# Michael Moore is a Dishonest Hack **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 4, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915 "2010-06-04T13:18:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/41 "2010-06-04T15:40:41Z")
It wasn’t staged. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/42 "2010-06-04T15:42:01Z")
In case you don’t want to take Dio’s word for it, here’s a cite: [http://www.webcitation.org/5YAIv8uxD](http://www.webcitation.org/5YAIv8uxD) from the Chicago Sun-Times in 2001. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/43 "2010-06-04T15:48:13Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It wasn’t staged. Wonders never cease. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/44 "2010-06-04T15:48:30Z")
It wasn’t staged or faked per se, but it was grossly taken out of context and extensively manipulated … … the rifle came with a free Frogurt. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/45 "2010-06-04T15:51:11Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > It wasn’t staged or faked per se, but it was grossly taken out of context and extensively manipulated … > … the rifle came with a free Frogurt. The Frogurt is also cursed. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/46 "2010-06-04T15:56:25Z")
But it comes with your choice of caliber! ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/47 "2010-06-04T15:59:37Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > So if you posted a link to where he’s done that, would that be an example of Bricktrolling? Ouch. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/48 "2010-06-04T16:04:01Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > To be fair to Moore regarding the Heston interview – At the time that interview took place, it had not yet been made public that Heston had Alzheimer’s. Moore didn’t know the guy had it. He thought he was talking to an NRA President (and vocal activist) of sound mind. He wasn’t knowingly exploiting Heston’s illness. The bullshit bit with Heston turning away from the little girl’s photo, on the other hand, was at least half-staged. The bits where we see the photo and the bits where we see Heston could not have been photographed at the same time, because one cameraman would be in the other’s field of view. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/49 "2010-06-04T16:05:42Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > [Example](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4962759#post4962759) from one of the long anti-Moore threads from back in the days when he was kinda sorta relevant: > [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Master Wang-Ka > Bowling For Columbine: there is no bank that gives you a free gun for starting an account there. That sequence was faked. True, it was faked to make a point, but it was faked. This would be a good example of Moore’s dishonesty if it is accurate. If you could provide more evidence that a SDMB poster’s say-so. Please link to a site (not a blog) that provides evidence that there is no bank that gives you a free gun for starting an account there, and that Moore faked that sequence. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/50 "2010-06-04T16:06:37Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > It wasn’t staged or faked per se, but it was grossly taken out of context and extensively manipulated … I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it was extensively manipulated, but he certainly cut out a bunch of stuff. He joked about the one question about being “adjudicated mentally defective”, but didn’t mention the [other 11 questions that disqualify someone from purchasing a firearm from a dealer](http://www.thundertek.net/documents/4473.pdf') (PDF). He also didn’t mention that he was required to show identification (likely a driver’s license) or that the NICS check confirmed everything that he attested to on the BATFE Form 4473. Instead, you are left with the impression that he walked out of a bank after filling out some paperwork or another with a rifle. That is not so. The bank followed the proper procedures to the letter, and since Moore did not have a criminal record he was permitted to take possession of the rifle. That’s how it is, and that’s how it should be. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/51 "2010-06-04T16:11:29Z")
So, I’m gathering that the O’Keefe under discussion here isn’t Georgia? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/52 "2010-06-04T16:12:22Z")
See **Bricker**? It’s warming up nicely already. 😃 **Smeghead** : [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=549587). ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/53 "2010-06-04T16:14:18Z")
Hokay, if you don’t like that example, here’s the start of another Michael-Moore-Is-A-Liar thread from back before he became Michael-Who?: > [@Michael Moore, you are a hypocritical lying sack of shit](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-you-are-a-hypocritical-lying-sack-of-shit/99112/1): > > In his online diary, under the headline [Police Raid, Shut Down My Booksigning in San Diego](http://www.michaelmoore.com/diaries/book_diary_2002_0311.html), the rotund Mr. Moore claims that the jackbooted thugs from the San Diego Police shut down his booksigning. Indeed, he “could not believe that, of all I have done, all I have stood for over the years, that it has come down to this – and I was about to be hauled away for autographing books!” > > And apparently the San Diego police did everything short of goose-stepping. According to Moore’s description, the “San Diego police are coming down the aisle, their large flashlights out (the auditorium lights are still on, so we all understand the implied “other” use of these instruments).” > > Oh, what a terrible, scary night for progressivism! What a dreadful portent of doom for the first amendment! Truly, we are all but one step away from the blackness of a totalitarian nightmare! > > One problem: **it didn’t happen that way**. > > According to [this article](http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/tue/currents/news_1c19rowe.html), at 11:15 Moore was asked to leave by a janitor. Why? Because the book signing was only to run until 11:00. The janitor politely asked Mr. Moore to wrap things up, or, in the alternative, to move the book signing outside. > > Moore refused. So much for looking out for the “little guy.” Apparently Moore didn’t care about this fellow going home to his family, or that he might want to get some rest after a long day. > > Anyway, after getting nowhere with Moore, the janitor called the cops. > > Oh, and those flashlights – there to violently break up the unruly mob? Uh-uh. While the lights may have been on inside, it was dark outside, and witnessess indicate the flashllights were just used for illumination, not for cracking skulls. > > Well, you might ask, how many of San Diego’s finest did they send? Did they try to intimidate the crowd with a massive LEO presence? Nope. Total officers answering the call: two. > > Well, maybe this columnist is a rabid conservative out to discredit Moore! Well, nope. Moore’s [own fans](http://kynn.com/politics/moore/), some of whom were in attendance, confirm the columnists version of the story (this is where I got the “two cops” figure). The true course of events is also confirmed by fans posting on Moore’s [message boards](http://www.michaelmoore.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=40&t=000019). > > So, to sum up: Moore took a polite request to do what he was obligated to do and tried to stir it up into an example of fascism in America. Oh, and he took a proverbial piss on the working man in the process. > > Fuck you, Mr. Moore, fuck you and the shit-encrusted lint trap you call a brain and all the hypocritical sanctimonious bullshit you’ve been spewing forth since the tragic day you realized camcorders could be used for more than peeping on your sister in the shower. May the ghost of every Soviet dissident sent to die in a gulag piss down your throat. May the tanks of Tiananmen Square run straight up your ass. May every descendant of Galileo kick you squarely in the pills. Because you, sir, have no idea what real censorship, you fucking baboon, and your outright lying about shit like this does an absolute disservice to those who have _truly_ suffered for their ideals. Presumably, judging from reaction to the previous example, Moore’s defenders will focus upon the fact that he **was** in fact made to leave, dismissing the passel of misrepresentations surrounding the event as irrelevant trifles. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/54 "2010-06-04T16:15:31Z")
The point of that scene was not to audit whether or not the bank followed proper procedures - it’s that it’s a bank, and they’re handing out fucking guns! ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/55 "2010-06-04T16:18:29Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it was extensively manipulated, but he certainly cut out a bunch of stuff. He joked about the one question about being “adjudicated mentally defective”, but didn’t mention the [other 11 questions that disqualify someone from purchasing a firearm from a dealer](http://www.thundertek.net/documents/4473.pdf') (PDF). He also didn’t mention that he was required to show identification (likely a driver’s license) or that the NICS check confirmed everything that he attested to on the BATFE Form 4473. > > Instead, you are left with the impression that he walked out of a bank after filling out some paperwork or another with a rifle. That is not so. The bank followed the proper procedures to the letter, and since Moore did not have a criminal record he was permitted to take possession of the rifle. That’s how it is, and that’s how it should be. I took his point to be that it seems quite odd for a bank to be giving out firearms, not that he caught them failing to follow procedures. I don’t think “that’s how it should be” at all, and I think you missed the point. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/56 "2010-06-04T16:24:47Z")
[QUOTE=Raygun99] The point of that scene was not to audit whether or not the bank followed proper procedures - it’s that it’s a bank, and they’re handing out fucking guns! [/QUOTE] They’re not just “handing out guns”. > [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > I took his point to be that it seems quite odd for a bank to be giving out firearms, not that he caught them failing to follow procedures. I don’t think “that’s how it should be” at all, and I think you missed the point. I don’t think it makes any difference whether it’s a bank or the dealer down the street, so if that was his point it was lost on me and many millions of others who don’t think anything is unusual about that at all. In fact, I think it’s much safer in that they’re stored in a bank vault rather than a series of gun safes at a typical dealer. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/57 "2010-06-04T16:27:34Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > So, I’m gathering that the O’Keefe under discussion here isn’t Georgia? Yes, it is. Did everything she painted have to look like vaginas? I mean, come on! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/58 "2010-06-04T16:29:10Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t think it makes any difference whether it’s a bank or the dealer down the street, so if that was his point it was lost on me and many millions of others who don’t think anything is unusual about that at all. In fact, I think it’s much safer in that they’re stored in a bank vault rather than a series of gun safes at a typical dealer. You don’t think it’s _unusual_? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/59 "2010-06-04T16:31:39Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You don’t think it’s _unusual_? Why should I? It’s spelled out right in the advertisement what they are doing. I don’t think of it as any different than a car giveaway or a $1000 every hour giveaway. They followed the proper procedures and that’s all that matters. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915/60 "2010-06-04T16:33:38Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > (Thread posted for **Bricker** , so he won’t have to keep [hijacking this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12532102&postcount=281)) > > I’ve only seen one Michael Moore movie- _Bowling for Columbine_. I really only remember one thing from it- Canadians, for some reason, don’t lock their doors. Also, Moore totally ambushed Charlton Heston- I remember feeling uncomfortable watching that part. > > So here we go: Michael Moore is a dishonest hack. He’s occasionally funny, and I think he can sometimes bring up good points, but I don’t recall him trying to get the NRA shut down. But then, my memory’s not what it used to be, I may be forgetting something. > > There… I feel much better. > > Anyone else want to absolve themselves of Liberal Hypocrisy? From personal experience: Canadians DO lock their doors. They even deadbolt them. At least in some places. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-is-a-dishonest-hack/541915.md?page=4)