Michael Moore, you are a hypocritical lying sack of shit

The BBQ Pit
1

In his online diary, under the headline Police Raid, Shut Down My Booksigning in San Diego, 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, 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, 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.

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.

2

If this is all confirmed, then the man has sunk even lower than I thought he had. Jesus - talk about performing egos…he has a full three-ring circus o’ ego.

3

I’m a fan of Moore’s, in general, and I was similarly bothered by this essay. I could understand getting caught up in the moment and working up a head of steam at the event itself, if he had looked back and realized in retrospect that he overreacted. Instead, he writes this essay.

Calm down, Mike. Your book is selling better than anyone expected. With the crash of Enron and subsequent exposure of its inner workings, people are finally willing to listen to someone decrying the state of corporate America. Don’t overplay your hand.

Dr. J

4

I’m a little bit of a Michael Moore fan (my location line is an Awful Truth reference). I used to be a much bigger fan, but as I grew older and started doing some of my own research on the subjects he covers, I’ve learned to take just about everything he says with a whole shakerful of salt. I’ve lost a lot of respect for him in the process.

I think one of the problems with MM is that in the aftermath of “Roger and Me,” all of the acclaim that came his way and the attention that was paid to the things he was saying turned him in to a folk hero in his own mind. Just look at the difference in the amount of screen time he has in “Roger and Me” versus “The Big One.” While he narrates the first movie, I think he’s on screen for maybe five minutes. In “The Big One,” which came about 10 years after “Roger,” there’s scarcely a shot that isn’t chock full of Michael Moore. Anth is right here; it’s a case ego stampeding out of control.

5

Well… How conveeeeenient. His message board is currently down “for maintenance.” I wonder if the messages confirming that MM is a lying sack of shit are “mysteriously lost.”

6

What a jackass. I’m embarassed that this man calls himself a leftist.

7

God dammit.

I thought about going to this signing. Not that I have the book or anything, but I thought maybe he’d speak for a bit, and it might be entertaining.

Little did I know. I should have gone, then I could have given you the straight dope firsthand.

Shit, I always miss the good stuff. :mad:

8

I read the article linked to, and thats pretty much what he said happened, that the book signing ran late, he was asked to leave, and didnt, then the cops showed up and ran everybody out. He overdramtize things like he always does, but I saw it more as a joke than him seriously trying to say that he was being oppressed. Anyone who follows him knows that he does that…
I think that some people just didnt get the joke.

9

Please. Moore made it sound like the second coming of the SS. For starters, he doesn’t mention that he was politely asked to leave by the janitorial staff. And when he writes stuff like this:

I just want to gag.

The Moore fan whose web page I linked to above says it best when he rhetorically asks if Moore has ever been to a banana republic or Cold-War era East Berlin.

10

I think Mr. Moore has a perfect right to cry foul. Try to imagine this happening to a writer who was uncritical of the administration, (or simply non-political.) The police were there within thirty minutes of the advertised end of the event. How long does it take them to show up? A quarter-of-an-hour? So fifteen minutes after the booksigning was supposed to be finished, the police are called to clear the building, and they show up within minutes and tell people to get out or be arrested?

Would they do that for a concervative commentator? Or someone who wrote light fiction?

I guess it could happen. Hypothetically.

11

I always thought he was an asshole.

12

I read his essay, and all of the facts are in there: that he was suppposed to be out by 11:00 and holding over, that someone called the cops (he didn’t know it was a janitor), that the police asked him nicely to leave, and he complained at first and eventually did. I gathered from his own article that he was just whining.

Do I agree with all of this reasoning, etc.? No. But I’m currently reading his book “Stupid White Men” and I’m enjoying it, despite the sometimes bizarre logic. He does manage to dig up some very interesting facts and get them some publicity, which nobody else is doing. That alone makes the other half of his stuff tolerable.

13

From what I read, the janitor politely asked Moore to wrap it up and clear out at 11:15 pm, since they were supposed to clear out by 11:00 pm, not maybe try to start wrapping things up sometime around 11, but maybe not 'til Midnight. When he refused, he was trespassing (which I know is a crime in Texas, and I’m pretty sure is also a crime in CA, but IANAL :rolleyes: ). The janitor then called the cops, who arrived in about 15 minutes (very poor response time for a high priority call, but about pretty good for a lower priority call). The policemen (two of them, not much of a raid) reiterated the request to vacate, and informed Mr. Moore of the consequences, just as they would do to anyone else that was trespassing (if they saw him as much of a troublemaker, he probably wouldn’t have been warned, but immediately arrested).

He’s not nearly the threat to global corporations and the administration of “Thief-in-Chief” that he thinks he is. Like Rush Limbaugh, his audience is pretty well restricted to those who already agree with him.

To be honest, the cops probably had no idea who this Micheal Moore clown is. It’s quite a stretch to portray this incident as “THE MAN” keeping down dissent.

14

As someone who works retail, let me tell you-those janitors had every right to ask him to leave. They have families and lives outside of work too, you know!

15

**

I can see it now:

Policeman: All right pal, you’re tresspassing, now get outta here!

WFB: Don’t you know who I am, officer?

Policeman: Look buddy, I don’t care if you’re… hey, aren’t you conservative columnist William F Buckley?

WFB: Why, I most certainly ammmm.

Policemen: You’re that guy who hates unions, right?

WFB: Filled with lazy, scum-sucking parasites, every single one of them.

Policeman: And you look down your nose at public employees, right?

WFB: Worse than your average steelworker, and that’s saying something.

Policeman: Well, gosh, Mister Buckley. I’m real sorry I bothered you. You can stay here as long as you want, and when you’re done we’ll trash the place and go beat up hookers.

WFB: Sssssounds fabulous, officer.

16

I can imagine that quite easily, actually. If you overstay your welcome in a public building and the janitors call the cops, I absolutely guarantee they will send over a squad car, whether you’re liberal, conservative, or indifferent.

Let’s be quite frank here: Michael Moore is part of the establishment. He’s a rich white guy with pull in the entertainment biz. Despite his hysterics (and I hate to say it, bdgr, but his San Diego account is written in complete seriousness) he has no trouble getting press, publishing his books, or getting on TV. He’s not oppressed.

17

He wrote it in the same tone that he wrote the stuff about how he had been payed off by the republicans to ruin Gores chances of getting elected by supporting Nader, and in the same tone as all his letters to bush, and his african american wallet exchange. Its not meant to be taken seriously…read the rest of his stuff from his site…its tongue and cheek…

18

I think Michael Moore is a very funny guy who is worth paying attention to no matter what side of an issue you’re on. But he’s definitely funnier than he is credible. I don’t trust him to play fair or straight. He often relies on insinuation where proof is not available – and on the grounds that all he’s doing is making people laugh, I’m content to let that stand.

He does also seem to have that bourgeois quoque problem for which liberal commentators are often castigated. As much as I enjoyed the Rabbit Lady segment in Roger and Me, it’s clearly a freak show designed to appeal to the viewer’s desire to feel superior to someone who doesn’t hold with urbane middle class sensibilities. He makes spurious claims to the vox populi, but he also recognizes realistically that hoi poloi are often good for a laugh because they’re not educated liberals.

19

Theres a lot about MM I dont get, but I’m glad he’s there. But, s’truth, I’m rather taken aback at the level of fury a big chubby populist-type lefty can provoke amongst my currently misguided brethren (and cistern). Must be doing something right.

Gotta wonder what your take on Ann “Aconda” Coulter is? Applying the same standards of honesty, integrity and hypocrisy, of course. Takers?

20

I don’t recall ever seeing anyone defend Ann Coulter on this message board. As a matter of fact, I think comparing Moore to Coulter in any way was probably the most insulting thing I’ve seen said about Moore on this thread.

Personally, I’ll worry about whether Coulter gets her facts straight when I’m convinced it makes a difference. As far as I can tell, she can twist either the truth or lies to fit her warped morals equally well.