Cookies Full Of Arsenic
How interesting for SCLM fans that the alleged inaccuracies in Moore’s movie (which I’ve not yet seen) appear to be considerably more upsetting to the mainstream than say, those in the president’s State of the Union messages, press conferences and requests to Congress for the power to go to war with Iraq.
This isn’t all that surprising, really. Mainstream pundits and journalists are creatures of show business more than anything else. Therefore, they are only really personally engaged when popular culture speaks to a topic.
The usual political debates are also part of show business, but they are more akin to sporting events, not straight entertainment, which is what provides that which pundits and journalists truly aspire to — stardom. They observe and comment on the political sporting events, and sometimes they overtly identify with one team or another. But, for the most part they are personally competitive on the basis of celebrity and clout, not the substance of the debate. (Tim Russert appearing on Don Imus illustrates this point well, I think.)
Michael Moore is a succesful, award winning popular performer who crosses all the boundries of journalism, visual media, politics and fame that they consider their rightful turf. Worse, he takes the their show outside the stultifying environs of Sunday morning gasbaggery into date night at the multiplex. This is very threatening to them.
They are upset with Moore not because of the alleged inaccuracies about Bush and 9/11. Clearly, they do not care about such trifles. They are upset with Moore because he is more famous than they are.
Be sure to read Charles Pierce’s review of the film at the same link. It’s priceless.
Update: Brad DeLong has posted an incredibly interesting and in-depth analysis on the subject of the mighty presscorps that you all must read. Indeed, there is one passage that I believe makes my small point (much less rudely, of course.)
And by the end of the process of reporter-molding our reporter finds it bizarre and inexplicable that anybody actually cares about the substance of the issues. As one sentence from what Weisman wrote to me put it: “for someone who got the longest quote in my [Glenn] Hubbard profile, you mercilessly slammed me really good…” For Weisman, my annoyance at the fact that Weisman’s Glenn Hubbard profile was substantively wrong is inexplicable and bizarre. I should, Weisman thinks, be friendly and grateful to him, for I “got the longest quote” in his article. And what sources really want is to be quoted at length in the Washington Post, right?
The idea that I would want the story to inform Americans about economic policy is simply not on his screen at all.
That’s because these people aren’t about journalism. They are about the sweet smell of success.