conan's stupid chatter on how
"Chinese" doesn't sound romantic like other
languages-- but hey, the guy still beats Leno and
Letterman). These late night talkshows are for slick
actors and silly humor, a time for folks to relax and
escape a little bit before calling it a day. So when
Moore walked out in his sneakers and North Carolina
hat, it was a little... weird.

Conan starts up a conversation with Mike about how
corporations now instruct their employees on how to
deal with him if he comes by. They laugh about this a
little, but then Mike (rascal that he is) changes the
subject. It went something like:

"Yeah Conan, but you know, I was just talking with
some of the stage workers in the back there. These
guys say they've been working for you for eight years
and are still considered temp workers, so they don't
even get healthcare. Don't you think they should at
least get some healthcare?"

Holy shit. This type of stuff is not suppossed to
happen on late night TV. It's suppossed to be funny
and easy and relaxed and not the real world. But when
Mike says this, it really has a defetishizing effect.
I found myself actually thinking about those guys
behind the curtain who just talked to Mike a few
minutes before.

Conan got real uncomfortable real quick. He was
stumbling over his words, trying to go back and forth
between a humorous response and a real explanation. At
one point he even says something like, "Well, they're
temp workers, and so that's just the way it has to
be". Moore was also looking very nervous. Hunched over
and sincere, he recognized what he was getting himself
into. So what does this guy do? He faces the audience.

"C'mon everyone, don't you think these workers should
get some healthcare!!!???"

A resounding sea of applause. Uhhhh, I don't think
they're suppossed to clap here. I'm guessing that
stage dude didn't raise the "APPLAUSE" sign.

Moore, flustered and nervous, went on about his new
book, explaining some connections between the the
Bushes and the Saudies and Bin Ladins, claiming that
we were lied to about WMD's in Iraq, and making a
compelling condemnation of the Bush administration's
manipulation of 9/11 to push the right-wing agenda. At
one point he yells out to the audience, refering to
why the hell the Bin Ladins' were flown out of the
country by Bush right after 9/11, "Shouldn't we get
the truth?". Applause. Not one boo. I'm sure most
people were very shocked at just hearing this fact for
the first time.

Anyhow, I had never seen something this cool on a
latenight talkshow. It even made me uncomfortable in a
sense-- you have certain expectations when watching
Conan, and one is not that some dude will come out and
stand up for temp workers behind the curtain. It was
like a glitch in the system of comical conformity
that's repeated endlessly night after night. Millions
of people saw this.

Moore has this amazing talent. He understands that
most ordinairy people have basic values of decency and
justice, and an intuitive sense that things aren't
right. He also knows that ruling class ideolgy,
launched and disseminated into their minds through all
kinds of methods, has the effect of making people
doubt these intuitions, turn inward, blame something
or someone else (including themselves), escape. He
understands this alienating conflict that brews inside
of most normal people's heads, mostly unconsciously,
and leaves them dazed, confused, and riddled withs
self-doubt.

What Moore does is come to the side of these people
and say, "No, you are right. Don't let them bully you
into thinking your wrong." With tremendous courage and
risk-taking he takes on these bullies to their faces
and affirms and celebrates the basic sentiments of
people, which are, afterall, simple feelings in line
with basic class interests. He gives people
confidence, articulates their beliefs in a simple and
common-sensical manner as if they are obvious truths
they shouldn't be ashamed of believing, and urges them
to go a step further. In a very important way he
empowers people to have more political confidence in
themselves.

I'm writing a long article on Moore for the new
radical youth journal that a bunch of us youth are
starting up (like Mohammad Junaid Alam and Adam
Levenstein-- it'll be out within a month hopefully).
I'm learning a lot through studying this guy. I think
we all need to. I shouldn't have to be asking myself,
"Dude, where's more Michael Moores?"

Anyhow, I think the show will be replayed tommorrow on
Comedy Central at noon and again at 6pm. Check it out.
It'll kick your ass.

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