From this moment forward history is yours to make
To easterners, Andrew Jackson looked and sounded like a Democrat. But in his own culture, his rhetoric had a very different function. Historian Thomas Abernathy observes that Andrew Jackson never championed the cause of the people; he merely invited the people to champion him.
--David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed
I was reminded of Albion's Seed from a cat who uses the pseudonym Werther. Actually, he mentions the book here. The book is impossibly long. I haven't gotten through much of it and I probably don't need to do so. My instinct was that it would clarify some issues regarding this election, and it does, but reading Werther is sufficient. It's sort of like the red state and blue state thing, but there's more going on. Essentially, an odd (or not so odd) combination of cavalier culture and backcountry culture has seized state power (and the word seize is probably accurate), and, more importantly, has captured the imagination of a large segment of the population, much larger than the segment should be if cavalier and backcountry cultures remained within their historical settings. The surrender of the mainstream media to that segment leaves another large segment of the population, very likely a majority, regardless of how large the contrary segment may be, very hungry for something else.
That something else is Michael Moore. He brought 10,000 people to Lawlor this evening. I'd say it was 10,000. Even more could have gotten in if the event had been done in the round. But that would have caused some logistical problems for showing video clips. Yep, it was two hours of Moore's guerrilla theater, done live. It's a great experience. He said this was his twenty-sixth stop on a sixty-city tour, and the turn out has been the same, ten or twelve or fifteen thousand people. That's not surprising, of course. The same numbers turned out during his book tour last year. People are hungry.
He talked about how one of the effects of F-9/11 is the outing of the mainstream media. He said the press failed its public trust, for example, in regards to the invasion of Iraq. Reporters were more interested in playing soldiers as embedded correspondents, instead of asking hard questions. The audience roared its approval during that peroration. Indeed, the whole two hours was punctuated over and over again with ovations.
Oh yea, there's also audience participation. A couple of Pfizer employees had provided him with a special training manual the company has produced for employees in case Moore shows up asking questions. This was quite amusing. I hope I can do justice to it with my description. Moore's next movie will be about HMOs and pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer got wind of the project and wanted to be able to prepare employees in case Moore shows up. The manual says if a heavy set man with a beard and wearing wrinkled clothing and holding a microphone comes around asking questions, employees might want to take care how they answer. The manual even provides a hotline to call to report Moore's presence. He gave the number out, and maybe a quarter of the audience, the ones with cell phones, punched in the number. Some cat called up right there. I'm not sure if it was made clear if someone answered or if it was just voice mail.
Oh, about those video clips. Well one is about five minutes of Bush's press conference after talking to the 9/11 commission. That was priceless. I guess it's part of the DVD F-9/11. The other clip was a set of satirical campaign ads. I don't think I can describe them. Very funny, but very dark. Another big moment was a three-song set by Tom Morello. Well, he's out of my time. He's from Rage Against the Machine, which I do know about, but have never heard before. But he was definitely a hit with the younger audience.
Well, I doubt that I can describe the whole event. It's very good. He's doing what the Democratic party isn't doing. Energizing the base. Motivating people to vote for Kerry. Indeed, certain criticisms of Moore remain legitimate. He pushes things he himself has not thought through, or fully developed. But his style brings out the people. It may bring out the vote.
--David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed
I was reminded of Albion's Seed from a cat who uses the pseudonym Werther. Actually, he mentions the book here. The book is impossibly long. I haven't gotten through much of it and I probably don't need to do so. My instinct was that it would clarify some issues regarding this election, and it does, but reading Werther is sufficient. It's sort of like the red state and blue state thing, but there's more going on. Essentially, an odd (or not so odd) combination of cavalier culture and backcountry culture has seized state power (and the word seize is probably accurate), and, more importantly, has captured the imagination of a large segment of the population, much larger than the segment should be if cavalier and backcountry cultures remained within their historical settings. The surrender of the mainstream media to that segment leaves another large segment of the population, very likely a majority, regardless of how large the contrary segment may be, very hungry for something else.
That something else is Michael Moore. He brought 10,000 people to Lawlor this evening. I'd say it was 10,000. Even more could have gotten in if the event had been done in the round. But that would have caused some logistical problems for showing video clips. Yep, it was two hours of Moore's guerrilla theater, done live. It's a great experience. He said this was his twenty-sixth stop on a sixty-city tour, and the turn out has been the same, ten or twelve or fifteen thousand people. That's not surprising, of course. The same numbers turned out during his book tour last year. People are hungry.
He talked about how one of the effects of F-9/11 is the outing of the mainstream media. He said the press failed its public trust, for example, in regards to the invasion of Iraq. Reporters were more interested in playing soldiers as embedded correspondents, instead of asking hard questions. The audience roared its approval during that peroration. Indeed, the whole two hours was punctuated over and over again with ovations.
Oh yea, there's also audience participation. A couple of Pfizer employees had provided him with a special training manual the company has produced for employees in case Moore shows up asking questions. This was quite amusing. I hope I can do justice to it with my description. Moore's next movie will be about HMOs and pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer got wind of the project and wanted to be able to prepare employees in case Moore shows up. The manual says if a heavy set man with a beard and wearing wrinkled clothing and holding a microphone comes around asking questions, employees might want to take care how they answer. The manual even provides a hotline to call to report Moore's presence. He gave the number out, and maybe a quarter of the audience, the ones with cell phones, punched in the number. Some cat called up right there. I'm not sure if it was made clear if someone answered or if it was just voice mail.
Oh, about those video clips. Well one is about five minutes of Bush's press conference after talking to the 9/11 commission. That was priceless. I guess it's part of the DVD F-9/11. The other clip was a set of satirical campaign ads. I don't think I can describe them. Very funny, but very dark. Another big moment was a three-song set by Tom Morello. Well, he's out of my time. He's from Rage Against the Machine, which I do know about, but have never heard before. But he was definitely a hit with the younger audience.
Well, I doubt that I can describe the whole event. It's very good. He's doing what the Democratic party isn't doing. Energizing the base. Motivating people to vote for Kerry. Indeed, certain criticisms of Moore remain legitimate. He pushes things he himself has not thought through, or fully developed. But his style brings out the people. It may bring out the vote.