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Bowling for Controversy
Damnit — I wish that Michael Moore had not used up all his cachet by making an ass of himself following the remarkable Fahrenheit 9/11. The guy makes a great documentary, and if he’d just shut the hell up after he released them he might have become a formidable opponent to the right, instead of a goddamn punchline. I like the hell out of Moore, but the man’s got no credibility left with mainstream America.
Anyway, I mention Moore because the U.S. Treasury Department is opening up an investigation on him, looking into possible violations for taking a group of 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his upcoming healthcare documentary, Sicko (opening in late June). The United States trade embargo restricts travel to Cuba and while Moore had apparently requested permission to travel to Cuba, no determination had been made on his request before he left.
I don’t think you need to do a lot of investigating, guys — he took them to Cuba to take advantage of their healthcare system, because the American healthcare system did not properly take care of those people. And, of course, the investigation is politically motivated (I understand that lots of people go to Cuba, simply by traveling out of Canada — and they aren’t investigated, are they?).
The move to investigate is an odd one ahead of the release of the documentary, which is set to take on America’s healthcare industry — one scene in the doc, in fact, shows a woman being denied an ambulance ride after a head-on collision because she was not preapproved. The government is basically providing free publicity here, as they did ahead of Fahrenheit 9/11, which went on to become the biggest money-making documentary of all time. If they ultimately prosecute Moore, they’re just martyrizing the guy — and if they throw him in jail, they will completely legitimize him again. So, maybe the investigation is not such a bad thing.
And Moore, who knows how to work controversy, has vowed to place a copy of the film in a safe house outside the country to protect it from government interference. It’s a completely unnecessary move, but by throwing out the idea that the government might sully his film, Moore has bought another $1 million at the box office. Smart guy, that Michael Moore. Let’s just hope he keeps his mouth shut for a while and lets his work do all the talking for him.
