Just As I Thought

A chilling effect

Stories like this are cropping up more and more often these days, which frankly is getting really scary. Every day I feel more and more disgusted and scared of this new era we are living in — and we’re only 3 years in to this brave new world. From the New York Times via boingboing:

The Walt Disney Company is blocking its Miramax division from distributing a new documentary by Michael Moore that harshly criticizes President Bush, executives at both Disney and Miramax said Tuesday.

The film, “Fahrenheit 911,” links Mr. Bush and prominent Saudis — including the family of Osama bin Laden — and criticizes Mr. Bush’s actions before and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

… Mr. Moore’s agent, Ari Emanuel, said Michael D. Eisner, Disney’s chief executive, asked him last spring to pull out of the deal with Miramax. Mr. Emanuel said Mr. Eisner expressed particular concern that it would endanger tax breaks Disney receives for its theme park, hotels and other ventures in Florida, where Mr. Bush’s brother, Jeb, is governor.


Meanwhile, on that NYT page was an ad from the ACLU that is definitely a miscalculation on their part. The ad is meant to promote constitutional freedoms, but the headline for the ad says “I am not an American.” How could that not be used as ammunition by the anti-freedom nuts out there who think that a patriot is someone who follows blindly? There were several ads in rotation, but I’m sure it’s the Martin Sheen variety that people will love to point to — “See? Told you he’s not an American.”
Couldn’t the ads have said “I am an American who will not watch our freedoms erode?”
As the right wing knows, it’s all about what words you choose to use.

2 comments

  • Point taken, however I feel the ad is more powerful phrased this way. One problem of course is that many will not read the whole thing and use these ads as proof that capital-L liberal is still a bad word. Sheesh. I keep wondering if history will paint our time as the “dark years of America” — that’s certainly how I feel about it.

  • Of course, now that I think about it I realize how easily I am willing to compromise *my* language so that the right won’t have more ammunition…

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