Monday, June 28, 2004

Fahrenheit Letter

Michael Moore's new film became part of the national dialogue this weekend. If Fahrenheit 9/11 is hot, it's because it's showing us something--about government, about war, and about ourselves. The film contains footage unlike anything Americans have seen in depth: the day to day experiences of combat soldiers in Iraq, the anguish of Iraqis who blame the US for the deaths of their loved ones, the anxieties of American military families who now question the war, the rehabilitation of American soldiers who have lost their limbs. And while Moore makes his own observations on the meaning behind it all, I fail to see how the real lives and experiences of American soldiers count in any way as "propaganda." The freest nation in the world shouldn't have to rely on a single man to show us what's actually happening in Iraq.

4 comments:

Sheryl said...

Is America really the "freest nation in the world?"

6/29/2004 03:47:00 AM
J.R. Boyd said...

You didn't detect my air quotes?

6/29/2004 03:57:00 PM
Sheryl said...

I guess I should have known you were writing to your audience (all things considered) , but the idea of America as the greatest place in the universe always bugs me. :(

Have you ever wondered what the "greatest" and "freest" nation on the planet actually is?

That would be almost impossible to evaluate. You'd have to do something like measure the modes, medians, and means of each population relative to some hierarchy of needs . :) Maslow's model wouldn't really do it either.

I think he defines "transcendance" as helping others, but I know a lot of people who help others purely so that they can feel superior or ignore their own problems. Or as Oscar Wilde put it: "philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic." That's probably a bit strong, but certainly not every helper bee has his shit together. And yet some really do.

People like Bush probably convince themselves that they are saving those poor Iraqis from their pathetic little lives with our superior American values. Or the same thing as far religious missionaries.

On the other hand, there probably are levels to an evolved culture. I think the US is far from it right now. And that's another thing--the US sure as hell isn't as evolved right now as I have seen it in my lifetime. All cultures evolve and devolve all the time, so even if we were the greatest nation at one point, we sure as hell aren't now under Bush. Still, I have hope for America. Once we get this bastard and his cronies out of office, we can start aiming in the right direction again. :)

6/29/2004 04:44:00 PM
J.R. Boyd said...

Within the US, "freedom" is narrowly used to mean political freedom, and not by accident, since it's the one usage that has some merit. I think it's perfectly appropriate to concede this much. The country was founded on the *ideals* that people are created equal, and that the two greatest threats to freedom at the time--government and the church--should be limited on the one hand, and divorced from the political process on the other. Of course, these ideals were not actualized by Thomas Jefferson, but rather by his slaves and all the people who challenged the policies that precluded them from becoming realities. The same is true of the labor movement, women's rights movement, the gay movement, etc.--they continue working to make the American ideal reality. As such, our civil liberties have become strong despite an ongoing effort to undermine them.

Of course, this says nothing about our economic system, which is based not on democratic, popular control over resources and production, but on concentrated power for the benefit of the few at the expense of the rest of us, our standards of living, our access to health care, our ability to pay energy costs and feed our children at the same time. The effect of such disparities in economic power is to render much of the democratic political process form and not substance.

6/29/2004 07:19:00 PM

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