Manufacturing Dissent

Updated below

One of the main reasons why I like liberalism is that we are free to criticize our own...even if we do it all too frequently. It's our honesty that's key: brutal as it may be, it's rarely malevolent. It's simultaneously our greatest strength and our biggest weakness.

At the risk of ruffling some feathers I have to say, though, that I've long had a problem with Michael Moore's style and his tactics...and I think a documentary like this, made by left-wing liberals, is perhaps exactly what he deserves (and needs) most:


I just can't really see Moore's films as true documentaries. For real documentaries, I'll continue to watch Errol Morris or Ken Burns.

But I still love Moore's movies nonetheless. They're candy; like liberal political porn. My only fear is that this documentary will soon be touted and exploited by the right wing...certainly an unintended consequence by the filmmakers.

The irony, however, is that a documentary like Manufacturing Dissent can only strengthen the liberal cause in the end, as our introspection only serves to inform us and thus lead to more well-crafted positions, less vulnerable to superficial attacks.

Or so I hope.

UPDATE: As predicted, the right-wing has picked up on Manufacturing Dissent. Here's a snippet from a FOX interview with the documentarians:

"At its core here, Martha, what we're talking about is truth-telling via the media," [co-director Rick Caine] said. "So for us to sit here and act like Michael is the only person buffalo-ing the American public I think is a little disingenuous."

MacCallum failed to flinch at that, telling the two that they had obviously set out to show that Moore "wasn't what he was pretending to be, right?"

No, they said, they set out to tell the truth, whatever it happened to be.

"If someone is willing to lie for the cause, like a major news organization, for instance, it causes all kinds of problems for democracy. ... The media has to tell the truth. I don't care which side of the divide you're on. We've got to knock off the lies and tell the truth so the American public can do the right thing," Caine said.

Good on them for sticking to the point, and subtly sticking it to the right-wing's biggest mouthpiece. Check out the link above for the video, care of News Hounds.

(Crooks and Liars also has the video.)