"Fahrenheit 911" Wins Round OneWritten by Arthur Zulu
Every nation has its inventors. No; make it illustrious sons. (Because there are few illustrious daughters.) Look at this checklist: Alfred Nobel was an illustrious son. While his fellow Swedish natives were busy catching fishes in North Seas, he was engaged in harnessing destructive power of atom. The Japanese residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during Second World War know rest of story. Italy too has her illustrious son. At a time when Catholic Church believed that earth (supposedly supported by an elephant or a giant turtle) didn't move, Galileo Galilei came with his telescope to rubbish claim. He was condemned to die as a heretic when he dared say; "Essipur muove." Translation: "the earth moves." Germany has its illustrious son. When pope was busy trying to prevent layman from reading Bible, Johannes Guttenberg came on stage and invented movable printing press, which helped in printing and distribution of holy book. Johannes, however, got away free, but not William Tyndale, Bible translator, who ended up with Bible, tied on his chest in a literal lake of fire. Then there was Michael Faraday, illustrious son of England who vanished darkness forever from civilized climes with invention of electricity. But like many others before him, his invention killed him. They were great inventors all same—illustrious sons of great lands. Yet, there is a not so great nation, Prussia. Ever heard of name? So that country is not eternally remembered as a center stage for Great War, enter Mr. Fahrenheit. So that you would know at what degree to heat your soup or safe time of year to row your boat across frigid waters of Arctic, he invented mercurial thermometer. Thank Heavens! We now know that at its core, sun is about 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Just in case you can't figure out what that means, try exploding 100 billion hydrogen bombs every second. Or detonate 100, 000 million megatons of TNT per second. Got point? When Mr. Fahrenheit invented his thermometer, however, he didn't dream that someday tallest buildings in America would be engulfed in an inferno and that his innocent instrument would be on hand to measure temperature. Not actually that firemen came to burning World Trade Center on 9/11 with literal thermometers. But conflagration has spawned a movie "Fahrenheit 911" which swept 57th edition of ‘Festival de Cannes'—the world's biggest film festival—earning winner Michael Moore loudest standing ovation at Cannes in last 25 years. In his acceptance speech, movie star said among other things: ". . . many people want truth and many want to put it in closet. . . . " Well said Mr. Moore. But what is truth? That was same old question thrown to Jesus during his trial by a cynical Pontius Pilate. Pity; he didn't wait for an answer. Deduction: Truth is relative.
| | Moving America Backwards: Censoring Michael MooreWritten by Scott C. Smith
If group Move America Forward has its way, come June 25th, you will not be able to see Michael Moore’s new film, Fahrenheit 9/11. Why? Well, main reason seems to be…we do not like what Michael Moore has to say about America. And, being freedom-loving Americans, we want to pressure movie theater chains not to screen film. Another question that comes to mind is, what hell is Move America Forward? I know, I hadn’t heard of them, either, until recently. As I looked over their web site, first thought that popped into my mind was: right-wing fascist nut cases. But that’s not fair. I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist, so I’m not qualified to make judgments on mental health of Move America Forward’s board of directors and staff. Apparently, Move America Forward was created by public relations firm Russo, Marsh and Rogers a month ago. The group’s web site says they are non-partisan, but a look through names of board of directors shows a group lacking anyone who is a Democrat or liberal. Among members of board are: Chairman Howard Kaloogian, Republican and former member of California assembly; Conservative radio talk-show host Melanie Morgan, vice-chairman; and Executive Director Siobhan Guiney, described as “a legislative advocate fighting for people against liberal corruption.” That sounds non-partisan. I’m guessing Move America Forward’s definition of non-partisan is something along lines of “all of us here are conservatives.” Melanie Morgan appeared on June 16 "Crossfire" to argue her group’s case against Michael Moore’s film. Which, by way, she has not seen. There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned boycott based on not knowing anything about source material. Questioned by "Crossfire" co-host James Carville on not seeing film, Morgan explained, “…I haven’t seen film yet. And reason I haven't seen it yet is because majority of America has not seen movie, and reason why majority of America hasn't seen movie is because it's only been screened for a handful of Hollywood liberals and elite media. But I have been able to discern from footage and from information that is available by transcript on Internet what true intentions of Michael Moore are.” In addition to being conservative, Morgan is also, apparently, psychic. Move America Forward is employing an e-mail campaign to get people to contact executives at movie chains and urge them not to show movie. How come conservative groups are so quick to silence voices that speak out against government? Shouldn’t free market decide success or failure of Moore’s film? Frankly, I do not need “non-partisan” conservatives deciding for me whether or not to see film.
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