"To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of "dissenting" bravery."
And yet, I expect the theatres to be full with precisely the type of people who think it the pinnacle of intellectual dissent to hiss when someone shows a photo of Rumsfeld. If you think I'm making that last bit up, I hate to disappoint you: the art-house crowd at a recent showing of a documentary about Iraq was all over that model of dissent.
Is it too much to ask that folks in media actually pursue the facts--regardless of ideology--when they say they're interested in the facts?
Don't answer. I keep asking that question, even though I know better. It's like rhetorical Tourette's Syndrome: I can't help it.
Posted by Big Arm Woman at June 22, 2004 11:38 AMI've been hearing that for years now it's been the thing for the intellectual and art-house crowd to hiss at unapproved ideas and people when they appear on screen or stage. They find it ever so clever.
Posted by: fad at June 22, 2004 11:50 AMYeah, when actual arguments fail, go for the hissin'!
Maybe I'll do that when my boss comes in to give me more work this afternoon...
Posted by: BAW at June 22, 2004 01:57 PMRemembered where I most recently heard of it.
Posted by: fad at June 22, 2004 03:28 PM