What We Can Learn From Michael Moore

Posted by LK on 8/31/08 • Categorized as Film, Personal, Politics, Psychology

Let’s put aside his grotesque bad taste and the insensitivity he displayed when he said “I was just thinking that, uh, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in Heaven — that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans on Day One of the Republican Convention in the Twin Cities at the top of the Mississippi River.”

Let’s also put aside his poor strategic analysis of the situation, because, in fact, the schedule alterations caused by the oncoming storm gave the Republicans a convenient excuse to keep Bush and Cheney away from the convention, which saves them the embarrassment of having Bush and Cheney at the convention.

So Moore reveals himself as another extremely talented pompous show-biz windbag whose viewpoints many Dems and Libs agree with, including, much of the time, myself.

The lesson to be learned is a bi-partisan, apolitical one:

Make no one an icon, your incontrovertible and consistent purveyor of the truth. Let no one think for you, and let no one speak for you. By all means, as with Moore, enjoy their mastery of their craft, and the deftness with which they can make points with which you might concur.

But don’t ever put them on a pedestal. They may be too narcissistic to realize or admit it, but they’ll fall. And if you’re worshiping at their alter, they’ll fall on you.