Moore Problems

Note: Originally from July, 2004, this post is intended to increase awareness of those who would use the sacrifice of heroes for their own personal gain. Few have profitted more from the death of American troops than Mike Moore. Fewer still have made more money from the Iraq war.

Last week brought this report:

The family of U.S. Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone was shocked to learn that video footage of the major's Arlington National Cemetery burial was included by Michael Moore in his movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Maj. Stone was killed in March 2003 by a grenade that officials said was thrown into his tent by Sgt. Hasan K. Akbar, who is on trial for murder.

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The movie, described by critics as political propaganda during an election year, shows video footage of the funeral and Maj. Stone's fiancee, Tammie Eslinger, kissing her hand and placing it on his coffin.

The family does not know how Mr. Moore obtained the video, and Miss Gallagher said they did not give permission and are considering legal recourse.

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The mother of the major labeled Mr. Moore a "maggot that eats off the dead."

This week we hear from those who can voice their own opposition to being used by the Iraq war's largest profiteer:

Afew days after Michael Moore's blockbuster documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 opened in theaters, a friend approached Roy Mitchell with a strange look on his face.

Mitchell, an Army staff sergeant, is a patient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where he is recovering from the loss of his left leg in an explosion in Afghanistan. As the friend approached him that day, he studied Mitchell's face, then told him something that shocked him.

"You're in that 9/11 movie," he said, then added: "Man, it doesn't make you look good."

Here's what Moore used:

In a brief film clip taken from an interview he did with the British television network Channel 4 in February, Mitchell appears in the physical-training room of Walter Reed, where he shared the following words about wounded soldiers:

"The ones that are covered are the KIAs - the 'Killed in Action.' I'm not taking anything away from those soldiers. They deserve that coverage. But there is also us. To say we're forgotten, that would be going just a little bit too far to say we're forgotten, but I'd say we are the missed soldiers of the Army."

Fortunately, SSG Mitchell is available to set the record straight.

Mitchell does not deny making the remarks. But he vehemently objects to filmmaker Moore's using them - without his knowledge - in a film he thinks undermines the military's mission in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he risked his life.

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"The way they lead into my spot in the movie insinuates that I'm talking bad about the military," Mitchell said.

And other troops have bit parts in Moore's delusion too:

Apparently, Mitchell is not the only soldier to make an unwitting appearance in the movie, which is on the verge of earning $100 million at the box office.

The July 15 issue of The Enterprise, a Massachusetts newspaper, reported that Army reservist Peter Damon - also recuperating at Walter Reed after losing parts of both arms in an explosion in Iraq - was "surprised" to learn that an interview he gave to NBC this year is shown in the film.

John Gonsalves, the founder of Homes for Our Troops - a Massachusetts organization that builds homes for disabled soldiers - is constructing a new house for Damon and his wife, with whom he has talked extensively about the film.

"To do a movie that's clearly anti-war and totally against the Bush administration, and to put these guys in it without their knowledge, is morally wrong, and maybe even legally," said Gonsalves.

To say the least.

Meanwhile, this report from Amy Ridenour's National Center Blog brings additional outrage, but offers a cure:

Army Spc. Joe Roche has perhaps the harshest words yet for Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, describing its impact on the morale of our troops deployed overseas as "devastating."

In typical Joe fashion, he did something about the matter. He made copies of this Independence Institute rebuttal of Moore's film (29 pages in small font, he says!) and distributed it widely among U.S. troops in Kuwait.

Which certainly sounds like the appropriate response.

People don't like being lied to. This is the one fundamental truth that Moore realizes and exploits; by convincing his (often eager) audience that they are victims of lies he can then exploit their rage at that victimhood. Have pity on them, they are suffering from Veritas Torquere, aka Moore's Disease.

The simple cure for Moore's Disease is to show the truth to those who may be temporarily afflicted (note: truth will have no effect on the willingly deceived) and as increasing numbers of Moore's victims speak out there will be increasing mounds of evidence to use against him. And therein lies the double edge sword of Mike Moore's twisting of reality; people don't like discovering they've been lied to. They will likely be torqued off, if you will.

And you should know where to find that cure, because the disease is coming soon to an AAFES (Army and Air Force Exchange Service) theater on a military installation near you, too.

AAFES won?t let a little controversy get in the way of acquiring copies of Michael Moore?s new documentary, ?Fahrenheit 9/11,? a spokesman said Monday.

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service is pursuing prints through one of the film?s distributors, Lions Gate Films, said Judd Anstey, a spokesman at AAFES headquarters in Dallas.

Whether AAFES pursues a movie depends entirely on its popularity in the United States.

?AAFES? motion picture policy is to screen films that are popular in the private sector,? AAFES Vice President of Food and Theater Richard Sheff responded via e-mail. ?AAFES? position will not change based on a single feature.

Free speech, even for Michael Moore, compliments of the US military.

Update: Moore from Smash and Blackfive

Update: Moore Truth, compliments of Toni in the comments section:

Australian artist and filmmaker George Gittoes has objected to American Michael Moore's use of some of his work in the controversial movie Fahrenheit 9/11.

Mr Gittoes said today Mr Moore had incorporated about 17 selections from his own documentary film Soundtrack to War into Fahrenheit 9/11.

They depicted American soldiers and their music in Iraq.

"I was concerned of course for my soldiers because their interviews were taken out of context," Mr Gittoes told the Nine Network.

"There are about 17 scenes from my documentary in his film. I wouldn't go so far as to say he lifted (them). Michael got access to my stuff and assumed that I would be happy for it to be in 9/11. I would actually have been quite happy for it not to be in 9/11."

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"Mine's a better film. My film's balanced. I don't think there's a lot of balance in 9/11," he said.

Mr Gittoes said he had some contact with a company Westside Productions associated with Michael Moore but had no idea his work was in Fahrenheit 9/11 until it was screened at the Cannes film festival.

"When I finally discussed it face to face with Michael, I realised that no-one wants to be a spoiler. He's an artist and that's how he makes his work," he said.

"He doesn't go out to Iraq like I do and dodge bullets. He makes it from mainly archival footage and the stuff that other people shoot."

Ouch.

(Original post 2004-07-27 20:16:50)