| Once upon a time, there was a political leader who
wanted to start a war. The nation's legislature had
granted him extraordinary emergency powers to deal with a
perceived (and in hindsight overblown) threat of terror,
and to counter the possibility of an attack from outside,
which even though it had not happened, was the subject of
much speculation within the government and the press. Ah, but there was a problem. There was a movie made by a very popular filmmaker, and this movie showed aspects of war that the leader did not want his people to see, out of fear that they might no longer support his war. And so this leader did everything he could to make certain nobody in his country ever saw the film. The film was, "Gone With The Wind", and the leader was Adolph Hitler. Almost from the moment Thomas Edison invented motion pictures, people of influence have been trying to ban them. Edison's own "The kiss" became the target of self-appointed censors because it showed, well, a kiss. No tongues, nothing wet, just your basic innocent smooch, and yet Edison's critics wanted the film burned. William Randolph Hearst, offended by the obvious references to himself, tried but failed to prevent "Citizen Kane" from reaching the screens. So desperate was Hearst to keep the film from the public that he ordered Luella Parsons, the Hearts Newspaper's gossip columnist, to blackmail the studio chiefs by threatening to expose their top stars' dirty secrets. Only Hearst's personal bankruptcy allowed Orson Wells' film to be screened. History, it seems, does indeed repeat itself. America today has a leader, granted extraordinary powers by the national legislature to deal with a perceived threat of terror, a threat which as recent revelations of mendacity has shown, was clearly "exaggerated". And once again there is a movie which shows a side of the wars which the leader does not want his people to see. The film is Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11", and while President Bush may not have Hitler's legal power to ban the film outright, his efforts to keep the public from seeing it are no less obvious or onerous. This last week saw the revelation that a supposed "grass roots" organization called Move America Forward was actually manufactured by a Republican Public Relations Firm, Russo, Marsh & Rogers, who are the same people hired to organize the recent campaign to recall California Governor Grey Davis. This front group has launched a campaign to harass the owners of theaters planning to show Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11". Some theater owners report receiving death threats. Pro-war media pundits are equating seeing the film with supporting terrorists. An anonymous phone call has been used to try to claim that Hezbollah supports the film. It would be laughable if the future of our nation were not on the line. Now the Federal Elections Commission has announced that it will try to ban TV ads for Fahrenheit 9/11 under a broad interpretation of a law that bans television or radio ads referring to federal candidates within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election without that candidate's permission. Regardless of whether you agree with Michael Moore's views, this sort of overt attempts to terrorize theater owners into not showing a movie is not what this nation is supposed to stand for. Those who argue for war keep claiming that the nations we are invading hate us for our freedoms. Well, those freedoms that other nations are supposed to be so jealous of include Michael Moore's right to make his movie, and YOUR right to see it. The first weekend will set the future course for the film. The pro-war groups, aided by public relations companies with millions of dollars to work with, are trying to trick people into not seeing the movie because they know that the length of the movie's entire run will depend on how well it does that first weekend. It is that FIRST weekend, June 25th - 27th, that you need to make an effort to see this film. Take a friend. If Fahrenheit 9/11 does well that first weekend, then the film will have a long run and more Americans will be able to see it, have the FREEDOM to see it, and the FREEDOM to decide for themselves what it all means. (As of this writing, Fahrenheit 9/11 has broken the single-day box office records at the two New York theaters showing the film ahead of the general release.) There are a lot of people intent on burying this country in endless wars in the future, who do not want you to see "Fahrenheit 9/11". They do not want you to have the freedom to choose for yourself what you will know, let along the freedom to decide that maybe the lies about the war don't start and end with the lies about weapons of mass destruction. Hitler and the Nazis prevented the German people from seeing a movie. And because the German people did not see the dark side of the war Hitler wanted, the Germans followed Hitler into Poland. The world was eventually plunged into World War Two. Because the American people do not see the dark side of the war Bush wants, Americans have followed Bush into Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, Bush is trying to prevent Americans from seeing a movie. History repeats itself. |
