ANN ARBOR: Filmmaker/activist Michael Moore talks politics, Occupy Wall Street, his book 'Here Comes Trouble'
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Filmmaker and activist Michael Moore's recent visit to Ann Arbor at the Michigan Theater was originally billed as a book reading from his newest semi-autobiographical work"Here Comes Trouble."
But the nearly three-hour engagement ended up being a complex amalgam of stand-up comedy, political speaking, off-the-cuff dialogue and a one-on-everyone pep talk for liberals, die-hard Obama supporters and other disparate groups who may be disillusioned - or, at least, have cause to be after the promise evident in the post-2008 election was squandered, in Moore's opinion.
Much of the time was dedicated to promoting the Occupy Wall Street movement that continues to grow across the country, and how to define the movement's structure and participants.
"Who organized this?" Moore bellowed in mock indignation speaking as one of the U.S. congressmen who asked that question on the congressional record after the movement became notorious in the mainstream media.
"You know who started it? The top floor of the Goldman Sachs building - they started it," he answered, following up those comments by citing figures from studies and articles published in The New York Times and other credible sources.
Moore pinned the movement and many of this country's political and economic problems on the inequality that has grown to enough of a boiling point to send tens of thousands of dissatisfied citizens across the nation into the streets in protest, mainly the fact that there are 156 million Americans living just above, at or below the poverty line, while 400 U.S. citizens at the top hold more wealth than that relatively massive number of people combined.
Moore cited the figure that 59 percent of those polled support Occupy Wall Street, and said that a pervasive sense of apathy and lack of confidence in the power of individuals is keeping the movement from getting even larger.
"We who are part of this movement do not have to work hard to convince our fellow Americans because they are already convinced," he said, noting that the day of his public engagement on Dec. 1 was also Rosa Parks Day.
"This day, Rosa Parks Day, is a day to honor nobodies who do something great," he said, after telling a story about how a New Jersey librarian single-handedly pressured publisher Harper Collins to cease destroying and burying Moore's book "Stupid White Men," which was critical of former President George W. Bush.
The book was at a critical point in its production and distribution just a day before the Sept. 11, 2011, terrorist attacks. The publisher initially delayed the book, but ultimately threatened Moore to either "tone down" the Bush criticism or the book would be "pulped." Continued...
But the nearly three-hour engagement ended up being a complex amalgam of stand-up comedy, political speaking, off-the-cuff dialogue and a one-on-everyone pep talk for liberals, die-hard Obama supporters and other disparate groups who may be disillusioned - or, at least, have cause to be after the promise evident in the post-2008 election was squandered, in Moore's opinion.
Much of the time was dedicated to promoting the Occupy Wall Street movement that continues to grow across the country, and how to define the movement's structure and participants.
"Who organized this?" Moore bellowed in mock indignation speaking as one of the U.S. congressmen who asked that question on the congressional record after the movement became notorious in the mainstream media.
"You know who started it? The top floor of the Goldman Sachs building - they started it," he answered, following up those comments by citing figures from studies and articles published in The New York Times and other credible sources.
Moore pinned the movement and many of this country's political and economic problems on the inequality that has grown to enough of a boiling point to send tens of thousands of dissatisfied citizens across the nation into the streets in protest, mainly the fact that there are 156 million Americans living just above, at or below the poverty line, while 400 U.S. citizens at the top hold more wealth than that relatively massive number of people combined.
Moore cited the figure that 59 percent of those polled support Occupy Wall Street, and said that a pervasive sense of apathy and lack of confidence in the power of individuals is keeping the movement from getting even larger.
"We who are part of this movement do not have to work hard to convince our fellow Americans because they are already convinced," he said, noting that the day of his public engagement on Dec. 1 was also Rosa Parks Day.
"This day, Rosa Parks Day, is a day to honor nobodies who do something great," he said, after telling a story about how a New Jersey librarian single-handedly pressured publisher Harper Collins to cease destroying and burying Moore's book "Stupid White Men," which was critical of former President George W. Bush.
The book was at a critical point in its production and distribution just a day before the Sept. 11, 2011, terrorist attacks. The publisher initially delayed the book, but ultimately threatened Moore to either "tone down" the Bush criticism or the book would be "pulped." Continued...
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