Michael Moore: 'We should always stand up against the angry mob'

[marmar]

Watch: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-in-the-news/video-michael-moore-situation-room-wolf-blitzer


"We're a little slow on the uptake sometimes. ... We always seem to get it wrong at first, whether that was with slavery, killing Indians, women not voting. We're not very good at the beginning of these things. We're really great though as we move along. We live in a nation where, sadly, people listen to things, they get afraid very easily, we have forty million adult Americans who are functional illiterates, which means they can't read and write above the 4th grade level. So, that's the America we live in and sometimes we have to put up with that, but everybody, regardless of their level of ignorance, I believe, at their core is good and has a good heart ...

"I went to mass yesterday, Wolf. Do you think I'm a pedophile sympathizer? Should I be judged because some priests committed a crime against children? Do you think less of me because of that or because Timothy McVeigh was a Catholic and blew up the Oklahoma City building? Should a Catholic church not be allowed anywhere near the Oklahoma City building because he was Catholic? ...

"Whenever the angry mob turns on a small group, it's best to know that when they're done with that group they're off to the next small group. So, everybody should think about that because we all belong to our own ethnic groups that either came to this country by choice, or whose ancestors were brought here by force as slaves, or who were here originally as Native Americans. That's the melting pot of who we are. And we should always stand up against the angry mob when they're trying to take away a basic inherent right of anybody in this country."



http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-in-the-news/video-michael-moore-situation-room-wolf-blitzer

[whathehell]

1. Unless,

of course, we ARE the "angry mob"


..couldn't help myself!B-)

[tavalon]

2. That was my very first thought actually

And I wasn't joking.

[Better Today]

3. My first thought too. I mean with any luck "we" will be a part of the angry

mob that rebels against the top 2% so we'd be the big angry mob going after a small group. Of course the small group I'm talking about being against will have all manner of mercenaries hired to harm us, making their small group not terribly helpless.

Sorry, Michael, but sometimes generalizations are not the right choice. It isn't about the mob or the size of the mob, for or against. It's about rights, period. If a large "mob" were to dissuade the crazies who picket the soldiers funeral's, would that be bad just because the dissuading mob would be (in my scenario) larger than the the offending mob? Are the "mobs" that protested the Iraq war bad because it was huge and world wide?

Michael missed it here. Generally on top of it, so a mistake from time to time is okay, still love him.

[whathehell]

4. Agreed. n/t

[Turborama]

8. There's MUCH more to what he said than just the title of the OP

The video is worth watching in its entirety, either follow the link in the OP or check out the posting of it in the videos forum which has the full transcript.

[Better Today]

9. And I responded to more than the OP title. It isn't the size of mob that matters,

it's whether the mob is on the correct side of issues. The side of building, rather than destroying, the side of equality rather than inequality, and so on. Hopefully our "mob" will end up bigger than their mob, so his comments regarding the size of the mob, the many against the few, is just wrong.

[Turborama]

10. You did?

Oh. I thought you were just talking about the two words "angry mob" the poster you were replying to picked up on.


That phrase is mentioned in the interview but in a context which is not a "generalization".

"I just think when you're talking about burning the Koran, let me just point out again to my fellow Americans, 80 percent of whom don't have a passport and never leave the country, never see the rest of the world, don't know anything about what's going on -- you know, I've had had the good fortune to be able to get out of here and see a bit of this planet we live on. The Koran has 25 different mentions of Jesus in that holy book, 25. They consider Jesus a messenger of God. Why would you burn a book that beautifully mentions Jesus at least two dozen times? I mean, how many Americans even know -- even know that?

It really is just -- I just -- it just seems so crazy to me. I'm just -- I'm fed up with it. And I just felt like I had to take a stand and say something about this. You know, Arabs and Muslims, you know, they're 0.6 percent of our population. Whenever the angry mob turns on a small group, it's best to know that when they're done with that group, they're off to the next small group.

So everybody should think about that, because we all belong to our own ethnic groups that either came to this country by choice or whose ancestors were brought here by force as slaves or who were here originally as Native Americans. That's the melting pot of who we are. And we should always stand up against the angry mob when they're trying to take away a basic inherent right of anybody in this country."

[L0oniX]

5. Put down the sandwich Michael. You and we are an angry mob.

This angry mob is turning against the rich!

[Matariki]

6. Great & sensible words from Michael Moore.

It's unfortunate to see people here, of all places, trying to marginalize him. Or make stupid comments about his weight.

[Turborama]

7. K&R! Video with full transcript posted in the videos forum

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x504400