What I love about this election year is that people are passionate enough to get out and vote. They are talking about the election and the candidates, they are interested in voting! What I hate is that it is the most hostile I can remember. I am so sick and tired of not being able to have a decent political conversation because I don't want to be treated like a stupid idiot if I don't agree with my conversation partner. Noted exceptions include MOTH (who I mostly agree with) and Amy (so charming) who I mostly don't.

It really got scary when I co-worker I've intellectually admired began emailing me about his support of Michael Moore's film and his convictions that if I did not cast my vote for John Kerry I was less than a woman, less than an American, that I defended neonazi fascism... Now, this post is not about who anyone should or should not vote for. In fact, I am not going to reveal for whom I will likely vote. I have stated before, and I will again, that I don't believe that the very best person for the job is running. No running candidate has a placard on my lawn, nor will they. But, I can either cast a vote for a sure loser and write in my name of choice, or I can punch (minus any "dangling chads") a viable candidate.

No, this isn't about any one candidate. It's about this utterly ridiculous notion that the entertainment industry somehow has the inside scoop and poop on the real story. That they somehow KNOW the truth. That Michael Moore is a brave and important political watchdog.

Bullshit.

The bottom line for me is this: Michael Moore is a film maker. He is not a fact finder, he is not an unbiased reporter. He was and is under no obligation to provide any facts at all. He makes movies. ENTERTAINMENT. F-911 is NOT a factual documentary. Even Moore had to admit that he shouldn't have classified it as such to begin with. So, it's a film that magnifies his opinions and gives him an audience who are willing to shell out the $$ to see one man's opinions.

Michael Moore has no 1st hand information on Bush, Bush's political actions and/or motivations. No one knows what George Bush was thinking when he was reading that book to the classroom during the 9/11 attacks. No one talking can even say what his response was. They are all merely making an interpretation based on what they saw. Guess what? I saw the same footage, and I have a completely different opinion of what may have been going on. But I don't have a best-selling book or a movie in which to show my theory off. And my theory is no more valid than any of theirs�or yours. It�s just MY theory, which will never be validated by fact unless I happen to one day be sitting down with G.W. and he allows me to ask questions and he answers�and even THEN I�d have to decide if I was being told the truth or not. But my interpretation is no less valid than Michael Moore's.

Ya know why?

WE DON�T KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS! I don't believe Michael Moore is telling the truth about much, I doubt he KNOWS the truth. How WOULD he? HE WASN�T THERE! He wasn�t part of the process. He�s just telling his story, it�s FICTION! It might be rooted in fact�or not. We�ll never know.

As for the plethora of authors out there who have their written points of view for sale: No thanks. They, like Michael Moore, are merely venting their own opinions using their own slant on selected facts gleaned for their own agendas. I know. I write. I can be a very persuasive writer also. I've moved a few to tears, I've made a few laugh, and I've persuaded some to see my side of a situation through my writing.

A good writer moves their readers, and I don't want to be moved, read: manipulated, on this topic. And so, I am basing my vote and my opinion on what I see and on what I hear with my own 2 eyes and ears. I look at what the candidates actual records are, what they have supported verbally and with their actions. I neither need or want anyone else�s interpretation on what they�ve done. For every Michael Moore there is a Rush Limbaugh. They are entertainers. As is Al Franken. As is Brad Pitt and Susan Sarandin and Babs Streisand and Alan Alda and Jane Fonda� They don't have an inside edge. They listen to people who have the ability to persuade, and then they use their media access to do the same: Puppets.

If they really cared, they�d go out and DO something, run for office, or try to make a change by action, not by slamming those who are at least trying.

When Clinton lied about his womanizing, I cared. Why? Because he looked through the camera, and he looked straight at me and said �I did not have sexual relations�� Those words came out of his mouth, as did his later confession that he HAD indeed had sexual contact. I heard the words first hand, and so I knew the man to be a liar. If he�d looked straight at the camera and said �My sexual relations or practices are no one�s business but mine and my wife�s,� I would have had less of a problem, and in fact would have at least not felt he was capable of a bold faced, no-holds-barred lie (I do have a problem with anyone, male or female, in power having sexual relationships with interns, I believe anyone less than President would be fired for sexual harassment).

I am very interested in the official report on 911. I am not so interested in the �before� facts. I don't care what anyone says or writes, there is no way in hell that ANYONE could have POSSIBLY predicted 3 passenger jets being hijacked at once and slammed into the world trade center and the pentagon. No, I want to see what happens to the recommendations. I want to see what each candidate supports, what they will now do. These people who were hassled and hurried have put together, with all of the facts available (and I suppose speculation where facts could not be obtained), a colossal piece of documentation that I think should be considered very carefully. I want to know what the candidates will do with this information. And I want to hear it from THEM!

I am tired of people telling me what someone else told them about what they think and therefore it is a fact. I�m going to draw my own conclusions, listen of course, but base my own conclusions on what I see and hear first-hand. I can�t trust the television reporters, newspaper writers, authors or film makers to give me an unbiased view of the facts. And I acknowledge that there are going to be many facts, many important facts, which I won�t know about.

And if my candidate is not elected, the winner WILL be my president, whether I like it or not, for the next 4 years. That�s how it goes in America. I really hope that there is no plan put into place that would delay or in any way alter the election should there be an attack. I would hope that all parties could at least come together and agree to abide by the election on November 9 (?) regardless of how many votes are cast. To do anything else, imo, would be to allow the terrorists yet another victory. I certainly would expect, however, that if only � of the country got to vote that the �loser� would be a whining baby with �no fair� banners flying high. I hope I am wrong, but I don't think I am. Let�s hope we never find out.

I will now step down off of my political soapbox, before I get a nosebleed.

---

Won't you PLEASE leave your feedback here?
7 readers left their mark on this one!

TagBoard

Name URL or Email Messages(smilies) Read the previous entry - Read the next entry Who's Who in Ibe's Diary (last UPDATED September 21, 2008) If you would like to be notifed each time this page is updated, stick your email addy in the form and click on "join." Your email address: