Reply #24: Ummm,...... at the risk of being flamed...... [View All]

[moggie12]

Those guys said it pretty stupidly and in an unnecessarily combative way, but I think there may be a kernel of truth in there somewhere -- or at least something to think about a bit.

(I'll wait while everybody hits the alert button............)

Okay, now that you're back, let me lay this stuff on you:

1) I do get the feeling that some anti-war protesters are reflexively anti-war, i.e, that there is no war they'd ever be in favor of. For example, some were against going into Afghanistan, correct?? In my mind, that was an action that needed to be taken. Maybe that's what From et al meant by "being portrayed as the anti-war party in the war on terror"...

2) Now about Michael Moore. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Michael Moore against the Afghan action? (I read a lot of mainstream media so I admit I could be dead wrong about this). Also, the heavy anti-Bush, somewhat conspiratorial tone of F-911 made it a less than persuasive "documentary" in my opinion-- it was more like a political polemic in my mind. More people would have listened to his message (which was a very important one)if he hadn't been so heavy-handed in his approach. As it was, he ended up being the poster boy for the anti-Bush movement, which I think was unfortunate: Anything that sounds extreme is automatically discounted by many Americans who might otherwise be open to a more reasoned approach. Just from a PR standpoint, Moore getting awards at Cannes didn't help either. Like it or not, the French are seen as "socialist sissies" by many Americans. The French lauding Moore didn't help the anti-Bush, anti-war movement's ability to get its message across to Americans and, in fact, probably hurt it.

I'm not a DLC fan (and I thought Peter Beinert's article in the New Republic urging Dems to join in with Bush stupid "crusade" was the worst piece of drivel I've read in years), but somewhere between the two sides (DLC and left) I think there's important issues to talk about. It's very unfortunate that it seems to be turning into a "war".