Prove Michael Moore Is A Liar

11th July 2007

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Let me preface this piece by saying the following. I am not a member of the Michael Moore Love Fest Club. I do not walk lock in step with his positions, I do not think he’s all wonderful, I don’t think he’s the great white hope to the black man; and while where I like how he often rightly illuminates problems, I often don’t agree with his conclusions or solutions.

However, I do think he makes interesting and entertaining films, which he does in a very engaging manner; about important subjects that I like seeing examined. His style is confrontational and sarcastic, and while I don’t think that should be the only form of documentary making, I think it is one viable way to go; and I think that Moore has a perspective worth hearing. He could tone down the grandstanding and self-promotion though.

Going back to before Fahrenheit 9/11 people claimed that Moore is dishonest and that his film making plays loose and fast with the facts. I certainly think Moore plays up facts that support his position, while not shining too bright a light on those that don’t – and while that might not be the most academic way of arguing it certainly is normal for one to make their own argument and not the oppositions. But I don’t see where he lies or “fudges” as it is often termed.

This charge has come up again with his new release, Sicko, about the American healthcare industry. On Monday July 9th, Moore appeared on the Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. Before Moore was interviewed, CNN ran what it calls a Fact Check piece by medical doctor and CNN medical reporter Sanjay Gupta. Gupta confirms some of Moore’s facts, has clips of some people praising more and others detracting, and then parses on other facts.

He then concludes the piece saying that Moore “fudges” in Sicko, but didn’t give any examples; and then seconds latter the piece ends. That’s horrible reporting and horrible academics. You don’t essentially call somebody a lair and then just end the report. If you make a claim, especially a factual claim and or a negative claim against someone; good, basic academics demands that you support your claim.

Read transcript of Gupta’s piece here; you’ll have to scroll about half way down until you see his name.

In neither his pre-recorded news piece, nor in the live television debate, that Gupta had more than a day to prepare for; did he provided one “fudged” fact. All he did was quibble over the use of one source versus the other, but he couldn’t impeach any of the numbers or sources that Moore used. You know, sources such as the United States government and the United Nations.

Transcript of Moore/Gupta debate on Larry King

In one case Moore used a United Nations number and Gupta used a World Health Organization number. How is the WHO’s number more credible than the UN’s number; especially when they’re only 21 dollars or just over 10 percent apart; making the exact same point no matter which one you use. And Moore chose the HIGHER number when his purpose was to show how low Cuba’s per capita spending is on healthcare as compared to the United States.

From Moore’s website: “…This is confirmed by the United Nations Human Development Report, 2006. Yup, Cuba spends $251 per person on health care. (hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/52.html). As Gupta points out, the World Health Organization does calculate Cuba’s per capita health expenditure at $229 per person. We chose to use the UN numbers, a minor difference…”

Read the rest of Moore’s rebuttal to Gupta’s fact checking piece

I haven’t seen Sicko yet. I’ll be checking it out this weekend and probably reviewing it next week. Maybe I’ll check out FahrenHype 9/11 and see if they can finally provide me with some actual lies to back up the claim.

In other cinematic news: y’all need to be checking for this piece of black cinema Talk To Me

By: D. Yobachi Boswell

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1 On July 12th, 2007, sokari said:

Yea I did see the Moore interview in it’s totality on CNN I believe it was yesterday or the day before. I havent seen the film and will probably not bother. That is not because I have any issues with MM - I have seen his 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine and thought they were excellent and yes I believe time has been vindicated him on both as he stated in the interview. Back to Sicko - as I haven’t seen the film but have only spoken to people who have and had positive things to say about it, it is hard to comment. But lets face it - a super rich country like the US should be ashamed that it cannot even provide free health care for children, the elderly and chronically ill. I have not experienced much health care here in the US but I have in both the UK and Spain. I can say from my experience both are excellent and I have been through cancer treatment plus chronic bronchitis and in both countries and know people who are HIV+ in both countries who are not complaining - on the contrary they are very happy with their health care which is “free”. (health care is provided through taxes but at least anyone no matter their illness, age or income has equal access)

Yes there are some issues such as waiting lists for operations but not in the case of cancer, diabetes and other life threatening illnesses and emergencies.

2 On July 12th, 2007, omodudu said:

experience tells me the truth is somewhere between Moore’s position and the present realities. I am not a fan of extremism. averages are better than extremes. Okay I’d confess. Econmaths damaged my mind a couple of years ago. I can not see things any other way.

3 On July 12th, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

sokari,

I agree that it’s a shame that at least at a minimum, all children aren’t covered
in a nation that can surely afford it. There’s no excuse, it’s all a matter of where
we hold our priorities.

Thanks for your perspective on Britian and Spain’s systems.

4 On July 12th, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

omodudu said:
truth is somewhere between Moore’s position and the present realities.

I agree. The European Systems have their pros and cons. We can take what’s good
and develope something better here, but I would not directly mimic Britan or Canada
especially.

5 On July 13th, 2007, JD said:

Our health care system needs help and I am glad Moore joined the debate. He was interviewed on the Tom Joyner Morning Show this am and did a good job. He claimed his web site has answered his critics and can prove his stance.

6 On July 17th, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

I wish I had heard him on TMJ. Him interacting with that crowd would have been
very entertaining.

I have the link to his site with those facts in the post, where it says “Read the rest of Moore’s rebuttal to Gupta’s fact checking piece” towards the bottom.

7 On July 17th, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

I mean on TJM!

8 On July 29th, 2007, Eric Schechter said:

I urge everyone to see “Sicko,” even people who think they already know the issue. I think it contains surprises for almost everyone.

In my own case, “Sicko” has changed my attitude about healthcare in America: I used to think that it was a complicated issue that I would not be able to understand easily. But Moore showed that the single-payer system practiced in Canada, France, Great Britain, and Cuba are extremely simple, and work far better than the system we have here in the USA. The health insurance companies would like to keep it complicated and incomprehensible.

The solution is simple: Eliminate health insurance companies altogether. They are an unneccessary middleman that, rather than increase efficiency, instead has the effect of decreasing health.

And by the way, among the major candidates for president, Kucinich is the only one I’ve heard advocating to single payer healthcare. All the other candidates have accepted large campaign donations from health insurance companies, and are talking about ways to change the regulation of health insurance companies — but not eliminate them. (Kucinich is also, in my opinion, the only candidate saying the right thing on several other major issues.)

9 On July 30th, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

The film does help to bring somethings into focus. I would still like to findout though the effective cost of what we pay out of pocket versus what these other people pay through taxes.

Either way, there certainly has to be a better system than what we’re doing, and we need to lower the cost of health delivery; starting by eliminating insurance company’s or at least decreasing insurance company’s role to a minimum.