Politics Information

MORAL ARMORS Counterfeit 911: Refuting Michael Moore


Michael Moore asserts the following in his political film Fahrenheit 9/11:

Con #1. Bush favors the Bin Laden family over American interests. Regarding the Bin Laden family leaving the country, we as Americans don't punish people for crimes they didn't commit. Releasing them was the civil answer. Imagine if your cousin blew up a building, would you want to go to jail for it? And what do you think the terrorists would have done to our families? Getting them out of the country stemmed a potential lynching, which would have made America look as bad as our enemies. It was the right thing to do.

Con #2. Halliburton and other war corporations are self-serving enemies of America, conspiring with the President for profit and privileges. These are public companies he is attacking. They are owned by millions of stockholders. America owns them.

Moore criticized executive appointments in Iraq and Afghanistan by "exposing" their prior relationships to the President, implying conspiracy. There is no immorality due to those appointed being associates of the President, any more than showing preference in choosing his cabinet. Experienced leaders choose people they like--they don't have to field resumes.

Con #3. Our poor are preyed upon by U. S. military recruiters. That the poor and the middle classes do the majority of the fighting is not a conspiracy of the Bush presidency, but a historical fact of all armies in all nations. Upper class parents hand down a disciplined living structure to their children, while the middle and lower class parents provide limited to no living structure, which is reflected in their economic status. Their children need and should seek the kind of discipline that the military provides, and if they're smart, they carry that rational order into their private lives. Upper class youth already have a plan at that stage, lead self-directed lives much earlier, and therefore avoid the risk of being called into action. Moore's footage defeated his own argument in that the kids at the upscale malls were approached directly and weren't interested; their "influential" parents obviously weren't intervening. (It's a voluntary army, Michael).

Con #4. A negative soldier's viewpoint reveals the immorality of the war. A wounded soldier has good cause to question why he was there in the first place and to believe that war is devastatingly senseless, which is true for the aggressor. But American civilization cannot tolerate the random acts of violence, which are commonplace in Islamic Fundamentalist regions, to happen here. If necessary, we have to rout them out at the source. Twenty year-olds won't have the experience to judge the policy of a nation, but should be able to comprehend right and wrong at a more basic level. We must honor those who fight for us; we must shelter our fallen, but given the blatant horrors of the enemy versus American life, he should know he's on the right side.

Con #5. The Iraq Dictatorship had nothing to do with the war on terrorism. If they're not terrorists, boy do they act like them. Car bombs, abductions, beheadings, anarchy and dictatorship preferred to democracy, suicide missions which murder their own people and offer no peaceful alternative; no, there's no likeness there(!). (If you question our military strategy and the countries we've chosen, look at a map).

Look at the nature of our enemy. Most Americans are civil and constructive--including our troops, while the average insurgent is aggressive and foolish as an individual. If you pulled any insurgent aside for an interview you'd see he is a poorly educated, fear-driven control-freak charged with incoherent dogmatic conclusions he never would have come to on his own. They're all psychologically trapped in the "submission/domination axis" (as Moral Armor calls it), which amounts to little more than roving criminality, veiled as an endless fight for Allah--which is only a substitution for their tantrum against ever being questioned. Their delusional dedication to an all-powerful force against the outsiders who threaten Him ignores a crucial contradiction: If God is all-powerful then He is in no danger, and doesn't need their help.

Con #6. American forces are running amok, targeting innocent civilians. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu says to attack the heart of your enemy. Who has Moore attacked? Whose heart is he after? Did he show you the crippled and burned Americans still struggling to survive after September 11th? No, he showed you Iraqi casualties. All sides have casualties in war, and a movie maker will favor those of like ideology. Whose side are you on Michael? How many heads have we cut off? Such barbarism only strengthens our resolve to win.

Near the end, Moore meekly agrees that "America is a great country." Still, you can't help but get a strong anti-American feeling from the film. It's him telling the rest of us that our world is a sham, our freedom is a lie, and that this dilemma is our own fault. Of course, he fails to mention that we wiped out two dictatorships with a wartime loss amounting to only one-third the casualties they caused us in New York, and we are now paving the way for their most productive citizens to thrive in a civil world community. The aggregate result will be a release of the pent up energy of the people--an Iraqi industrial revolution and a world benefit--new pipelines, skyscrapers and personal freedoms.

It's irresponsible to watch such a movie and draw conclusions based solely on its contents. It is not honest to isolate three aspects of an issue when there are six to consider. Shame on you, Mr. Moore! Summation and Solution. The Koran states that anyone who is not Muslim is the enemy, to be chopped, hacked and slaughtered, plain and simple. There is no room for misinterpretation, and no constructive reasoning with such insanity. Allegiance to life must come before religious or political ideas, and such ideas must be based on the furtherance of the biological life of a man; otherwise, they are wrong.

To the oppressed citizens of the world I say, as a free country, America offers a simple institutional structure--no dogmatic requirements; we're all free to believe what we want--but if you limit or harm others, you're freedom will be taken in turn. The old days are gone--the monarchies, the dictatorships, the communal nightmares--with room only for civility between men into the future. All must respect the human institutions whose fundamental guideline is the preservation of individual life, by outlawing the initiation of force against others. So conform, and live.

It is the obligation of philosophy to provide a constructive course of action in the individual, social, artistic and institutional realms--the full range of human action. Moral Armor does just that, providing the first fully-integrated non-sectarian moral code, and it is based on the nature of Man. No other style of moral code has even a chance to win over there.

The campaign in Iraq was not a new development. Iraq has been a thorn in the world's side ever since the Gulf War when Hussein should have been deposed, and it's too late to turn back now. Terrorist dogma thrives on fresh martyrs; we need a strong leader who will see this through, and our President will. Unfortunately, when one side won't listen to reason, you have to fight, so let's get it over with.

(In the time it took to read this, President Bush had reacted to 9/11).

Ronald E. Springer is the Author/Philosopher of Moral Armor, the world's first fully-integrated moral philosophy based on the nature of Man. Featured on The Mitch Albom Show, NBC and FOX News radio affiliates, Mr. Springer is available for interviews, speaking engagements, philosophy workshops and seminars. Please contact RonaldESpringer@MoralArmor.com or visit http://www.MoralArmor.com for details. For a free three-part mini-course on morality-based happiness, send a blank email to: moralarmor@getresponse.com.


MORE RESOURCES:

When office politics go too far
Bizjournals.com, NC - 3 hours ago
If so, you (the boss) are watching a classic game of office politics unfold. While politics was a hot-button topic at the watercooler during the ...


Voice of America

Eric Holder's Politics
Wall Street Journal - 21 hours ago
One of the media narratives about the Bush Administration has been its "politicization" of the Justice Department. We've always thought most of that was ...
Holder pardon makes Dems squirm MLive.com
Obama's attorney general pick: Good on privacy? CNET News
Obama's picks - so far, so good San Francisco Chronicle
Democracy Now - Human Events
all 417 news articles


Seattle Post Intelligencer

Religion and politics: Big issues behind a little ornament
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 22 hours ago
Any political messages, from either side, are inappropriate. axis 42: To those of you insisting that a Chritmas tree is no place for a political message, ...
Video: Raw Video: White House Christmas Tree Arrives AssociatedPress
Bush Didn't Sell His Soul For Politics OneNewsNow
Vt. Artists Part of White House Christmas Tree WCAX
San Francisco Chronicle - Snohomish Times
all 318 news articles


China Daily

Don't let politics overtake appointment
Albany Times Union, NY - 11 hours ago
Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate seat and less concerned with the appointee's politics. In these historically trying times, it is imperative to have someone ...
Obama's cabinet picks shake up NY, AZ politics The Associated Press
Dynastic Politics Lives in New York American Spectator
NY Governor Keeping Mum About Any Early Favorites Washington Post
Examiner.com - Glens Falls Post-Star
all 601 news articles


Sify

Mortgage Plan Prompts More Bailout Politics
The Washington Independent, DC - 8 hours ago
More bailout politics, anyone? The core problem with such a plan, according to a few secondary market experts HW spoke with, is that mortgage rates have ...
Swift Boating on Denial River Smartmoney.com
all 708 news articles


Washington Post National Political Reporter
Washington Post, United States - 7 hours ago
Don't want to miss out on the latest in politics? Start each day with The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 am as a member of The ...


CANADA FX DEBT-Canadian dollar plunges on oil, politics
Reuters - 1 hour ago
... day versus the US dollar on Thursday, dropping nearly 2 percent on the back of a sharp drop in oil prices and political uncertainty in Canada. ...


Moore vs. Cooper? Dispute hints at politics ahead
Greenville Daily Reflector, NC - 3 hours ago
Just two years ago, Democrats were scrambling to find candidates to run for the Senate, but nobody seemed interested in risking their political career to ...


guardian.co.uk

Thai Court Bans Ruling Coalition Parties from Politics
Voice of America - Dec 1, 2008
By Kate Pound Dawson A court has ruled that the Thai prime minister, his party and his coalition partners are banned from politics. ...
Video: Thailand Airport Shutdown Enters 3rd Day AssociatedPress
Thai court bans prime minister, ruling party from politics Christian Science Monitor
Thai PM banned from politics as court disbands ruling party Daily Nation
Independent Online - Sin Chew Jit Poh
all 7,261 news articles


Namibia: An Appeal for Tolerance in Namibian Politics
AllAfrica.com, Washington - 12 hours ago
More recently, we gained international recognition for the smooth transition from the Founding President to the second President after a robust political ...

Politics - Google News

home | site map
© 2006