2016: Obama's America

[indianasmith]

You mean the "Rape of Nanking" Japanese army?
I guess you could call death a form of "liberation"!

[bob]

Boy you guys just can't help your selves , can you.

[Allhallowsday]

No don't be sorry.  I enjoy hearing what others think.  I have seen Michael Moore's films, and although I disagree with his support of the Republicrats every bit as much as I disagree with D'Sousa's, I have to say that I have never seen Michael Moore waste over half a film trying to prove what a politician is going to do to the country through a lame psychoanalysis of a father/son relationship and conjecture based on said analysis.  And the whole thing about Obama's "anti-colonialism" just strikes me as ridiculous.  I bet Romney is not in favor of colonialism either.  Using that logic, doesn't that make him dangerous too?   Are you in favor of colonialism?

My point has nothing to do with ANY of that.
My point was to complain about the comparison of an activist/entertainer to a scholar of very strong repute.  D'Sousa is known for intellectual honesty and scholarly objectivity.
NOTHING about Michael Moore is intellectually honest; the very premise of his body of work is to persuade.
Like D'Sousa's film (got it right that time) or not...I do not care.  Agree with him or not, I do not care.  But give him the respect he has freaking earned in a SERIOUS career spanning over 20 years.
Michael Moore...good grief.  THIS is exactly why I refuse to discuss climate models with people with less than a PhD in a physical science field.  We've arrived at a point in our society where entertainers (and corollaries) carry the same weight in intellectual discourse as learned experts.  That does not make D'Sousa "right" (I have not seen the film, so I don't know), but he's beyond head and shoulders more qualified to offer facts and opinions on the subject than Michael Moore.
I'll take the very existence of this conversation as further evidence for my thesis ...

You're an intellectual snob.     

An interesting question.  I think you could make a cogent argument that in terms of overall quality of life for their citizens, some nations were better off under colonial rule than they have been under native rule since colonialism ended.  When a culture demonstrates an absolute incapacity for responsible self government (a la Haiti and Somalia), who is to say they wouldn't be better off under a nation like, say, Great Britain that has a long track record of effective governance?  At any rate, that is a purely academic debate.

You have an argument, but it's not cogent. 

I think that, from what I have heard in interviews, it is not so much the anti-colonialism but the direction it has taken the President in his political philosophy: that America is too big, too arrogant, and too powerful and needs to be "downsized" in order to make the world a safer place.  IF that is indeed the President's philosophy, I would find it disagreeable in the extreme.  But again, I am postulating from interviews and reviews I have heard and read, since I have not yet seen the film.

I don't know if that's his philosopy either, but we need big power, big military, big responsibility, and... small government? 

[indianasmith]

EFFICIENT government.   And if government proves itself incapable of efficiency in a particular function, take into consideration that maybe someone else should be performing that function.

[Allhallowsday]

EFFICIENT government.   And if government proves itself incapable of efficiency in a particular function, take into consideration that maybe someone else should be performing that function.

And you love "W". 

[indianasmith]

He was handed a very tough situation from the get-go and did the best he could with it.  I admired his courage, his determination, and his basic goodness.  Doesn't mean he never made mistakes.

[Raffine]

He was handed a very tough situation from the get-go and did the best he could with it.  I admired his courage, his determination, and his basic goodness.  Doesn't mean he never made mistakes.

I makes my heart feel all hopey to see you supporting President Obama like this.

[lester1/2jr]

Our nation was formed in rebellion against colonial rule. There is nothing American about colonialism.

[LilCerberus]

Seen it.
It's okay if you don't have cable & watch a lot of PBS.

[Zarcal-TB]

I don't know if that's his philosopy either, but we need big power, big military, big responsibility, and... small government? 

[/quote]

That is an exceptional question!

[Allhallowsday]

I don't know if that's his philosopy either, but we need big power, big military, big responsibility, and... small government? 

That is an exceptional question!
[/quote]
Your forum skills have not improved, Davewah.    
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vg8-VdGTQU&feature=related

[AndyC]

He was handed a very tough situation from the get-go and did the best he could with it.  I admired his courage, his determination, and his basic goodness.  Doesn't mean he never made mistakes.

I makes my heart feel all hopey to see you supporting President Obama like this.

Zing!

[Jim H]

No don't be sorry.  I enjoy hearing what others think.  I have seen Michael Moore's films, and although I disagree with his support of the Republicrats every bit as much as I disagree with D'Sousa's, I have to say that I have never seen Michael Moore waste over half a film trying to prove what a politician is going to do to the country through a lame psychoanalysis of a father/son relationship and conjecture based on said analysis.  And the whole thing about Obama's "anti-colonialism" just strikes me as ridiculous.  I bet Romney is not in favor of colonialism either.  Using that logic, doesn't that make him dangerous too?   Are you in favor of colonialism?

My point has nothing to do with ANY of that.

My point was to complain about the comparison of an activist/entertainer to a scholar of very strong repute.  D'Sousa is known for intellectual honesty and scholarly objectivity.

NOTHING about Michael Moore is intellectually honest; the very premise of his body of work is to persuade.

Like D'Sousa's film (got it right that time) or not...I do not care.  Agree with him or not, I do not care.  But give him the respect he has freaking earned in a SERIOUS career spanning over 20 years.

Michael Moore...good grief.  THIS is exactly why I refuse to discuss climate models with people with less than a PhD in a physical science field.  We've arrived at a point in our society where entertainers (and corollaries) carry the same weight in intellectual discourse as learned experts.  That does not make D'Sousa "right" (I have not seen the film, so I don't know), but he's beyond head and shoulders more qualified to offer facts and opinions on the subject than Michael Moore.

I'll take the very existence of this conversation as further evidence for my thesis ...

Regardless of what else you think of Moore, his films are effective at getting his point across.  If D'Sousa's film truly takes 3/4s of its runtime to get to the point, it's an ineffective one.  That's all ghoul was getting at.