# The Lies of Michael Moore. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 26, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278 "2004-06-26T04:26:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278/321 "2004-06-30T18:03:20Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > I didn’t trivialize their feelings. I voiced my opinion as it applied to me. > > You will note that it is an all-volunteer military. As such, I don’t know that we really have the right to feel exploited. **Doors** , sometimes I honestly think that you’re not deliberately being that dense. I think I mean that as a compliment, as it’s what keeps me from ignoring you completely. In this single quote, you deny doing what I accuse you of, and then offer up a second dose of it. In the first, you state that you’re only speaking of your own opinion as to the whole “exploitation business”. Which is fine, nobody can argue that you don’t feel exploited. But in the second, you then state that “we,” as in “people in the military” don’t have the right to feel exploited. That’s the attitude/opinion that I took issue with, that somebody who gets to go home to his wife every night has no buisiness saying that people stuck in the middle of things for the forseeable future have no buisiness feeling “exploited”. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278/322 "2004-07-01T06:21:38Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Oh, and one more thing that I forgot to mention. When you sign up you are told that you have to do a certain amount of Active Duty, followed by a period of what is called Inactive Duty. In my case it’s six years follwed by two of Inactive Duty should I not re-enlist for a total of 8. During those two years I don’t have to participate at all, but I will be subject to recall at any time (unless I’m within a certain period of time close to 60, the mandatory retirement age for the Guard- at that point I would be useless due to the time required to retrain and deploy). > > The people recalled are within their period of Inactive Duty and therefore subject to recall. It’s written in black and white in their enlistment contract, so technically, they’re still volunteers, just perhaps not willing ones. More like indentured servants. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278/323 "2004-07-01T11:43:12Z")
Nice spin you got there. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278/324 "2004-07-02T01:37:56Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > Nice spin you got there. It’s pathetic and sad that the poorest people in this nation have two options: stay in the ghetto or trailerpark, or sign yourself up for a couple years of voluntary slavery. Unlike a normal job, where you can pretty much quit at any time (possibly with two weeks notice) there’s no escaping because you are now bound to the military like a slave is bound to its master. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278/325 "2004-07-02T14:30:35Z")
So instead we should have a military whose members are constantly changing, coming, going, changing minds, conscienciously objecting? And you (meaning the left) claim that the army’s undermanned now? Poor people have the same choices as everyone else: get a job, join the military, open a business, steal, …anything it takes. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278/326 "2004-07-02T14:55:14Z")
Few quasi-journalistic techniques are more open to abuse than man-on-the-street interviews. You can interview fifty soldiers and find one or two who voluntarily complain. After all, not everyone in the military benefited from their lessons of discipline and character. You can then air only those interviews that suit your purpose. But not only that, you can do as Moore admitted to doing, and misrepresent yourself so that you secure comments that might or might not have been genuinely proffered. Finally, you can use an editing machine to make Lissener say, “I love Liberal… He is my favorite poster,” when you’ve cut out, “… presidents like Clinton. I also like Rjung…”. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278/327 "2004-07-02T15:20:54Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Few quasi-journalistic techniques are more open to abuse than man-on-the-street interviews. Agreed > [@Liberal](#): > > You can interview fifty soldiers and find one or two who voluntarily complain. After all, not everyone in the military benefited from their lessons of discipline and character. All i can infer from this statement is that you believe that the only soldiers who might complain about the military or about the policy in Iraq are those who failed to learn the military’s “lessons of discipline and character.” Please tell me my inference is incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278/328 "2004-07-02T15:24:30Z")
Essentially. I’m speaking specifically of soldiers who, while on duty, disrespect openly the people in their chain of command either above or below them. Enough of that, and you no longer have an army. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278/329 "2004-07-02T15:48:33Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > So instead we should have a military whose members are constantly changing, coming, going, changing minds, conscienciously objecting? And you (meaning the left) claim that the army’s undermanned now? > > Poor people have the same choices as everyone else: get a job, join the military, open a business, steal, …anything it takes. As well, they could save a bit of money by firing the groundskeeper and the pastry chef. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lies-of-michael-moore/252278.md?page=16)