- 25 Sep 2009 05:21
#13176303
It's certainly not every day that TV spots that are overtly critical of the capitalist mode of production that include a soundbite of someone saying "people will eventually rebel" or interviews on the main TV news and entertainment shows discuss whether or not Capitalism is evil or not.
Michael Moore has accomplished this feat through his new film "Capitalism: A Love Story" which serves as a cinematic comedic critique of Capitalism. This week he's been on a media tour, from the Democracy Now! to Larry King discussing how he feels that Capitalism is an undemocratic system that needs to be replaced with economic democracy for "the people."
Some on the left are quite quick to dismiss this film and this coverage of it as another "liberal stunt" of Moore's, but the more I see him talk, the more I'm convinced that he is certainly a fellow leftist. He was even asked by Amy Goodman on today's Democracy Now! whether he was a Socialist or not, and he simply brushed off the question as irrelevant. (He had previously suggested the workers have ownership over the means of production, but in a tongue and cheek way that could be interpreted a number of ways).
This criticisms of Moore seem to be quite premature and based on the fact that he has previously seemed to many to be a reformist liberal who isn't "revolutionary enough." If one is to listen to Moore directly, he claims that he has always felt this way about Capitalism and that the current crisis has given him an opportunity to "finally talk about it" (DN! Interview). Even if this were not true and his previous stance was indeed that of a liberal reformist, why would we not welcome this new change of mind of his? Is that not the entire point of the left..to open people's eyes to the system they live in? I can certainly understand the skepticism about this film before it has come out, but the more I see him talk about it and the more interviews I see certainly show that this film is a good thing for the left. Its' central thesis is that Capitalism is an "evil" that cannot be reformed.
I've yet to see the film, and what I plan on doing when I do (and I suggest this to other leftists who are involved in organizations) is to go distribute a flyer or two about an upcoming event or at least an organization that people can become aware of. If people really do get "riled up" after seeing the film and we can present them with an actual venue to express/take action, why not do it?
Michael Moore has accomplished this feat through his new film "Capitalism: A Love Story" which serves as a cinematic comedic critique of Capitalism. This week he's been on a media tour, from the Democracy Now! to Larry King discussing how he feels that Capitalism is an undemocratic system that needs to be replaced with economic democracy for "the people."
Some on the left are quite quick to dismiss this film and this coverage of it as another "liberal stunt" of Moore's, but the more I see him talk, the more I'm convinced that he is certainly a fellow leftist. He was even asked by Amy Goodman on today's Democracy Now! whether he was a Socialist or not, and he simply brushed off the question as irrelevant. (He had previously suggested the workers have ownership over the means of production, but in a tongue and cheek way that could be interpreted a number of ways).
This criticisms of Moore seem to be quite premature and based on the fact that he has previously seemed to many to be a reformist liberal who isn't "revolutionary enough." If one is to listen to Moore directly, he claims that he has always felt this way about Capitalism and that the current crisis has given him an opportunity to "finally talk about it" (DN! Interview). Even if this were not true and his previous stance was indeed that of a liberal reformist, why would we not welcome this new change of mind of his? Is that not the entire point of the left..to open people's eyes to the system they live in? I can certainly understand the skepticism about this film before it has come out, but the more I see him talk about it and the more interviews I see certainly show that this film is a good thing for the left. Its' central thesis is that Capitalism is an "evil" that cannot be reformed.
I've yet to see the film, and what I plan on doing when I do (and I suggest this to other leftists who are involved in organizations) is to go distribute a flyer or two about an upcoming event or at least an organization that people can become aware of. If people really do get "riled up" after seeing the film and we can present them with an actual venue to express/take action, why not do it?