Will Michael Moore Tackle HOMOPHOBIA Next?

[romantico]

I hope he does!

Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore has revealed that he might take on homophobia and the anti-gay movement in his next documentary.

“I think it’s a very ripe subject for someone like me to make a movie about,” he admitted, in an interview with The Advocate. “Simply because we are not there yet and it remains one of the last open wounds on our soul that we are not willing to fix yet.”

Moore, whose latest film Sicko attacks the U.S. health care system, expressed anger at fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. who condemn same-sex marriage.

“There is nowhere in the four Gospels where Jesus uses the word ‘homosexual.’ The right wing has appropriated this guy … and they have used him to attack gays and lesbians, when he never said a single word against people who are homosexual. Anyone who professes to be a Christian and does that is certainly not following the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

Moore, who told the magazine he is a spiritual person, said he supports same-sex marriage.

“I certainly believe that I have no right to tell another couple whether they can or cannot be married,” he said.

Moore said he is optimistic that gays and lesbians in the U.S. will have more equality soon “because everyone has someone who is gay or lesbian in their family or their extended family.”

The director of Fahrenheit 911 and Bowling for Columbine said he is proud to speak out in favour of gay rights.

“If you believe in equality, if you believe in standing up for the rights of all, especially for people most affected by bigotry and discrimination, then you have no choice but to be present and accounted for when it comes to standing up for gays and lesbians in our society.”


© CanWest News Service 2007
http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=645ea831-d37c-41f5-ada5-301a47101e8b&k=9796

[JackBeck]

1. Awesome.

:patriot:

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. BEST stunt ever!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-_9nOX8KM

[Swamp Rat]

20. Thanks for the reminder.

:loveya:

[helderheid]

3. FIRST REC! Do it Mike!

[Az]

4. Ooh Ooh! Atheists after that? Please?

:hide:

[wicket]

8. Or circumcision?

:hide: ;)

[ChickMagic]

16. Go after atheists?

I hope you're kidding - what have we done to you?

[Az]

31. Society is not exactly kind to atheists either

I have plenty of friends that have lost their job because it became known they were atheists. I have suffered numerous insults, attacks on my property, and other forms of oppression. There are those that regularly lambast us and decry our very presence here in the United States. We make up around 10% of the population but it wasn't until recently that any elected official stepped forward and admitted to be an atheist and so far one is all we have. We have far less representation in politics than homosexuals. By many measures we are the permissible prejudice for many. Its ok to hate atheists. In fact its encouraged. There are daily broadcasts laying the worlds problems at our feet. And if former Pres Bush had anything to say about it we would not be citizens.

[bryant69]

39. Dealing with Atheism would be a more complicated movie though i should think

Obviously persecuting someone because of their belief system (or rejection of a belief system) is wrong.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[ChickMagic]

43. No kidding

I think Homo sapiens has a biological need to seek supernatural causation. It's been shown in laboratory studies that when a certain part of the brain is stimulated, people have religious experiences. Some of us lack that particular neural net. I wanted to believe, I tried to believe, and finally realized that I wasted half of my life feeling guilty and sinful. I'm much happier now, and doesn't that go along with the right to pursue happiness? The religious folk think that if we just read the Bible, we'd believe. Most of us have read the Bible - probably more thoroughly than Christians have and deemed it not worthy of belief. We are targeted by people in high places.

[terrya]

5. That would be a terrific movie.

:thumbsup:

[wicket]

6. Go for it Mike!

K & R

[slackmaster]

7. That would be really fun

Go Michael, Go!

[MADem]

9. Well, he did do a small piece of that task when he had that AWFUL TRUTH show.

He went after that nutty Phelps guy, the GOD HATES FAGS clown, with a busload of gay people who would leap out of the bus and counter protest in rather outrageous and graphic fashion. The bus was called the SODOMOBILE...it was brilliant.

Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOXbyF4in5g

He's probably got some useful B roll that will contribute to the work, from that piece he did.

[Mz Pip]

11. That was one of the best episodes

of The Awful Truth.

The bus was pink, too.

He should definitely do that again.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Divine Discontent]

23. that was a GREAT clip!

we loved that a few years ago... still great today!

[MADem]

24. Yep, Trent Lott probably likes it too. There's a nice shot of his family home, the one that blew

away in Katrina....

[Divine Discontent]

29. ohhhh

thanks for the info..

and how about DUBYA and TRENT both being male cheerleaders (not that there's anything wrong with that)

[Cha]

10. I think it's a most

worthy subject but I think the coporatewhoremedia would be the next best subject for our country before it's lost.

[garybeck]

12. I think next he should take on

the mainstream media.

[Subdivisions]

13. That is a good one. Another is an examination of

Big Oil and energy depletion.

[helderheid]

14. You're right. How could the media spin THAT?

[garybeck]

21. they would be caught with their briches down, and nothing to say

it's not like it hasn't been done before. Greenwald has a couple films about the problems with the media. But, Moore has the unique position of being in the limelight and any film he produces is going to the main theatres and millions of people will see it, and be affected by it.

[helderheid]

30. Let's ask him! What would it be called... Unfair and Unbalanced?

[goodgd_yall]

15. Excellent choice of topic

Kick ass, Michael!

[yodermon]

17. The problem is that there's Plenty of Homophobia in the Bible.

Not just the old testament, but good ol' Paul gets down & dirty too:

Romans 1:27 "and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error."

and 1 Cor 6:9 (heh heh) { ON EDIT "6 : 9" is what made that titillating smiley face har har }
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (wtf?), nor homosexuals"

Sorry, Christianity (at least Pauline Christianity, which is pretty much the de facto standard in the good old US of A) is inherently bigoted towards gays, Mike.

[Siyahamba]

25. Those are selective interpretations

There were no words against gays in the original text; those who have translated into the current English versions have "filled in the blanks."

[yodermon]

40. The are pretty direct interpretations.

The mental gymnastics liberal Christians have had to go through to claim that Paul is not saying what he's really saying is quite amusing. The term in the Corinthians passage is arsenokoitai which literally means "male-bedder". It's also found in 1 Timothy 1 : 9-10.

What's interesting is that it is not a widely used term in contemporary Greek, and some suspect that Paul outright invented the term to describe what he was warning against.

In other words, Paul, in his twisted little mind, wend out of his way to condemn behavior which heretofore had not been considered particularly sinful.

Paul was the first Christian anti-gay bigot, and has left a horrid legacy in his wake. This is a big part of the problem I have with the religion as a whole.

[MADem]

27. So??? There's incest in there too, and polygamy, and people turning to salt.

Just because it's in there, well, it's just one asshole's opinion.

If you're going to get all literal, I'll be over to your house to dinner with a thousand of my closest friends. I'll bring a loaf and a fish, and a carafe of water--you invite your pal Jesus, and we'll have us a fish fry!

[yodermon]

36. Thank you for making my point.

The entire book is barbaric and silly, and its religious tenets are inherently bigoted against gays and women (and "sinners" of course).

(I am not stating that all Christians share this bigotry, barbarism, and silliness, though.)

If "one asshole's opinion" becomes the fundament for an entire religion, I believe there is cause for concern (and criticism).

[MADem]

44. Well, some people who are religious look to the stories as guidelines to

general behavior (share your goods with those less fortunate, be nice to the old and the very young, care for the sick, that kind of thing). Like fables, or allegories, or morality tales. They have the good sense to parse out that the stories were written back in bigoted days, so they reflect a bigoted mindset--but they can tease out the larger message while ignoring the situational prejudices.

Others, who are dunces, and who hold those asshole opinions, take every word literally.

The ones who look at the stories as a way of imparting a message, and don't take them as a word-for-word directive on how to live one's life, do just fine with it. It's just a book, written by a bunch of guys, eaons ago, heavily edited with big chunks taken out--it has no special power. It accompanies a religion because that "pass it down by word of mouth" stuff was muddying the message.

Some bozos, though, are convinced that Jesus sat down at his Selectric II (of course there were no computers back in those days!!) and typed the thing out! You'll never be able to convince them that a series of essays written down centuries after that crucifixion isn't a contemporaneous account. But see, that's their punishment, to be that dumb. Imagine having to go through life with that little brainpower--it's kind of sad, really.

[Toasterlad]

47. Actually, It's Kind of Dangerous, Really.

Single-minded, fanatical belief is responsible for countless deaths throughout history, up to and including the conflicts in the Middle East and the United Kingdom. It is responsible for persecution and slavery of people throughout history, from the Jews in Egypt to the gays in our own country.

Ideology leads to superiority. Superiority leads to condemnation. Condemnation leads to oppression.

ANYONE who takes ANY religion too seriously is very, very dangerous.

[MADem]

50. Anyone who takes ANYTHING too seriously is dangerous.

I've seen some pretty rabid atheists, too. Imagine some hapless (fill in name of religion) person up against a critical mass of atheists seeking revenge. I've seen rabid baseball and football fans, too. I've seen rabid members of political parties. I've seen rabid nationalists.

ANY affiliation that is single-minded and fanatical can cause deaths and persecutions. It's not just religion that is to blame. Kim Jong Il isn't persecuting and enslaving and killing his people in the Name of the Lord, he's doing it in the Name of Himself.

All religion does is give assholes a particular REASON to be an asshole. If there were no religions, they'd find some other reason to be an asshole. The problem is in the NATURE and the intellect (or lack thereof) of the person, you see.

[Toasterlad]

51. True, But That's What I Meant By Ideology

I'm reminded of the Chris Rock quote from the movie Dogma:

"I just think it's better to have ideas. I mean, you can change an idea, changing a belief is trickier. People DIE for them, people KILL for them."

[Swamp Rat]

18. Oooo! This will be GREAT!!!

:bounce:

I only wish I could be in on his. :D

[Jamastiene]

19. I sure hope he does.

Anything he produces ends up being award grade material and most importantly, it makes people think.

[Divine Discontent]

22. thank you MICHAEL MOORE

this was a great article, I hope he does it - it will be amazing.

THANK YOU for posting it.

[0rganism]

26. MM should hit the religious fanatics across the board

They're pushing a nutty agenda on many levels, the anti-gay crusade being but one of many, and they're ripe for another expose'. Jesus Camp was a start, but America needs to see more.

I can just imagine Moore trying to get an interview with Pat Robertson... :D

[BlooInBloo]

28. I just hope he does whatever HE thinks he should do next.

[DarkTirade]

32. Has anyone seen his video where he took the 'Sodomobile' across through every state

that has anti-sodomy laws still on the books? Even had a conversation with Fred Phelps himself. Ended up scaring him off when the sodomobile pulled up. :)

[MessiahRp]

33. I was just going to say, "He already has"...

People, please check out The Awful Truth, it's two seasons worth of Moore-goodness.

Here's the video to the terrific Sodomobile segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABH_RFeeGAs

Rp

[baby_mouse]

34. It won't work.

There has to be *someone* that people can feel better than. Homosexuals are currently the best option. Racism is widely understood to be idiotic, misogyny just makes people look stupid and money-classism is rapidly turning into a farce. No-one respects the rich.

So they're left with homosexuals. Wey're the only ones left. The manipulators know this and are giving their damnedest to keep us down where we're supposed to be, less than "normal" people *somehow*, they don't care how so long as it's *less* so that "ordinary people" can feel as if they're better than someone.

[DarkTirade]

38. Oh, once that's mostly past I'm sure the people who feel the need to hate

will find a new group to lay it on. Maybe they'll come around full circle and start going by race again. Or maybe it'll be people with different accents. Or people who wear hats. Who knows?

[yodermon]

41. there are always the pedophiles

and there's no chance of their activities being "normalized", since it is inherently rape.

[Toasterlad]

48. Now, Now...There's Always Fat People.

And don't forget smokers! The country is FILLED with self-righteous blowhards who LOVE "putting smokers in their place".

Now, if you're a fat, gay smoker, well, you're pretty much done for.

[BlueIris]

35. OMG, that would be great.

I was kinda hoping for a Katrina movie next, but this will be fine.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

37. An important subject, but...

I personally hope he'll take on voting rights. From caging to Diebold, I think shining some light on the dangerous erosion of our voting rights to be even more important. If we lose the right to vote, we've lost everything else.

[King Coal]

42. That would be too polemic of a discussion at this point.

We have more important fish to fry at this point. Let's try to get the Constitution back, and then we can fine tune the civil rights issues.

[Toasterlad]

49. Spoken Like Someone Legally Allowed to Marry

And someone who can't be fired just because of who he loves. And who has a right to see his loved one in the hospital, and won't have to worry about his lover's family carting away all his things and evicting him from his home after his lover's death.

We gay folk might not seem "important" to the rest of the country, but we kinda think we've waited long enough to get treated like other human beings.

[B Calm]

45. I look for him to tackle the media!

[Bragi]

46. He should go where no-one else dares to go...

I hope his next mission is exposing the disgrace that is the US prison system.

Thankfully there are many politicians aqnd filmmakers who will take on injustice to gay people, but there isn't a single politician I am aware of with the courage to expose the US penal system for the affront to human dignity it represents.

Moore really ought to do it.

- B