This documentary is not for rigid Americans who have their view and want no one to change it. As one man said, "There is rebellion between the people that's got it all and the people that's got nothing." The audience is treated to a comparison between the elements that brought the collapse of the Roman Empire and the United States of today...devastatingly similar.
One segment, clearly demonstrates the heartlessness of those he calls 'bottom feeders'. There is premise that banks and Wall Street have conspired to bilk the poor with the help of politicians previously and currently serving in the House and Senate. Our economy is being run by the fox in the hen house. It is all about taking now, and taking advantage of the misfortune of others. The philosophy is, 'If you have things, you can get more things'. If any one has played Monopoly, you know that the dice will throw no higher than a 12. Thus, if you own 12 properties and utilities in a row, you've won the game. Your opponent may survive for a bit but eventually will run out of money.
Moore points out that it is easy to be #1 when you have no competition, but the world will never let that happen again. We have lost out place and can never gain that position again. Time is money. Capitalism is a sin in all religions. Wall St is an insane casino. Moore states at the end, "I refuse to live in a country like this and I'm not leaving", urging people to make their wishes and voices heard to force their legislators to make decisions in favor of the people rather than just the rich who contribute to their campaigns. Read more from his own web site. Click here. I would recommend it as a must-to-see if you want your views challenged and your data base filled in.
2 comments:
Hi Eve, Dan and I watched the movie last weekend, and I agree it's worth watching with an open mind. Obama has his hands full, and he won't be able to drive significant change without help from a more informed public. I do understand that there are multiple ways to interpret and explain facts. "The truth" is influenced greatly by a person's worldview - their basic underlying assumption of what is good and bad. I had not previously thought of capitalism as "evil" per se (and I'm not yet entirely convinced, even though Michael Moore made an interesting case). Can capitalism be reformed from a single profit-driven motive to a triple bottom line motive? And has not capitalism enabled millions to move out of extreme poverty, albeit at great environmental and perhaps social cost?
What I do know is that transformational change is required now. We need to envision a new world, and understand the kinds of supporting and interlocking systems that are needed to enable this new world. Sam Palmissano, IBM's CEO is calling it a "smarter planet". I'm working every day to help capitalist companies (that are operated by people like you and me - just people) to envision this better, more sustainable world, and to take action that will enable it, even if in small ways. That's what makes me sleep at night. I hope more people begin to see this need for transformational change, and that they realize that they can help by making a difference in their own sphere of influence - at work, home, in the community.
The problem is that the economic system so heavily (and rightly) criticized in this film is corporatism, not capitalism. A true free market approach would not have the taxpayers pay the price for the mistakes of private corporations. Even Michael Moore concedes this point in the following college campus Q&A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwQ41Yo60g
IMO capitalism is not evil, but corporatism is.
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