Means to an End...

[rebness]

In the spirit of a good bit of mockery, I was directed over to F-W to see the latest discussion on Anne Rice's deteriorating prose.

I was a little...er... bemused to see Rice-- complacent, ignoring fan's reactions to Memnot the Drivel, delusions of grandeur-- compared to one Michael Moore.

Now, I can see that Republicans would be pissed off with Moore. I can see that others would disagree with some of what he says, or object to his shoutiness...but self-congratulating, in the manner of Rice? Achieving little and saying a lot?

Mr. Moore is scheduled to appear at the Liverpool Playhouse on the twelfth of November, and my friend and I are trying to procure tickets. The Playhouse is hardly the Paris Opera; Liverpool is hardly Washington; the audience will likely be composed of people who can (like me) conveniently show up at 1pm on a Thursday afternoon-- and yet, Moore will slog it out. He'll get up on that stage, and educate, and shock, and I don't care that hyperbole will be used, or that he may indeed congratulate himself on what he said afterwards. What will matter is that he will break up some of the apathy; that he shows, when relations between the American and British people are at an all-time low (well, excepting the War of Independence) that somebody cares. That even us Brits, smug in our leafy European elitism, are often blind to what is going on in our own country.

For all his shoutiness, all his moral self-righteousness-- can somebody please explain how that is A Bad Thing?

Discussing politics online is often inflammatory and cannot be solved with a punch to the face like in real life (I jest-- sort of), but I just can't fathom it. Anne Rice is like the antithesis of all that I hold dear in literature and ethics right now; Moore isn't. Ho hum.

Comments

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

Oh, Anne Rice and her related fandom are far too easy to wank. Sadly.

What can I say on the comparison thing -- people are idiots. This state politician who's famous for oh-so-controversial xenophobic remarks was jailed recently for election fraud and the talkback radio lines clogged with people comparing her to Nelson Mandela. Makes you want to tear your hair out.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

people comparing her to Nelson Mandela.

!!

Makes you want to tear your hair out.

Or get a gun. Which I would, if I wasn't against their general usage to murder people, and stuff. ;-)

[gairid.livejournal.com]

Always up for a little AR wank, (and with her new book, there's more than enough to go around) so was pleased to see a new thread on her...not as satisfying as the last one. The Michael Moore thing seemed out of place, I thought. I just think F_W shouldn't be about people's politics (unless it's being wanked!) God knows there's plenty of places to go and rant on every conceivable topic.

I like Michael Moore, even if he is a bit of a blow-hard. At least he fires people up and makes them *think*. Like everything else you shouldn't slavishly believe every word that comes out of his mouth...the point of guys like him is to make you think for yourself a little bit. Nothing wrong with *that*! I'd be interested in your review after you go hear him speak.

What's this about the jailed politico that everyone's comparing to Nelson Mandela?

~g

[rebness.livejournal.com]

That last Rice thread was a classic, wasn't it? I actually read the extract you linked to, and I was just... I can't even bring myself to critique it, the writing is that unworthy.

And I hear you on Moore. As I said, he's prone to exaggeration-- but it is up to the listener to interpret this, to take from it what they will. He's undoubtedly stirred up a lot of things that would have gone, unnoticed (cf. Roger and Me) without any consequences-- he should be applauded for that alone.

One can choose not to read his writings, which, fortunately, can also be done with Anne "sue my fans" Rice. >:-)

[ozfille]

I think the person was talking about the abominable Pauline Hanson here in Australia. She started a very xenophobic ultra-right wing party, One Nation Party after being dropped by our not very liberal Liberal party for pre-selection in Ipswich in Queensland, in Australia's own deep north. A state full of red necks and religious nutters. Unfortunately she won a place in the Senate of the national parliament and her party stirred up a major backlash against the usual suspects - non-Anglo/Celtic immigrants, aborigines, feminists, gays and those that she and her ilk consider the 'cultural elite' - really just anyone more intelligent than her lot.

After much ructions within the party because they all wanted to run it, it eventually broke up. Unfortunately not soon enough to prevent the damage they inflicted on the fabric of Australian culture and on the perception of our neighbours in Asia. Some of them already thought we were white racist imperialists, she just confirmed it. With various off shoot parties formed and some ex-members of her party ratted on her. It appears that she and her partner in crime, David Etteridge had broken the electoral funding laws and had cheated the Australian people of quite substantial amounts of money. She was charged, brought to court in a legally correct procedure, found guilty and sent to prison. She appealed for release from prison until her appeal against the sentence was heard and lost it, so she is still in prison along with all those aboriginal people and other people which up till then she had been ranting should either be executed or be locked up and throw away the key. How ironic. Her appeal against the court's decision is being heard this week. But her strange little group of racist, homophobic supporters have likened her arrest and imprisonment to that of Nelson Mandela, who is in every way the opposite of this miserable little witch who has stirred up so much hatred here in Oz.

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was talking about Pauline Hanson. Thank you for rounding that out and giving a much better description of the repercussions of her career than I could have. :)

[almostnever.livejournal.com]

I was mightily puzzled / pissed off by that comparison too, but I've learned the hard way that there is little point getting in a political argument online, especially when it's off-topic anyway.

[gairid.livejournal.com]

Yes, I noted your remark...it was smart to just deop it...as you say OT for that community anyway. I just thought it was kinda wierd with that particular bunch. Goes to show you can't assume anything about a large group of people no mater how much they happen to have in common.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Yes... I like how you deflected it, Cesare-- I doubt a lot of people would have had such self-control. It was just such a piece of blinding...I don't know-- ignorance? Maybe too harsh. But it still pissed me off.

Gairid-- Agreed. I find more and more that you have to give away your own thoughts and views online a lot more slowly than in RL, because there's always somebody that will shock/disturb/require a punching that you thought you knew.