Big Fat Liar Update (again)
Via LeanLeft, Michael Moore has posted to his site a rebuttal of the claims of his critics who have said that Moore lied and misrepresented facts (which I have done too). The entire first half of the rebuttal is useless rhetoric in which he attacks his critics as wound up in their anger and hatred, not nice people and they don’t play nice, pre-adolescent, Orwellian, and gun nuts. The first half is also filled with the strategy of attacking the attacker. Pot calling kettle, come in, over. Yes, there are some angry pro gun guys who tend to give other reasonable pro gun guys a bad name. But the same is true for the anti gun crowd. The difference is the level of acceptance. Reasonable pro gun guys try to disassociate themselves from the militia types, the lunatic fringe, and the skinheads. However, among the anti gun zealots, they welcome into the fold the fanatical lies of anyone who supports their claim.
The relevant portions of the post include Moore attempting to address the criticisms of those who have pointed out his factual errors, lies, and selective editing.
Says Moore:
So, how crazy are the things they’ve said about “Bowling for Columbine?” Here are my favorites:
“That scene where you got the gun in the bank was staged!”
No critique I’ve read said it was staged. What the critics say is that The audience never sees the process whereby the bank requires Moore to produce photo identification, then contacts the FBI for a criminal records check on Moore, before he is allowed to take possession of the rifle. Moments later, Moore is handed his new rifle in the North Country Bank & Trust lobby, at which point he asks another unnamed bank employee, “Do you think it’s a little dangerous handing out guns in a bank?”.
Moore has changed the argument of his critics to something he can refute. He also admits to having been background checked. No legitimate critique said the scene was staged with actors. He has proven his critics to be correct.
Moore then states:
Here’s another whopper I’ve had to listen to from the pro-gun groups:
“The Lockheed factory in Littleton, Colorado, has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction!”
This is not true. The assertion made is that currently and at the time of the shooting Lockheed was not manufacturing the weapons.
Moore then states:
As for what’s currently manufactured in Littleton, McCollum told me, “They (the rockets sitting behind him) carry mainly very large national security satellites, some we can’t talk about.”
Since that interview, the Titan IV rockets manufactured in Littleton have been critical to the war effort in both Afghanistan and Iraq. These rockets launched advanced satellites that were “instrumental in providing command-and-control operations over Iraq…for the rapid targeting of Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles involved in Iraqi strikes and clandestine communications with Special Operations Forces.”
In the past, Moore stated: [T]he Lockheed rockets now take satellites into outer space. Some of them are weather satellites, some are telecommunications satellites, and some are top secret Pentagon projects (like the ones that are launched as spy satellites and others which are used to direct the launching of the nuclear missiles should the USA ever decide to use them).
In addition to having backpedaled twice, he never addresses the assertion about the timing of the production of weapons. He has proven his critics to be correct.
Moore then addresses the critics of the Heston speech as follows:
The oddest of all the smears thrown at “Bowling for Columbine” is this one:
“The film depicts NRA president Charlton Heston giving a speech near Columbine; he actually gave it a year later and 900 miles away. The speech he did give is edited to make conciliatory statements sound like rudeness.”
Um, yeah, that’s right! I made it up! Heston never went there! He never said those things!
He has again changed the argument of his critics. The critique is that Heston’s speech in which he raises the rifle and states from my cold dead hands is shown just before Moore’s voice states that 10 days after the shooting the NRA had a convention in Denver.
Moore does state: As for the clip preceding the Denver speech . . . but the movie doesn’t distinguish that the speeches were separate. Definitely selective editing intent to deceive. He has proven his critics to be correct.
He then addresses the crime statistics and actually makes his point. His critics said his stats didn’t agree with the FBI stats for the US but his critics have conceded they agree to CDC statistics as follows:
Then — to their gun homicide figures, add the figure for legally-justified homicides: self-defense and police use against criminals. Presto, you have exactly Moore’s 11,127.
So, add justified homicides to homicides and you get homicides? The criticism of Moore also challenges the homicide rates of other countries, here is a good summary.
And he addresses whether the kids went bowling or not, which is irrelevant to me.
In closing, my favorite quote from this Moore piece is:
Of course, it’s a silly discussion, and it misses the whole, larger point: that blaming bowling for their killing spree would be as dumb as blaming Marilyn Manson.
Blaming the gun lobby is equally silly. In the film, Moore rightfully attacks the people that blame video games, music, Marilyn Manson, and even Satan. Yet, he attacks the gun lobby who is as much at fault as Marilyn Manson, Lockheed Martin, or the Easter Bunny.
Moore has been accused of selectively editing his film to make his points. Now he has selectively edited his critics’ assertions in the same fashion.
There are dozens of other critiques of the film at Bowling For Truth, address them all Mr. Moore without changing the arguments.
