Michael Moore (II)

Trivia

• Was arrested during filming of the video "Sleep Now In The Fire" by Rage Against the Machine, protesting Wall Street and the investment of American money overseas (i.e. in hostile and Communist countries). The filming also shut down the New York Stock Exchange early that day when band members tried to enter the floor uninvited.
• It was announced on March 13, 2002 his book "Stupid White Men...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation", had reached #1 on the New York Times non-fiction list.
• Briefly served as both editor and columnist for Mother Jones magazine.
• Raised money for the production of his first film, Roger & Me (1989), by running neighborhood bingo games in his house.
• Is a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association. Moore told Tim Russert that he joined so as to be elected its president and then dismantle the organization.
• On the day after his infamous "Oscar Backlash", where he attacked both George W. Bush and the Iraq war, attendance for his movie Bowling for Columbine (2002) went up 110%. The following weekend, the box office for the film was up 73%.
• Throughout his film Bowling for Columbine (2002) Moore proudly sports a Michigan State University baseball hat.
• Elected to Davison, Michigan board of education at age 18; this is described and elaborated upon in chapter 5 "Idiot Nation" in his book "Stupid White Men."
• His movie Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) was shown at the Cannes Film festival, making it the most sought-after movie there. [May 2004]
• Attended the University of Michigan-Flint in the 1970s.

Quotes

• “These bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control.”
• “The majority of Americans, the ones who never elected you, are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction.”
• “The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich.”
• “Should such an ignorant people lead the world? How did it come to this in the first place? 82 percent of us don't even have a passport! Just a handful can speak a language other than English (and we don't even speak that very well.)”
• “I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a deserter. What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar, and a functional illiterate. And he poops his pants”
• “I personally hold Blair more responsible for this war than I do George Bush. The reason is, Blair knows better,... Blair is not an idiot. What is he doing hanging around this guy?”
• “We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where we have fictitious election results, that elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons”
• “There's a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them.”
• "People want to see documentaries, but there's a disconnect between that desire and the exhibitors out there. We're not asking for charity. This could be on the 15th screen of a multiplex that would otherwise have the sixth showing of the new Harry Potter movie. Some of these films make $200 or $300 per screen."
• "I am not sure what I am going to do for my next film, but I certainly believe that I have no right to tell another couple whether they can or cannot be married. That is simply not allowed in my ethical book of standards. I am a very spiritual person - I don't talk about it publicly that much, but I went to the seminary when I was in high school; I read the New Testament. And let me tell you something: There is nowhere in the four Gospels where Jesus uses the word homosexual, nor the word aborti