Re: [Marxism] Michael Moore decline continues

["Carlos A. Rivera" <cerejota@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Intense Red" <intnsred@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

> He deserves massive credit for that!

Did you intend the pun? ;-)

Now, I agree with all of y'all, and furthermore, I will suggest everyone who
fancies him or herself a commie read MM's equivalent of the Mass Line, The
Permanent Revolution, Draft Programme and the American Road to Socialism, or
whatever your sect's Bible is called.

Its is one of my favorite polemical piece, the only thing I have read in The
Nation that was actually of any consequence. Not to mention it was published
on my birthday. It is so marxist, I blush.

"Because "the left" has lost so many battles, it now doesn't know how to
live any other way. It's kind of scary, isn't it, to think that we could
actually reach a mass audience. Or that after all these years of failure,
real change could actually occur in our lifetime. Better to fight among
ourselves! It's an uncomfortable, unfamiliar feeling, isn't it, to get a
whiff of real populist progressive movement taking shape. Better that we
keep those furnace installers and bus drivers away from us -- they don't
read Chomsky anyway!"


The Nation November 17, 1997

IS THE LEFT NUTS? (OR IS IT ME?)
by Michael Moore
Is it me, or is the left completely nuts? Is won't bore you with the details
of October's Media and Democracy Congress, but suffice it to say that the
left is still in fine form, completely ignoring anything that really matters
to the American public. I'm convinced there's a good number of you who are
simply addicted to listening to yourselves talk and talk and talk -- MUMIA!
PACIFICA! CUBA! ENOUGH ALREADY!

Speaking of talking to ourselves -- just who the hell is reading this? Who
is the Nation readership? Is it my brother-in-law, Tony, back in Flint, who
last night was installing furnace ducts until 9 o'clock? Is it the bus
driver at the airport who told me he's been cut back to a thirty-hour week
so the airport commission won't have to pay the health insurance for his
asthmatic daughter? Is it the woman at Sears who sells blouses by day, and
then waitresses at Denny's from 8 P.M. to midnight?

No. The person reading this would probably sympathize with the one who wrote
the flier I saw at the media congress announcing a "Stop Police Brutality
Demonstration." The flier promised a rally "from 4 P.M. UNTIL THE TRUTH
COMES OUT!" Until the truth comes out? Let me tell you, friend, the truth
ain't ever coming out at your rally, and neither is Tony the furnace
installer, 'cause he's got mouths to feed. But you don't really mean by
saying that the demonstration is going to last "until the truth comes out"
is that it will go deep into the night, until all self-serving,
attention-starved "lefties" have had their hour and fifteen minutes at the
podium. Get a clue! Go away!

Is it true what they say about "the left" -- that it loves humanity but
loathes people? I want to let you in on a little secret I've discovered:
"The people" are already way ahead of "the left." After years of being
downsized, rightsized, re-engineered and forced to work longer hours for
less pay and fewer benefits, they already know from their personal
experience that our economic system is unfair, unjust and undemocratic. They
know the evil it does and the havoc it wreaks on their lives. They know that
corporate America is the enemy, that the media are telling them lies and
that the Democrats and the Republicans are actually the same party, and that
neither is worth voting for. Look at any Gallup poll and you'll see that the
public is very "left" on all the issues -- the majority are pro-choice,
pro-environment, pro-labor.

Yet they despise liberals. If they knew where to find the nutty left, they'd
despise them, too. They see liberals, progressives and lefties as arrogant,
self-righteous and dreadfully predictable. They know you won't ever go have
a beer with them, or talk to them about how the Indians did in the Series.
Christ, can you even name a single Cleveland Indian?

And why should you? You've got The Nation and Pacifica, and food co-op and
your Working Assets credit card. Don't get me wrong -- I love The Nation and
Pacifica and food co-ops and not supporting Citibank. But if you stop there
and refuse to participate in the real world, how are you ever going to
effect change? Back in the eighties thousands of you went to Nicaragua in
Sandinista brigades. Yes, that was important work; our government was
killing innocent people. But I never saw a single one of you come to Flint
while the world's largest company was destroying the lives of 30,000
families. Where were you when we needed you? The people in Flint were
ready -- Jesse Jackson beat Dukakis by a 9-to-1 margin there. In the white
suburbs, Jackson beat him by a 4-to-1 margin! You should have come! The
right wing did. They organized the Michigan Militia. It's no accident that
Terry Nichols is from the Flint area.

Here's the part I don't get. Remember the antiwar movement, when we didn't
have the American public on our side and actually had to go out and convince
people the war was wrong? That was tough, but we did it. These days, the
difficult organizing work has already been done for us by Big Business. It
has spent the past decade destroying the middle class and brutalizing the
poor. Beating up on the poor, I get -- that's the way it's always been. But
the middle class? What a stupid error in judgment -- and now there are
millions of Americans waiting to vent their anger and frustration.

And where are we? Inside New York's Cooper Union chanting for Mumia! I want
Mumia to live, I've signed the petitions, I've helped pay for the ads --
hell, I'll personally go and kick the butt of the governor of Pennsylvania!
But, for chrissakes, the woman working at Sears just wants to be able to
spend an hour with her kids before she heads off to Denny's. Can't we help
her? Do you want to help her?

It's taken me a while to figure it all out, and after last month's Media and
Democracy Congress I think I have the answer: Because "the left" has lost so
many battles, it now doesn't know how to live any other way. It's kind of
scary, isn't it, to think that we could actually reach a mass audience. Or
that after all these years of failure, real change could actually occur in
our lifetime. Better to fight among ourselves! It's an uncomfortable,
unfamiliar feeling, isn't it, to get a whiff of real populist progressive
movement taking shape. Better that we keep those furnace installers and bus
drivers away from us -- they don't read Chomsky anyway!

The signs are everywhere, but "the left" can't read a road map. There's a
whole New Politics taking place, and it's being led by UPS drivers and
Borders bookstore workers. I say, with all due affection and appreciation
for all of you and your causes, get over yourselves and start talking like a
real person, then start talking to real people. You could begin by hitting 0
every time you get a robot when you call 411. Have a chat with the human
operator -- the phone company will eventually have to hire more of them. Or
sponsor a bowling team and put the name of your local Labor Party or
environmental group on their shirts. Or try bowling yourself. It's where
you'll meet Americans.


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