Michael Moore

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Michael Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American author, director, and self-identifies as a liberal

He is most well known for directing "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11" and is also highly critical of gun violence, large corporations, the Iraq War, and the U.S. health care system.

Manufacturing consent

He is a hero in liberal Hollywood and to booksellers who tend to agree with his politics. Moore's films and commentaries are often based upon themes about alleged "capitalist" greed. Though a multi-millionaire, Moore frequently appears on television and in photos dressed like blue-collar workers with whom he attempts to identify.

Moore produced a movie portraying President George Bush as part of a massive conspiracy, named Fahrenheit 9/11. Millions watched the movie, but many questioned many of its claims and Bush handily won reelection without ever dignifying the smear with a comment.

Moore was the producer and host of the television series "The Awful Truth," which was typified by a type of sketch-comedy activism that was often directed against large corporations and government agencies. Later he produced "Bowling for Columbine."

Some of his other work includes the anti-corporation film Roger and Me and the books Dude, Where's my Country, Downsize This! Random Threats from an Unarmed American and Stupid White Men.

His production company which produces feature documentary-style films is Michael Moore Films.

Michael Moore was the subject of the 2004 documentaries Michael Moore Hates America, Fahrenhype 9/11 and the 2007 documentary Manufacturing Dissent. He was also the subject of books including Michael Moore Is a Big Fat Stupid White Man by David T. Hardy and Jason Clarke and Forgive Us Our Spins: Michael Moore and the Future of the Left by Jesse Larner.

Michael Moore, ranting

Sicko

A new Michael Moore film, Sicko, was released in late June 2007. In this "documentary" Moore argues for a nationalized health care system.

Kurt Loder of MTV news said of it:

"Michael Moore may see himself as working in the tradition of such crusading muckrakers of the last century as Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair — writers whose dedication to exposing corruption and social injustices played a part in sparking much-needed reforms. In his new movie, "Sicko," Moore focuses on the U.S. health-care industry — a juicy target — and he casts a shocking light on some of the people it's failed.

Unfortunately, Moore is also a con man of a very brazen sort, and never more so than in this film. His cherry-picked facts, manipulative interviews (with lingering close-ups of distraught people breaking down in tears) and blithe assertions (how does he know 18,000* people will die this year because they have no health insurance?) are so stacked that you can feel his whole argument sliding sideways as the picture unspools. The American health-care system is in urgent need of reform, no question. Some 47 million people are uninsured (although many are only temporarily so, being either in-between jobs or young enough not to feel a pressing need to buy health insurance). There are a number of proposals as to what might be done to correct this situation. Moore has no use for any of them, save one.

As a proud socialist, the director appears to feel that there are few problems in life that can't be solved by government regulation (that would be the same government that's already given us the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Motor Vehicles). In the case of health care, though, Americans have never been keen on socialized medicine. In 1993, when one of Moore's heroes, Hillary Clinton (he actually blurts out the word "sexy!" in describing her in the movie), tried to create a government-controlled health care system, her failed attempt to do so helped deliver the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives into Republican control for the next dozen years. Moore still looks upon Clinton's plan as a grand idea, one that Americans, being not very bright, unwisely rejected. (He may be having second thoughts about Hillary herself, though: In the movie he heavily emphasizes the fact that, among politicians, she accepts the second-largest amount of political money from the health care industry.)"[1]

Earnings

Michael Moore's films have bilked the public worldwide in excess of $200,000,000.00. A breakdown for just the United States of America is below.

Michael Moore's Gross box office film earnings under the capitalist free market system
Film	U.S. Gross $
Roger & Me	$6,706,368
Canadian Bacon	$178,104
The Big One	$720,074
Bowling for Columbine	$21,576,018
Fahrenheit 9/11	$119,114,517
Sicko	$21,500,000
TOTAL	$169,795,081

Treasury investigation

According to Reuters in June 2007, Moore is reported to have hidden assets in Canada in reaction to an official investigation. Moore was operating offshore in Cuba allegedly as a "journalistic endeavor." The United States Treasury Department does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.

Criticism

Christopher Hitchens said of Fahrenheit 9/11, and Moore's work:

“

To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental…Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of 'dissenting' bravery."

”

See also

• Schlockumentary