I used to have a degree of sympathy for the viewpoints of Michael Moore but not any more.
Everything from his "working-class" persona onwards is a fiction, and he is a master of fiction posing as fact. His first movie was a massive lucky break for him, and had a great degree of merit as it was a presentation of the truth. But having turned a vendetta into a career he is now determined to preserve his millionaire preserve.
I don't dislike him for his views, in fact most of them match mine, but the manner in which he expresses himself. There are enough lies out there in need of exposure without resorting to lazy tricks and lies of your own.
He uses the same scams that the people he condemns use, inaccurate data, outdated data, stereotypes, rumours presented as facts and double standards in everything he presents to the public. He is an ideological con artist.
The guy who runs http://www.threequestionmarks.com/ put it very well;
"What really offends me about Moore is that he capitalizes on the wonderful human willingness to trust. I am 50 percent wrong for directing this anger towards his fans. After all he is using all of the tricks of the trade---humor, music (scary when it needs to be) and charm to weave his web of fudged facts. Like me, he was an ugly fat kid (I wasn't fat, I was freckled and too skinny) who surely felt the wrath of the genetically gifted, it is no surprise that he is still to this day wreaking revenge upon the subjects of his jealousy. As any ugly kid who discovers humor as a defense mechanism will tell you, just ask me, the easiest way to get ahead when things seem so stacked against you is ---- identify the folks with the most power and influence and learn how to do a good impersonation of them --- then you can make them look like an ass when they leave the room. Always make them seem incompetent and evil---but in a funny way---you know, so you still look holy---like a good guy. Drawing funny pictures of the boss works well too.
His whole gimmick, and such his philosophy, is wrapped up in the scene where he says (while suggesting a sub series called "Corporate Cops") "What American wouldn't love to see his boss chased down and beaten?" this is the core of his gimmick. It is and always has been effective.
What really sucks is that, to combat this method is difficult. It is hard enough convincing people to be skeptical when trust is such a necessary element in a civilized society, but when you get clowns like Moore who proclaim that he is *the* ultimate skeptic, he taps into that last remaining ounce of trust left in the people who consider themselves skeptical.---They don't check his facts because why would he lie when his whole gig is to uncover the real story? He knows very well what he is doing---that is why I get so pissed. To a point, I understand those who trust his figures and theories---we have to trust somebody---but I can't excuse them. People must tune their own bullshit detectors. I can't be everywhere----or can I?"
There are lawsuits outstanding over doctored news articles that Moore presented in Fahrenheit 9/11 to distort the facts to suit his needs, and I'm sure there will be others.
We need a champion to keep the politicians at bay but Moore is not that man. He is a self serving publicity seeker, desperate to keep his nose in the trough.
Critics of Moore contend that Moore's films are not documentaries and that his books have factual errors. Accusations have been made that some scenes in Moore's documentaries were staged or scripted and other scenes were cleverly edited to alter the original intent of the speaker in the video. In one case, on screen text was altered in a campaign ad. Moore denied that this was done in the film, but slightly corrected it on the DVD release. Moore contends that these are not critics, but "nutcases" and "lunatics" who disagree with him.
Which seems strange for the 'champion of truth and justice'. One of the few non-partisan website out there trying to present a balanced view is http://www.spinsanity.com/ and it should be required reading for all.
Michael Moore rhetoric