NEWS: Moore heat
 

Even though Michael Moore’s controversial film Fahrenheit 9/11 has received glowing reviews from liberal Bay Area audiences, the backlash against Moore is growing more intense with a recently released book and an upcoming movie that skewers the director and his documentary.

The book, “Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man” was released last month and is written by Jason Clarke and David T. Hardy. The two say Moore uses camera tricks and publicity ploys to present his own version of the truth, according to www.moorelies.com.

Clarke, 25, designed the site in 2003 after watching the Academy Awards where Moore received an Oscar for his documentary Bowling for Columbine and publicly criticized President George Bush and his administration.

“You imagined that a few polite handshakes and back pats from L.A. liberals gave you carte blanche to make a spectacle of yourself as a grandstanding, blathering, leftist idiot,” the authors wrote. “Understand, Mike: It wasn’t that the audience thought your views were wrong. How many Bush supporters and war hawks were there in that Hollywood audience, anyway? It isn’t about politics.
It’s about being a pompous ass.”

Clarke said his aim is to “inject skepticism” in the movie so the public will think critically about what Moore has to say rather than absorb it all as truth.

Clarke believes “Fahrenheit 9/11” only partially fulfills the description of a documentary and should include both exploration as well as documentation.
“Moore has preconceived assumptions which he tries to prove instead of going on the journey to find information,” he said.

Moore, he believes, had his mind set on discrediting everything President Bush did after 9/11, regardless of what he may or may not have found.
He is especially angry that Moore is targeting youth, which pushes Clarke to work even harder to make himself heard.

Along with numerous websites and radio talk show hosts dedicated to slamming Moore’s reputation is the upcoming Michael Moore Hates America, directed by 25-year old Michael Wilson. According to the Web site
www.michaelmoorehatesamerica.com, the film is not a “hatchet job on the filmmaker,“ but is instead a journey through America where people are asked their opinions, which are compared to Moore’s. In the movie, Wilson tries
unsuccessfully to interview Moore.

“It’s one thing to say you’re going to make a documentary, it’s another thing to push the truth so far just to promote your own agenda,” says Wilson in a trailer for the documentary.

But as the criticism aimed at Moore grows, it is also drawing more attention to the film. The film has already garnered nearly $30 million, a record for any documentary.

BAMMA is a summer journalism camp for high school students coordinated by the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism through the journalism department at SF State. For more information or comments on BAMMA, please contact Cristina Azocar.

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