Awake

Michael Moore Comes to Portland

Thanks to VJ for sharing her perspective on Michael Moore's recent visit to our fair city. I didn't even have to twist her arm! Thanks VJ!

I went to see Michael Moore the other night at Memorial Coliseum. I've been feeling rather morose about the political situation in the U.S. so, it was gratifying to see the place sold out. In spite of glib titles like "Dude, where's my country" and "Stupid White Men", his work is laced with humor but very well researched. He hit the high points you might expect: Bush lied about Iraq, and meanwhile our soldiers are dying there; other developed countries don't understand why we show such disrepect to our worst off; why are our elected officials moving towards electronic voting (which destroys the evidence) when we've recently seen election fraud; Rush Limbaugh's drug addiction, and his old refrain about drug addicts ("lock 'em up and throw away the keys").

One of the humorous high points that he has done on every talk on the tour is a test of civics and geography with the "smartest" Americans versus the "dumbest" Canadian from the audience, where invariably, the Canadian can answer all the questions while the Americans can't. Questions posed to the Americans included who is the Prime Minister of Canada (Jean Chretien), what is the capitol of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario), and what are three countries that border Afghanistan (Pakistan, China and Iran are three possibilities).

Moore finished by advising us not to have a "Anyone but Bush" mindset — he reminded us that this early in the process, we could actually say to the candidates — hey, I like most of your stands, but I can't vote for you while you're anti-gun control — and have some effect. I left feeling empowered that I might be able to make some difference.