100 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
100 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 12 Num. 17
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=======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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"THE BIG ONE"
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=============
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A Film By Michael Moore
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Michael Moore is best known for a previous movie he did, "Roger
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and Me." That film documented how GM plant closings had
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devastated the town of Flint, Michigan.
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One of movie-maker Moore's major assets is his sense of humor.
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It comes in handy in "The Big One," his latest documentary
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dealing with the agonies being suffered by American workers.
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Moore shows how the "good economy" is not so good for millions of
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Americans, yet softens the bitter news with a counter-balance of
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laughter. With corporate profits at record levels, Moore hammers
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on the point, "Why aren't most workers sharing in the economic
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bonanza?" Moore goes even further: "Why are so many workers not
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only not getting a piece of the pie, but are even being thrown
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out of work -- 'downsized' -- at the same time corporate profits
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are booming?"
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The film's title, "The Big One," comes from Moore's jocular
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suggestion that the United States ought to be renamed "The Big
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One" and that our national anthem should be changed to the hit
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song, "We Will Rock You." The film follows Moore as he travels
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to various cities on a promotional tour for his book, "Downsize
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This!" "The Big One" is at least equally entertaining as "Roger
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and Me." But unlike in his previous film, which focused
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primarily on Flint, Michigan, Moore's latest covers the late
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1990s labor situation throughout the U.S. We see the employees of
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the Payday candybar plant in Centralia, Illinois on their last
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day at work. We see "top secret" footage from the Detroit
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newspaper strike -- "top secret" insofar as the bitter labor
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dispute was ignored by mainstream "news" outlets. We hear the
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bitter voices of "downsized" workers, "rewarded" for their years
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of work by seeing their jobs relocated to Mexico.
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Moore opens the film by gibing at politicians who will take money
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from anyone. He had set up misleading checking accounts for
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non-existent groups like "Satanists for Bob Dole" and "Pedophiles
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for Perot," then mailed $100 checks to the various candidates.
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Would Bill Clinton's campaign cash a $100 contribution from "The
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Hemp Growers of America"? It turns out, yes. Notwithstanding
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the questionable source of funds, all four candidates tested by
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Moore -- Dole, Clinton, Perot and Buchanan -- had no qualms about
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accepting the money.
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Moore manages to do what most on the so-called "left" are unable
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to do: he connects hard with his audience in a practical way
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rather than, as many "leftists," bore them to tears with endless
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semantics. Moore keeps you laughing, even though the subject is
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so dismal. His humor, like that of the late Lenny Bruce, has a
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hard edge; there's nothing escapist about it. Moore, throughout
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the film, delivers knock-out punches made palatable by humor.
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In my town, "The Big One" was only being shown in an independent,
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avant-garde theater. Why weren't the big corporate chains
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carrying this film? After all, they are (supposedly) "in it for
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the profit." The movie, "The Big One," a BBC production, is much
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better than the pitiful "X-Files" movie -- yet X-Files was widely
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distributed and "The Big One," at least in my town, like Joseph
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and Mary, had to "sleep in the stable."
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You say you're fed up watching lies on television? Then go out
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tonight and treat yourself to a great antidote, "The Big One" --
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if you can find somewhere that it's being shown.
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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For related stories, visit:
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http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html
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http://www.netcom.com/~feustel
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Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those
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of Conspiracy Nation, nor of its Editor in Chief.
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I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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New mailing list: leave message in the old hollow tree stump.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
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(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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