Lothian said:
Errr No. As far as the British are concerned and I speak for each and everyone of them, we don’t tend to judge people by their appearances. If we had a craving for fat uncouth, poorly dressed, {insert own ad hominem here} American loudmouths we would have many more of them in our media.
Has it ever entered your head that perhaps it is the content that Moore comes up with that we like and his popularity is nothing to do with physical appearance. In fact if you look at the people who grace our T.V’s and films I would say that would be far more accurate to say that despite his appearances he is popular. And you need to think why that might be so that rather than try to attack him you attack his message, if that is what you want to do.
The reason we like Moore is that he takes a cynical, satirical and humorous look at authority, This appeals to us Brits. We want to be amused. We want someone telling us what we ‘know ‘ (that all politicians and people in power are crooks). We have had a lot of it here. We have had comedians (Ben Elton), TV Programmes (Spitting Image) and magazines (Private Eye) all telling us about the corruption and personal interests infecting politics. We have has the tabloid exposes of philandering MPs, and we like that because we then know where we are with politicians and government. We are one up on them, we know that they are all power crazed liars.
With America it is different. We don’t get the same criticisms of American politics and politicians. Yet with America starting to dictate to the world it is becoming the new world government and we need to know where we are with them what drives them. We need to know that American politicians are as corrupt as our own.
Moore tells us. While they give the impression of being altruistic superheros, he tells us that those in authority in America are just like those here. And he uses a powerful weapon in telling us Irony. Irony is something we are told Americans don’t understand, it is something that we in Britain love. Moore has a very British sense of humour, and he entertains us.(We see a lot of the criticisms of Moore as criticisms of Irony, and in turn see that as criticisms of ourselves.
We get the backlash against Moore reported and we don’t understand it. What are those critics saying ‘That there is no corruption in America ?’ ‘That no innocent person has ever been killed by a legally held weapon in America ?’ Moore tells us some of the truth. Not all the truth but some of it is true. That is how irony works. You don’t get the full picture, just enough to amuse?
Just because you don’t like the message there is no need to try to suppress it. We hear the message and move on, it is only telling us what we already know. There is no point having a go at Moore, when there is a clear market for his message and his style. Moore as an individual is not a news story here. There is no point slagging him off. If you dislike Moore (or more specifically, his message) then you need to tell us what your message is, What point of view are you trying to get across, but when you tell us try to be funny, entertain us or we won’t listen.
Gracious. I hardly expected to to raise such ire, and barely know where to begin to reply. Perhaps the beginning would be a good place.
First, as my British friends online say, "don't get yer knickers in a twist". It's good to know that Great Britain speaks with one voice on this. Makes my job easier.
And of course it's entered my head that it's Moore's content is what appeals to you--but his content is (are?) the contents of his head, and it's one man's opinion. Read my entire post again. I plainly state (albeit left-handedly) that he's a good filmmaker who is better at expressing his views than I am at expressing mine.
In your next paragraph, you try to explain British humo(u)r to me.
I
like British humour. Monty Python, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore....and oh, let's not forget Sir Charles Chaplin, the greatest of them all. You say you don't get exposed to the same information about American politicians as you do about your own.
I submit to you, sir, that that is a cop-out of the first magnitude. You have the internet, and all the information you seek is but a mouse-click away. To suggest that if it were not for Michael Moore, you would not know about the foibles of American politicians is disingenuous.
And you say you are "told" Americans don't understand irony. Told by whom? And which Americans were they referring to? This is a pretty big country, with lots of different peoples from all cultures and educational levels, and I'd wager that more than a few of us do in fact understand irony, although perhaps in a more general, less peculariarly "British" sense.
Then you go on about the "backlash" against Moore. Let me be very clear here. I don't wish to be included as part of those who are actively seeking to muzzle the guy. That's truly Un-American.
I'm just a guy who doesn't much care for the man or his message, but if I had to, I'd take up arms to defend his right to be who he is--you see, I also believe in preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution of the United States of America.
In summation, I can't really tell you what my message is--did I even suggest I had an alternate one? I think I just have an opinion about two men I don't like very much, and I thought I expressed pretty clearly why in my original post. And you disagreed. OK. No problem.
) Chicago Sun-Times: