Free Screening of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11"

Name: Free Screening of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11"
Start: 2021-09-10T21:00:00-04:00
End: 2021-09-10T23:30:00-04:00

Hosted by Brian B.

Super Organizer

Skeptics In The Pub - Philly

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The 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is leading to lots of retrospective accounts in the news media, and a lot of skeptic groups are reviewing some of the old 9/11 conspiracy theories. So I thought it might be interesting for our skeptic meetup to view Michael Moore's 2004 documentary film, Fahrenheit 9/11, since it's essentially political agitprop that mixes some conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks with some fairly standard critiques of the dangers posed to civil liberties by the "War on Terror" as well as Bush's decision to invade Iraq.

Michael Moore is offering a free worldwide screening on Friday, September 10th, of Fahrenheit 9/11. The online film event will begin at 9pm EDT. According to his website, Michael Moore will begin by saying a few words, then show the movie, and then afterward he’ll bring on some special guests for a discussion and take audience questions live. It’s free and it takes place on his Substack site. To guarantee your “seat” from home, you simply need to be a free subscriber to his site. You can do that by clicking the "Subscribe" button then clicking the "Free" option: https://www.michaelmoore.com/

Note: If you don't want to continue receiving emails from Michael Moore after you've watched the film, you can simply unsubscribe.

Movie Synopsis:
The title of the film alludes to Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian view of the future United States where the government sends fire fighters to burn books (the autoignition temperature of paper is 451° F). Thus, the film's title draws an analogy between a futuristic dystopia and the Bush administration's policies after the September 11th attacks. One of the film's taglines was "The Temperature at Which Freedom Burns".

The movie begins by suggesting that friends and political allies of George W. Bush at Fox News Channel tilted the election of 2000 by prematurely declaring Bush the winner. It then suggests that the handling of the voting controversy in Florida constituted election fraud.

The film then segues into the September 11 attacks. Moore says Bush was informed of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on his way to an elementary school. Bush is then shown sitting in a Florida classroom with children. When told that a second plane has hit the World Trade Center and that the nation is "under attack", Bush allows the students to finish their book reading, and Moore notes that he continued reading for nearly seven minutes.

Moore then discusses the complex relationships between the U.S. government and the Bush family; and between the bin Laden family, the Saudi Arabian government, and the Taliban, which span over three decades. Moore then states that the United States government evacuated 24 members of the bin Laden family on a secret flight shortly after the attacks, without subjecting them to any form of interrogation.

Moore moves on to examine George W. Bush's Air National Guard service record. Moore contends that Bush's dry-hole oil well attempts were partially funded by the Saudis and by the bin Laden family through the intermediary of James R. Bath, whose name is shown to have been blacked out from Bush's records. Moore alleges that these conflicts of interest suggest that the Bush administration does not serve the interests of Americans. The movie continues by suggesting ulterior motives for the War in Afghanistan, including a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan to the Indian Ocean.

Moore alleges that the Bush administration induced a climate of fear among the American population through the mass media. Moore then describes purported anti-terror efforts, including government infiltration of pacifist groups and other events, and the signing of the USA PATRIOT Act.

The documentary then turns to the subject of the Iraq War, comparing the lives of the Iraqis before and after the invasion. The citizens of Iraq are portrayed as living relatively happy lives prior to the country's invasion by the U.S. military. The film also takes pains to demonstrate supposed war cheerleading in the U.S. media and general bias of journalists, with quotes from news organizations and embedded journalists. Moore suggests that atrocities will occur in Iraq and shows footage depicting U.S. abuse of prisoners.

Later in the film, Lila Lipscomb appears with her family after hearing of the death of her son, Sgt. Michael Pedersen, who was killed on April 2, 2003, in Karbala. Anguished and tearful, she begins to question the purpose of the war.

Tying together several themes and points, Moore compliments those serving in the U.S. military. He claims that the lower class of America are always the first to join the Army, so that the people better off do not have to join. He states that those valuable troops should not be sent to risk their lives unless it is necessary to defend America. The credits roll while Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" plays.

Critiques of the Film:
There were several critical reviews of the film around the time it came out, which I would suggest that viewers read after watching the documentary:

Christopher Hitchens, "Unfairenheit 9/11: The lies of Michael Moore."
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/06/the-lies-of-michael-moore.html
Joe Scarborough, "Fahrenheit 9/11 distorts the truth"
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5296236
David Leigh, "These dots don't join up"
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/jul/29/usa.world

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Free Screening of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11"

Skeptics In The Pub - Philly

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