From film maker Michael Moore:
Lost in America, Closer to Home
9/19/01
Dear Friends,
We have made it to Columbus, Ohio for the night and are staying just a
couple of blocks from the state capitol building where Governor Rhodes gave
the order on May 4, 1970, to send the National Guard to Kent State. There
they opened fire on hundreds of unarmed students, killing four and wounding
many others.
Few dared to call it a terrorist act committed by the state of Ohio... but,
there I go again. Off message! Stay focused on the main themes, Mike:
"AMERICA UNITED!" "SMOKE 'EM OUTTA THEIR HOLES, HUNT 'EM DOWN, AND GIT 'EM!"
"THE SLEEPING GIANT HAS BEEN AROUSED!" and "REMEMBER THE POSTER IN THE OLD
WEST: 'WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE!'"
I have a question to all the war hawks out there: When you listen and look
at our Commander-in-Chief, do you really think THIS is the guy who is going
to kick some major league ass? I'm just asking all you conservative drum
beaters out there -- man, you must be *embarrassed* that this is the best we
have to offer.
I know we are all supposed to be supportive of Mr. Bush, at the moment, but
has it dawned on anyone that he is not, in fact, the "president?" I hate to
bring up a thorny subject, but this is the man who *lost* the election. He
got the *least* number of votes between the two major party candidates. His
brother oversaw a rigged vote in Florida.
I am so, so sorry to bring this up now, but the tragedy of the past week is
EXACTLY the kind of horrible circumstance many Americans feared we'd find
ourselves in -- A NATIONAL CRISIS UNDER A LEADER WHO IS NOT THERE BY THE
WILL OF THE PEOPLE. It is a tribute to the goodwill of the American public
that they have rallied behind George W. Bush as best they can, 'cause he and
his fake flight jacket is all we got right now in the Oval Office.
Someone needs to get in charge and propose some real solutions to bringing
the perpetrators to justice and preventing this -- as best as possible --
from happening again. Instead, what we have is Bush speaking like a wind-up
doll, mouthing a bunch of nonsense clichés, repeating them over and over and
over.
But occasionally his batteries run out -- and he goes off on some
unintelligible tangent. You can see his handlers desperately trying to cut
him off and whisk him away. You watch in awe and you ask the question that
none of us even wants to contemplate right now, and that no one will dare to
ask, so I might as well take the hit and be the one: THIS is the
Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful country on earth? Who amongst you
feels secure tonight? What enemy is going to be afraid of *this* guy?
Bush keeps calling what we are in "a war." Has anyone told him that the more
he keeps using this word, the more HE puts US in jeopardy? A "war" implies
that two sides are participating in an action to kill as many of the other
side as possible. Bush and the pundits use the word like it's a one-sided
deal, like we're going to be the only ones doing the bombing. War means we
bomb them, then they bomb us. That's what war is, you idiots. We strafe
Afghanistan, then the terrorists drop a canister of chemical weapons in the
New York subway. We send in a group of commandos and wipe out a camp of
Muslims, they take out the Sears Tower.
All of you who are screaming for war: are you prepared to pay the price, to
take thousands of more casualties? Because, my big, macho-talking friends,
THAT is what this kind of war would be like. America is a complex and open
society with a massive and intricate infrastructure that is fragile and
vulnerable and susceptible to easy attack and disruption. IT CAN BE BROUGHT
DOWN WITH A BOXCUTTER. Let me repeat that:
IT CAN BE BROUGHT DOWN -- IT CAN BE BROUGHT TO A TOTAL STANDSTILL -- BY A
BOXCUTTER!
Nearly a week with no stock market, no commercial television, no
professional sports, three days with no planes in the air (for the first
time since 1911), no airports open, the country essentially shut down. A
week later and the phone lines still don't all work. A boxcutter, folks! Do
not be misled into thinking he with the biggest missile is going to win this
"war."
We will never be able to protect all of us from this kind of terrorism. Back
and forth, more buildings bombed, more planes downed, more innocent American
lives lost. When does this end? After we have killed every terrorist? When
exactly is THAT scheduled to happen? Or is it just when we kill Osama bin
Laden, *then* we win the war? Are you serious? We couldn't even assassinate
Hitler during a massive World War that lasted 6 years!
Bush now says this is "a war against the evil people in the world." Oh,
really? THAT war! Yeah, we should be able to defeat "evil," oh, sometime in
the next millennium or two. Get a grip. "War" is not going to get the
justice we demand or make us more safe. You know it and I know it. There is
a different way to go, and I will lay it out in a later letter, but to
simplify it for now and put it in a nutshell, it goes like this:
One billion people on this planet have no clean drinking water. Two billion
have no electricity. Three billion have never made a phone call from their
home. We have the money and the people-power to alter ALL of this. We also
have the moral imperative to stop supporting repressive regimes and
corporations who exploit these people.
When we decide to help improve these billions of people's lives, we will
pull the rug out from under the terrorists who need those they send to their
deaths to be poor and exploited and angry at us. The multi-millionaire bin
Laden isn't going to give up HIS life!
When all the people in the Middle East have food on the table, a decent
home, a good job, and democratic control over their own lives, who among
them is going to be convinced to sacrifice his life by crashing himself into
a tall office building?
Sure, there will always be those who go insane and kill without reason. The
British saw that in a Dunblane schoolyard, we saw it in Oklahoma City. There
will always be religious fanatics willing to kill and be killed because they
believe God has so ordered them. Ask the families of the assassinated
women's clinics' doctors in Buffalo and Florida about those willing to
commit evil in the name of religion in America.
There IS a way to protect us from further attack, to lift the rest of the
world out of its misery, but it requires some smarts and some guts, two
things in short supply in Washington these days.
After arriving in Columbus, Kathleen and I met up with one of our best
friends from Flint, Al Hirvela. Al teaches at Ohio State. He was just the
shot in the arm I needed this week. He, Kathleen, I and a bunch of others
all used to put out an alternative newspaper in Flint many years ago and we
miss being around each other in times like these. We miss being able to talk
and try to figure out what it all means -- and what we should be doing
about it. Al is a Quaker and a pacifist, and sitting in the Big Boy last
night talking to him was the kind of grounding experience I needed after
four days on the road.
My publisher called two nights ago to ask where I might end up for the
evening, as my editor wanted to ship me a copy of my new book, just off the
press. This was bittersweet news -- I have dedicated this book to Al, and to
think that I would be there when he opened it up and saw his name on that
dedication page was indeed a lucky privilege, a cool moment I never expected
to have.
But the book publisher also gave me this news: They are "delaying" the
release of my book due to the events of the past week. No doubt, this book
is going to ruffle some feathers, and in light of the attack in New York,
the book suddenly gave everyone connected to it (including me) the
heebie-jeebies. What a feeling to have in a free country!
In a way, though, I was relieved with their decision -- I have absolutely
ZERO interest in going out on a book tour this week. Even though I have much
I would like to say -- opinions and thoughts that are NOT being heard in
the media right now -- I just can't go out there and have my name attached
to something that is "on sale" (I have asked our webmaster to remove
anything from our site that leads one to purchase any of my films, TV shows
or books).
I am very proud of this book, and I hoped it would stimulate a lot of
discussion on various topics. I don't know now when it will come out --
maybe next month, maybe next year. In the meantime, I will continue to
communicate on the Web and speak to any media outlet that will listen to --
and report uncensored -- what I have to say about the tragic situation in
which we are now immersed.
I can't believe all the incredible letters you are sending me -- over 41,000
letters in the last week. I am so sorry I cannot respond to each of you. I
have scrolled down through the subject headings and read a few of the
letters and it is clear I am not alone in my sadness over this tragedy or
in the anger I have for what is being proposed by our leaders. I will print
these letters and let our elected officials see what the REST of America is
thinking about the idea of "war."
We are now driving across Ohio toward West Virginia and Pennsylvania. On the
radio, NPR is running a history report on Osama bin Laden. We are told that
he comes from a wealthy family and that they are the main builders for the
Saudi royal family. They've remodeled palaces and built holy sites. Their
construction projects are everywhere. Kathleen turns to me, and with one
word sums up the kind of low-life we are talking about here.
"Contractors," she says. "Bin Laden is a contractor." Indeed, it all made
sense.
Someone at NPR tracked me down on the road and asked me to stop by the
nearest NPR station and read my letters over the air. I agreed, but I got
choked up reading them into the microphone. I wonder if they will even
broadcast them. I hope they do, as I felt that my reading of them conveyed
more of a real and human sense of what I am trying to say and what I am
seeing on this drive across America.
Later in the evening, my letters go out on an NPR program called "The
Connection" from WBUR in Boston. More mail pours in. On the Pennsylvania
Turnpike we pass through nearby Shanksville, PA, where the United flight
went down. The girl at the newsstand counter in the rest stop says it was
"just three miles down the road." Close enough for all of them to hear it
crash. Her voice shakes as she tells me this. A car parked in front of the
door has a temporary "Cemetery Pass" sitting on its dash.
I think of Barbara Olson, the conservative commentator and wife of the man
who argued Bush's case for installation in front of the courts last year. I
have been on "Politically Incorrect" with her on a couple of occasions. She
was always a warm and friendly person. She was on that plane, on her way to
do that show.
Monday night, the program went on, and Bill Maher left a chair on the stage
empty, in her honor. I agreed with her on nothing, and I cried when I saw
that empty chair. She was a human being who deserved to live. She was an
American who loved her country. Maybe I should have gotten to know her
better, instead of just ignoring her because of her politics. She was a year
younger than me...
We will make it home to New York, sometime tonight...
Yours,
Michael Moore