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Following "Fahrenheit 9/11" the anti-Michael Moore brigade came out in full-force. This wasn't just another Moore film, he wasn't simply attacking easy targets anymore, such as the CEO of a giant corporation in "Roger & Me," or asking philosophical questions about America's violent culture and obsession with guns in "Bowling for Columbine," this time, with "Fahrenheit 9/11," he had the audacity to present an argument against the policies and motivations of a sitting president. This was seen as a treasonous act by most of right-wing America, and they took every chance to bash the filmmaker, calling him a communist, a phony, or worse. Many even tried to convince the public that somehow Michael Moore hated America.
Then came the 2007 film "Sicko," arguably Michael Moore's least political film to date. Moore spends very little time attacking any particular political party in "Sicko" (although he can't help himself from showing a particularly embarrassing Bush-ism at the very beginning of the movie). He instead dedicates almost the entire running time of the film to attacking America's broken healthcare system and presenting the health insurance industry as the root cause of its failures. If people manage to see this as a left-wing vs. right-wing argument then we need to seriously step back and analyze exactly what our political parties stand for. But I suppose because it's a Michael Moore film we are automatically inclined to view it in this way. If "Sicko" had been made by a complete unknown then surely any attacks from a political viewpoint would have been far less aggressive. "Sicko" is, after all, an attack on an industry that is clearly putting profits ahead of people's health. And the underlying question of "Sicko" appears to be whether this is something Americans would ever put up with if they were given the real truth about our class-divided system.
Now, and this is important, none of Michael Moore's attacks on the American healthcare system in the film is directed at hospitals, doctors, or nurses. At no time does Moore suggest that our system if failing because of the actual caregivers. This is an assault on America's health by corporate powers that, by their very definition, are instructed to turn a profit above all else. He clearly and shockingly shows us the levels private insurance companies will go in order to deny an individual healthcare. He shows us in blunt testimony by former employees that the company makes more when they are able to provide less. We see in stark terms that basic capitalism when applied to something like healthcare becomes an unethical, immoral monster.
And we now know, by a health insurance insider, the effect the popularity "Fahrenheit 9/11" had on the wealthy and powerful in America. Wendell Potter, a former Head of Corporate Communications for CIGNA, one of the biggest health insurance companies in America, has come forward on the PBS program Bill Moyers Journal to discuss the secret plan by insurance companies to attack "Sicko" and Michael Moore, even before its release. See the clip here: Bill Moyers Journal
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