During an Oscar night full of surprises, the biggest upset was the round of "boos" that documentary filmmaker and master of self-aggrandizement Michael Moore received when he dove head first into an acceptance speech that took aim at the war with Iraq and President George W. Bush. Moore won the award for best documentary film for Bowling for Columbine - an overall remarkable documentary about America's cultures of violence and guns, and the programming of our society by media groups and political groups.
The fat of Moore's acceptance speech went like this: "I have invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us... They're here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction. We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects [sic] a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fictition [sic] of duct tape or fictition [sic] of orange alerts, we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you. And any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up...."
Many Democrats are still bitter about the 2000 election result - as they have every right to be given the Supreme Court's use of flimsy constitutional law in order to insert its choice for president. But if any Democrat uses that as a rallying point, he or she should be put out to pasture, because President Bush, like it or not, is the president, and sending this administration home in 2004 is not going happen if Democrats act like Moore and face backward while trying to walk forward.
Besides, Moore has a lot of gall to complain that the Supreme Court swiped the election, as Moore was one of the most vocal backers of fellow self-promoter Ralph Nader - the real man who stole the presidency by siphoning some 90,000 votes in the state of Florida, of which a mere 600 would have swung the presidency to Al Gore. It is beyond disingenuous for Moore to shrug off his share of the responsibility. It is equally disingenuous to label the Bush presidency a "fictition", especially when compared to that of "President" Saddam Hussein. Fictition abounds.
Moore defended his speech as an example of the freedom of speech that has made this nation proud. But let's not confuse the notion of free speech with the notion of thoughtful speech. Moore's comments look increasingly shallow when you compare them to the thoughtful words of other Oscar winners who felt a need to address the war. The most memorable speech of the night came from the gifted actor Adrien Brody, winner in the race for best actor for his compelling work in the Holocaust drama The Pianist.
Brody said, "This is, you know - it fills me with great joy, but I am also filled with a lot of sadness tonight because I am accepting an award at such a strange time. And you know my experiences of making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people at times of war, and the repercussions of war. And whatever you believe in, if it's God or Allah, may he watch over you and let's pray for a peaceful and swift resolution. Thank you. And I have a friend from Queens who's a soldier in Kuwait right now. - "
A note for Mr. Moore: Brody's class on gracefulness meets twice weekly at the Queens civic center. You know, Mr. Moore, Queens - it's east of the Manhattan apartment you moved into once you decided that your hometown of Flint, Michigan, served better as a never-ending punchline than as a place to engage the community.
But there is more to Brody's speech than a rebuke of Moore - his comments also work to remind people who are anti-war about some of the practicalities of war. It's a sign of the strength of America to have protests against war during a battle, but let us remember that to the people who are carrying out the orders of the president, the troops, this war is not about Iraq. It's about survival. It's about the man or woman fighting right next to you.
Now that we are in this war, we need to win this war - losing or backing out would be an incredible blow to America's ability to shape global policy, and even worse, losing would mean that we lost the lives of thousands of American soldiers. Those who want to protest for peace need to realize the consequences that come with changing the course of action at this time.
We like to think that any political decision is revocable, especially when it is a course of action we despise. But a failure to think of the consequences to this nation of changing course indicates a failure to address the complexities of the situation. Many opponents of this war think that the president failed to look at the consequences of this war - in terms of future terror threats, human rights, the future of the United Nations, and the future of international law. Those who continue to protest and show off the greatness of our democracy must realize that this is also the thinking man's democracy and that if we are to be a model to the world, our thoughtfulness should be apparent even in our most passionate dissents.
Martin Barna, Trinity '02, is a former editorial page editor for The Chronicle and film editor for Recess.
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