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Capitalism..We Need A Divorce!
by Jasiri X
twitter.com/jasirix
Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story is like most love stories…sometimes uplifting, passionate, funny, truthful, but ultimately heartbreaking. Moore is a master at melding all of these emotions into what is, so far, easily the movie of the year. *Warning may contain spoilers*
When I heard Michael Moore was going to premiere Capitalism: A Love Story in Pittsburgh; I thought to myself, “wow I would love to go”. But, since I had zero information about how to obtain tickets, I went back to my normal routine aka work. One of the reasons why I love my brother Paradise Gray (The Arkitech of X-Clan for those that don’t know) is that he has this New York attitude that translates into, “if it’s important I should be there and I refuse to take no for an answer.”
So we headed down to the David Lawrence Convention Center with no press passes or tickets and no idea if they would even let us in. As we approached the door Paradise said, “God got us. We will get in” and low and behold we saw our fellow One HOOD member, Mikhail Pappas, who is also an aid to State Senator James Ferlo! Mikhail took us directly into the event and showed us where they were giving out the tickets. Yep, God is Good.
After Michael Moore gave an impassioned press conference where he spoke about how he shed tears after he voted for President Obama, he proceeded to lead a health care reform march (which we really ended up leading) through downtown Pittsburgh and to the theater. We took our seats in the back and after introducing the movie Michael Moore came and sat in the row directly in front of us (very surreal).
The movie begins with security video of people robbing banks and leads right into a story of the banks robbing us. A small town family, the victim of predatory lending, having to move out of a farm that has been in their family for generations (a prevailing theme throughout the movie). There are so many WTH moments in Capitalism: A Love Story it’s hard to touch on them all, from airline pilots making so little they have to get food stamps to big companies like Walmart taking out insurance polices on their employees and collecting at the expense of the employee’s family. Moore even shows how prisons for profits resulted in two judges being jailed for receiving over 2 million dollars in kickbacks and thousands of juveniles improperly incarcerated right here in Pennsylvania!
Michael Moore may have made his best film to date with Capitalism: A Love Story
Moore is at his best when breaking down current events in a historical context and it’s no different here when he begins to ask the question, “would Jesus be a capitalist?” Hilarity ensues when Moore puts Jesus in the role of these current so call “compassionate conservatives” who seem to think it’s “godly” to deny basic rights to the poor. It also crystallizes one of Moore’s main points in the movie, that Capitalism is inherently evil, which I agree with 100%. Moore is extremely convincing showing example after example of regular every day hard working Americans being raped at the hands of the rich, and some damning internal documents directly from Citigroup’s own reports.
This isn’t just a movie it’s a rallying cry to take action. Moore wants to make us mad! And you can’t help to be pissed off when watching how the big banks used fear, money and influence to push through the $700 billion dollar bailout. Where one of the only Congressman with the balls to stand up to Wall Street and President Bush was a Congresswoman from Ohio named Marcy Kaptur. Moore also wants to wake us up to the fact that we have the power to make change, which he brilliantly parallels with never before seen footage of FDR outlining a “Second Bill of Rights” and the improbable rise and election of Barack Obama. But, even then, Moore shows how President Obama’s biggest campaign contributor was the bank that received the most financial gain from the bail out….Goldman Sachs.
Michael Moore said that Capitalism: A Love Story was the end result of his 20 years of movie making from Rodger and Me to Bowling for Columbine to Fahrenheit 911 to Sicko. This is arguably his best work and comes at a time where progressives are in desperate need of a battle call and President Obama is fighting for his political life. If we don’t take Moore up on his offer and join him in making America what it ideally is supposed to be, we will continue to be the battered wife in this abusive relationship. Capitalism..we need a divorce!
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Paradise Gray’s Review of Michael Moore’s Film
Capitalism: A Love Story” for the first time in front of a American audience at the Byham Theater in Pittsburgh 9/14/2009.
Paradise
Michael Moore
debuts his new movie ”
After 6:00 PM press conference at the AFL-CIO Convention at The David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Michael Moore led an enthusiastic crowd of union members on a march through the streets of downtown Pittsburgh on the way to the Byham Theater.
Jasiri X and Paradise Gray took the opportunity to film Jasiri X’s new video “The Only Color That Matters Is Green” during the event.
The movie is off the hook! Must see, Michael Moore has outdone himself! Speaking truth to power, he uncovers the heart breaking stories of Americans who’s homes have been forclosed and the politicians/con-men on wall street and bankers who have created the mess.
The movie also features a long buried, never before seen speech by President FDR about the direction he wanted America to take after the World War 11 that should end the debate on whether President Obama’s Health Care plan is socialism.
See first hand what has happened in Washington that caused the crash on Wall Street, The Housing crisis, The loss of jobs and the economy crash. This movie will get you fired up and can’t take no more!
Well done Michael Moore
I’m definately lookin’ forward to seein’ this flick.
funny how mike uses “capitalism” to make his name and bread; haha! dont fall for the okie-doke!
I would agree with Michael Moore if in place of capitalism he had used the term “Corporatism”. I would recommend the documentary “The Corporation” to anyone confused as to the difference.
If you are going to attack capitalism do so with a workable alternative otherwise it’s just a pile of BS. I was a registered communist from 18 to 28 years old. It took me a long time to admit that the evil created by capitalism doesn’t come close to what Joseph Stalin or Chairman Mao were able to do under communism.
Capitalism has brought an incredibly high standard of living to a larger percentage of people than any of the previously used systems. Before capitalism you were either born to nobility or had nothing. When I say nothing I don’t mean no money I mean no right to vote, own property, and human rights.
Capitalism doesn’t exist. People value money and shiny objects because it’s easier than lugging around real value – and it will always be that way. Bankers, investors and all business people are simply riding the wave of peoples assumptions in a manner that makes more wealth for themselves – which is how business works. Michael Moore does it as well with his movies…and apparently carves out a good living for himself doing it 🙂
http://rapidshare.com/files/282894812/1_000_wordz.rar.html
So because he makes money when these films are viewed he should be silent about the ABUSES of vulture capitalism that are running rampant?!?!
SMH @ people trying to kill the message due to their dislike of the messenger. Lets look at what he presents and whether it has validity. Instead of attempting to villify the man because his documentaries makes money.
We are not mad at those who profit in the course of doing business. We are mad at politicians conspiring with business men to rip us off. Politicians are elected to do the bidding of their constituents, however, they have increasingly becoming pawns for corporations who do not have any interest in providing a quality product or service for a fair price. They are vultures who are looking to gouge us at every turn.
AMERICA DOES NOT NEED VULTURE CAPITALISM.
Has anyone seen the interview with a former health care executive who said he and his company did everything they could to discredit Moore’s message? Well, be on the look out for more of that… There are going to be plenty of fake “grassroot” attempts to paint Moore as a heathen once again, for speaking truth.
Remember, some of us post comments to engage in discussion and other’s have been sent here to post negativity with alterior motives.
“We are not mad at those who profit in the course of doing business. We are mad at politicians conspiring with business men to rip us off. ”
All business and politicians are always going to be perceived as “ripping” somebody “off”. If you have a plan to remove money from politics feel free to attempt to implement it… good luck!
anyway,
If a government public health care option is implemented it will be because policy makers will decide it is necessary to maintain social order (in a dwindling U.S. economic climate)….not for moral reasons or reasons of “social justice”.
The public might look at things like social security as a right , but policy makers and business people are operating on the assumptions that these are all privileges and that nobody owes anyone shit.
All business and politicians are always going to be perceived as “ripping” somebody “off”.
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There is a difference between perception and reality. I am not interested in appeasing those who percieve business to be inherantly evil. I AM interested in the politican and crooks recieving a swift kick in the ass by the people they have actually taken advantage of…
How lucky are the powers that be to have a populace full of mentally dead pussies…
There is nothing wrong with business that profits…
Unnecessary greed is the problem…
AMERICA DOES NOT NEED VULTURE CAPITALISM.
“I AM interested in the politican and crooks recieving a swift kick in the ass by the people they have actually taken advantage of”
Well, then go find some politicians and “kick their ass” then – nobody’s stopping you.
“How lucky are the powers that be to have a populace full of mentally dead pussies”
Well, speak for yourself…
The populace aren’t “mentally dead pussies”. Individuals are simply doing what works for them under the circumstances based on their own respective situations.
“AMERICA DOES NOT NEED VULTURE CAPITALISM.”
Human beings don’t need soda pop, hard drugs, liquor or anything else that’s bad for the human body either :). As long as their is an economic system (and specifically one based on usury) their will always be “vulture” capitalism, just as their will always be social checks and balances based on time place and circumstance to restrict people from doing whatever they want.
The populace aren’t “mentally dead pussies”. Individuals are simply doing what works for them under the circumstances based on their own respective situations.
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Well, speak for yourself…
THERE IS A LARGE AND GROPWING SEGEMNT OF PEOPLE WHO THE SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK FOR!!!! There are MANY individuals who are surviving (and just barely) and find themselves doing things that DO NOT work for them. Such as paying for health insurance and being bankrupted by it when their health takes a bad turn. They are doing what they have been programmed to do. If you believe that people do what is in their best interest that view is not supported by reality. Their are plenty of ‘Joe the Plumbers” in the world. They vote for things that have no connection to thier everyday life. Here was a guy making 40k a year and wasn’t remotely close to being in a position to own a company, let alone one that was grossing over 250k a year. Yet here he was out asking the President about how medical coverage would effect him as a business owner. He is/was not a business owner but yet he wanted to vote in the interests of one. He is part of a group of ‘American Dreamers’ who live in a fantasy land. They vote for what they HOPE TO BE instead of what they are in REALITY.
We are one of the most self absorbed, uninformed group of Americans ever. We would disgust the fou nding fathers with the disconnected attitude towards democracy that exist today.
Humans are not supremely intelligent beings. We are prone to make errors. It is a part of our nature. What gives us a leg up on the animal kingdom is our suppossed intellectual ablitiy. The ability to learn from our mistakes. We learn through trial and error. We are constantly being shown the error of our ways through out history. There are times when we have believed that the earth was round and that man couldn’t master the skies. However, geography and aviation are no longer viewed in the same way as they once were. The same can and will be said about lots of things within our society today. Just because we have certain individuals whose lust for money turns the free market into the sham it is today, does not mean that it is integral to socitety and will always be. As we have adjusted to or eliminated threats to our survival before, we will continue to.
There will always be people with a self-centered destructive approach to life but that will never be accepted by everyone and there will continue to be people who don’t are NOT scared to fight against it.
I ALWAYS WILL…regardless of how many cowards sit in a corner yelling “it’s always going to be this way, so lets just all take it laying down”
I said it before and will say it again…
Good business is welcomed.
However, you may want to attempt to spin it the truth is:
AMERICA DOES NOT NEED VULTURE CAPITALISM.
Remember, some of us post comments to engage in discussion and other’s have been sent here to post negativity with alterior motives.
“There will always be people with a self-centered destructive approach to life but that will never be accepted by everyone and there will continue to be people who don’t are NOT scared to fight against it.
I ALWAYS WILL”
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That’s really good. You should do that more.In fact you should spend all your time doing that.