Lila Lipscomb Moments

June 29, 2004

I went to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 this weekend. It is a powerful movie and is having a powerful effect on the people who go to see it. One of the most moving parts is the story of Lila Lipscomb, a mother from Moore's native Flint, Michigan, whose son was killed in Iraq. She described herself as a conservative democrat who'd always hated anti-war protesters. But after hearing from her son that the situation in Iraq was a fiasco, how angry he was at President Bush for getting us involved in the situation without a good reason, she received a call telling her that her son had been killed. Lila Lipscomb had a moment of realization. "People think they know but they don't know. I thought I knew. I didn't know." She sees the world with different eyes, now.

I listened in on the MoveOn.org conference call with Michael Moore in which he recounted some of the anecdotes he's heard or have been reported in the press. He reads an excerpt from a NewsDay (Long Island, NY) story:

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/news/ny-
lifahr283870381jun28,0,546275.story

A sure-footed Republican and self-described "ardent Bush-Cheney supporter," Alan Wilenski found none of his other right-leaning friends and family willing to go along with his Sunday afternoon plans.

But the Alan Wilenski who stepped out of the Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas yesterday afternoon, after the 12:40 showing of "Fahrenheit 9/11," was a different man. Hands in pockets, his expression contemplative, he left with more than a new perspective. He left with three more tickets to a later showing of Michael Moore's politically combustible documentary criticizing the Bush administration and the war in Iraq.

"It's really given me pause to think about what's really going on," said Wilenski, 50, of Plainview. "There was just too much - too much to discount."

Alan Wilenski and quite a few others, I would hazard to guess, have had their own "Lila Lipscomb moment."

I had my "Lila Lipscomb moment" in the early 80's. With Ronald Reagan in the White House, unrest in Central America inspired me to do some investigative reading on the history of US involvement in the region. While I had always considered myself a Democrat and didn't like Reagan, I naively believed that our country's actions around the world were basically good. But then I began to unearth the history of US involvement in overthrowing governments, supporting military dictatorships and complicity in supporting regimes which were not only anti-democratic, but which slaughtered thousands of innocent civilians. The world changed, I was a different person and I could never go back. Like Neo in "The Matrix", I had taken the "red pill".

Despite what you will hear on the news media hit pieces decrying Michael Moore's filmmaking and claiming inaccuracies or that this is not really a documentary because he approaches it with a particular partisan approach, it is a very good film with a good grasp of the facts. Many of the criticisms, like Michael Isikoff's negative review are themselves misleading and misstate what was in the film. Of course, we should remember that Isikoff was a cheerleader in the attempt to bring down Clinton, so if his honesty and integrity seem a little lacking, we shouldn't be surprised.

It also shouldn't be surprising to see media antipathy to Moore, because a) he points out how they've massively failed to do their jobs and b) because there are a lot of right-wing activists posing as journalists. One piece I saw on CNN's "People in the News" segment over the weekend featured repeated criticisms from a "journalist" from the right-wing NewsMax.com.

Fahrenheit 9/11 is just too powerful to ignore. It will change people's minds. And for those who were already in opposition to Bush, Cheney and the rest of their criminal gang, it will galvanize them to action. Michael Moore is a working-class hero and a true patriot who desperately wants a country whose place in the world he can be proud of. See the movie. Take others to see it. Act.