How is Michael Moore perceived in the U.S.?

[inboundpaper]

He's a jackass.

[Olala]

My point is that your statement would have carried more weight had you not done the same thing you accused him off - its, well, hypocritical...

I got your point, and that's fine.
My point is the attack on intelligence this man has carried out for the past two decades is just awful and wrong.
I knew quite a few kids back during my high school days who praised this man and now look back and wonder why.
Just to be different is probably the only reason they can think of.

[Collegeguy]

He is a joke to even democrats in America. College professors are very liberal and vote democrat, and every single one I knew thought he was a complete moron for fahrenheit 911 documentary.

He is the rush limbaugh for the left. He just feeds off the truthers and extreme wackos, and there is no accuracy in his movies.

[Catta]

I got your point, and that's fine.
My point is the attack on intelligence this man has carried out for the past two decades is just awful and wrong.
I knew quite a few kids back during my high school days who praised this man and now look back and wonder why.
Just to be different is probably the only reason they can think of.

I praise the man - he is intelligent and good at manipulating and use it to further his evil agenda of universal healthcare, regulating wall street and gun control.

[Albert the fish]

Ola, Catta. you guys are getting too personal here. cmon, if you want this topic to be discussed then we can't do that. if we want to get it closed for too much bile and venom than why not jump in with both feet and start slinging the really hurtful names.

[Olala]

Ola, Catta. you guys are getting too personal here. cmon, if you want this topic to be discussed then we can't do that. if we want to get it closed for too much bile and venom than why not jump in with both feet and start slinging the really hurtful names.

Don't see how we're getting too personal. I have yet to attack Catta and vice versa.

He is manipulative to the young and stupid. Same with any political nut case. Moore is not the only one, there are scores of them. I rank him up there with Ann Coulter for nuttiness.

[Zecora]

Ola, Catta. you guys are getting too personal here. cmon, if you want this topic to be discussed then we can't do that. if we want to get it closed for too much bile and venom than why not jump in with both feet and start slinging the really hurtful names.

You smell of fish, you shark!

...jokes aside, the whole thread smells of a flamefest from the start. Threads "going after" an individual usually does.

[RoKPaNda]

He is not representative of liberals. We're not that crazy. I really hate it when conservatives claim that he is our role model; he is not. He is too extreme, too radical.

Best post I've read in awhile. Though keep in mind it works the other way as well. As someone who has gone from leaning one way to leaning the other while still being mostly centered I've experienced that kind of thing on both sides.

[Albert the fish]

You smell of fish, you shark!

...jokes aside, the whole thread smells of a flamefest from the start. Threads "going after" an individual usually does.

you ugly striped wannabe horse!......... kiss me you fool!

[Laize]

He's a leftist, sensationalist wingnut who has mastered the art of spinning things so that people will liste to him. Sure there are people just like that on the right (Glenn Beck) and others on the left (Rachel Maddow) and each of them needs to have their mouths sewn shut forever... But as far as I know Michael Moore is the only one who makes feature film documentaries.

[Zecora]

you ugly striped wannabe horse!......... kiss me you fool!

These aren't stripes, I just sat down on a newly painted park bench!.....c'mere!


Wait...wasn't this about Michael Moore, not zebras and sharks going at it?

[Albert the fish]

These aren't stripes, I just sat down on a newly painted park bench!.....c'mere!


Wait...wasn't this about Michael Moore, not zebras and sharks going at it?

personally i think wild zebra/shark sex is far more entertaining than MM's fat ass, but i suppose everyone has their kink.

[Zarc]

It's funny how many say that he is too radical.

The worldwide political spectrum, using the Academic definitions of ideologies (as "liberal" and "conservative" is used in the US quite diffrently from how it is used worldwide), for the combined democratic world (most of Latin America, Europe, North America, India, Oceania, Japan/South Korea) is as follows:

democratic socialism = far left,
social democracy = left,
social liberalism = centre-left,
liberal conservatism = centre-right,
classic liberalism = right,
social conservatism = far-right.

As far as the big tent parties of the US goes the Democratic Party covers the range from social liberalism to liberal conservatism, while the Republican Party covers the range from classic liberalism to social conservatism, lacking the far-left and left ideologies alltogether. In Sweden, where I live, the situation is the reverse. We have the "Left Bloc" of parties covering the far-left to left, and the "Right Bloc" of parties covering the centre-left to centre-right of the spectrum. So while the US lacks the extreme left, Sweden lacks the extreme right.

So as far as Michael Moore goes, he is at maximum a social democrat, which is just left. Nothing extreme. If I were to guess though, I'd guess he is a social liberal, so centre-left. Having seen all his movies and read a bit about him it is not possible to determine which of them he is, but as he is an American and he has done nothing to indicate he would be a social democrat (which is the most soft form of socialism by the way, so in other words I don't think he is a socialist) my guess would be that he is a social liberal, which is centre-left. So put in other words he is less extreme then every member of the Republican Party as they would fall in the right to far-right bracket of a worldwide political spectrum.

But then again the thread was regarding how he was percieved in the US so... everything is relative I suppose.

[Catta]

Don't see how we're getting too personal. I have yet to attack Catta and vice versa.

He is manipulative to the young and stupid. Same with any political nut case. Moore is not the only one, there are scores of them. I rank him up there with Ann Coulter for nuttiness.

Yea, but the difference is that Moore is actually intelligent.

[Albert the fish]

It's funny how many say that he is too radical.

The worldwide political spectrum, using the Academic definitions of ideologies (as "liberal" and "conservative" is used in the US quite diffrently from how it is used worldwide), for the combined democratic world (most of Latin America, Europe, North America, India, Oceania, Japan/South Korea) is as follows:

democratic socialism = far left,
social democracy = left,
social liberalism = centre-left,
liberal conservatism = centre-right,
classic liberalism = right,
social conservatism = far-right.

As far as the big tent parties of the US goes the Democratic Party covers the range from social liberalism to liberal conservatism, while the Republican Party covers the range from classic liberalism to social conservatism, lacking the far-left and left ideologies alltogether. In Sweden, where I live, the situation is the reverse. We have the "Left Bloc" of parties covering the far-left to left, and the "Right Bloc" of parties covering the centre-left to centre-right of the spectrum. So while the US lacks the extreme left, Sweden lacks the extreme right.

So as far as Michael Moore goes, he is at maximum a social democrat, which is just left. Nothing extreme. If I were to guess though, I'd guess he is a social liberal, so centre-left. Having seen all his movies and read a bit about him it is not possible to determine which of them he is, but as he is an American and he has done nothing to indicate he would be a social democrat (which is the most soft form of socialism by the way, so in other words I don't think he is a socialist) my guess would be that he is a social liberal, which is centre-left. So put in other words he is less extreme then every member of the Republican Party as they would fall in the right to far-right bracket of a worldwide political spectrum.

But then again the thread was regarding how he was percieved in the US so... everything is relative I suppose.

i don't think a lot of people think his ideals are extreme, just his methods where he basically goes apeshit and vainly whinges on about shit, getting a fair number of facts incorrect or misrepresented JUST to browbeat the opposition, much like GB or RL do in the States.

[Deleted]

Are people from other continents somehow precluded from this debate on the assumption that we all would agree with him/ think he's a good documentary maker? I don't think he is, there were a few interesting exposes in farenheit 9/11 but by and large he came across as a windbag who hugely exaggerated things for dramatic effect. I also found this prank interview by Chris Morris which furthered the impression:

[Drekker17]

I can't stand him, everyone I know hates him...even liberals think he is extreme. He makes these extremely faulty "documentaries" that stupid young people will take as 100% truth. Yes his stuff comes from truth, but a lot of it is an SNL skit crazy stuff. Maybe I don't hate him, but I certainly hate his fan base.

[Skroe]

Michael Moore has been an irrelevant non entity for like, eight years. FIrst his snarkiness got old. Second the truth about his ridiculous Charleston Heston interview came out (basically he picked on an old man). Third Youtube made his "shocking truth" form of documentary mostly superfluous.

And making a movie about healthcare from a man who is dangerously obease and is likely to be dead a good six or seven years before standrard life expectancy of an upper class American White Male certainly didn't help his reputation. Glass houses and all that. Before ripping on America's poor healthcare system, he should start eating salads and stop eating Ho-Hos.

Frankly, he isn't perceived period anymore.

[videotape]

Depends on who you ask, but as a reasonably intelligent, "left-leaning" person I think he's an absurd attention-whoring caricature of a liberal. A joke. Not to be taken seriously.

I really don't know anyone beyond, say, early 20s in age who does take him seriously.

---------- Post added 2012-07-20 at 04:55 PM ----------

Frankly, he isn't perceived period anymore.

This is also true.

[oblivionx]

The thing about Moore was that, at first he was respected... even taken serious.

But after time and people taking a good look at him, at things he says, and some of the pure deception he has used.. all respect faded pretty fast.