{"id":20,"date":"2007-08-02T19:25:01","date_gmt":"2007-08-03T00:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america\/"},"modified":"2022-05-30T15:41:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T19:41:10","slug":"michael-moore-social-change-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"What Michael Moore <i>Really<\/i> Teaches Us About Political and Social Change In America"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Summary and Table of Contents (Part 1 of 8)<\/h2>\n<p><div style=\"display:block;float:left;padding:5px;\">\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\r\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-2162106478346973\";\r\ngoogle_ad_width = 300;\r\ngoogle_ad_height = 250;\r\ngoogle_ad_format = \"300x250_as\";\r\ngoogle_ad_type = \"text_image\";\r\n\/\/2007-08-03: STBlogPostPage300X250\r\ngoogle_ad_channel = \"6465476065\";\r\ngoogle_color_border = \"EDF1F0\";\r\ngoogle_color_bg = \"EDF1F0\";\r\ngoogle_color_link = \"008000\";\r\ngoogle_color_text = \"000000\";\r\ngoogle_color_url = \"008000\";\r\n\/\/-->\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script><\/div>In previous blockbuster films including <em><a title=\"Roger &amp; Me by Michael Moore\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B00009YXAS\/howardssystem-20\">Roger &amp; Me<\/a><\/em>, <em><a title=\"Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B00008DDVV\/howardssystem-20\">Bowling for Columbine<\/a><\/em>, and <em><a title=\"Fahrenheit 9\/11 by Michael Moore\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B00005JNEI\/howardssystem-20\">Fahrenheit 9\/11<\/a><\/em>, filmmaker <strong>Michael Moore<\/strong> has inspired, focused attention and opened minds regarding injustices in deeply emotional areas ranging from corporate responsibility to gun violence to 9\/11 and the Iraq War. Now in his latest movie, <em><a title=\"Sicko by Michael Moore\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B000UNYJXQ\/howardssystem-20\">Sicko<\/a><\/em>, and his appearances and interviews surrounding its release, the controversial and bravely confrontational <a title=\"Michael Moore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/politics\/polheroes\/moore.shtml\">Moore<\/a> has boldly pursued change in the hotly-debated area of the American health care system.<\/p>\n<p>But Moore&#8217;s work and life embody and demonstrate two underappreciated and crucial themes even more fundamental to <strong>social change in America<\/strong> than the stated topics of his films &#8211; moral courage and campaign, election and media reform. A lost virtue in our fearful times, moral courage was exemplified by figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. It allows us to break through silences and expose glaring injustices in the face of potential consequences, developing authenticity, self-trust and self-respect. Meanwhile, key tenets of <a title=\"Systems Thinking\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/interests\/systemsthinking\/\">Systems Thinking<\/a> reveal campaign, media and election reform as the fundamental levers and leverage points for improvement in areas ranging from peace to the environment that so many of us, including thinkers like Michael Moore and Al Gore, care about most.<\/p>\n<p>In this eight-part series of posts, I explore these deeply intertwined themes of moral courage and fundamental reform of the logistical mechanisms of our democracy. I discuss why they are both so central to lasting social change in America, how Michael Moore demonstrates them, and why we must transfer our passions from emotional, but symptomatic, issues to the unemotional, but fundamental, <a title=\"Issues of Democracy Reform\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/politics\/polissues\/\">issues of democracy reform<\/a>. I conclude by proposing a formula for fundamental, sustainable sociopolitical reform in which we refocus existing individual and organizational resources, promote and support several highly under-recognized democracy reform organizations, and develop programs to role model and foster the skills of moral courage in our society.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The eight posts in this series begin with this post and continue with:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Part 2 &#8211; <a title=\"Introduction to What Michael Moore Really Teaches Us About Political and Social Change In America\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-2\">Introduction<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 3 &#8211; <a title=\"Moral Courage: A Required Virtue for Improving Our Society\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-3\">Moral Courage: A Required Virtue for Improving Our Society<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 4 &#8211; <a title=\"Moral Courage as a Central Theme in Michael Moore's Work and Life\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-4\">Moral Courage as a Central Theme in Michael Moore&#8217;s Work and Life<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 5 &#8211; <a title=\"Campaign, Election and Media Reform: Levers and Leverage Points for Improving Our Society\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-5\">Campaign, Election and Media Reform: Levers and Leverage Points for Improving Our Society<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 6 &#8211; <a title=\"Campaign, Election and Media Reform as Central Themes in Michael Moore's Work\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-6\">Campaign, Election and Media Reform as Central Themes in Michael Moore&#8217;s Work<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 7 &#8211; <a title=\"A Formula for Fundamental, Sustainable Political and Social Change in America\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-7\">A Formula for Fundamental, Sustainable Political and Social Change in America<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 8 &#8211; <a title=\"Conclusion of What Michael Moore Really Teaches Us About Political and Social Change In America\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-8\">Conclusion<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Continue on to part 2 of this series, <a title=\"Introduction to What Michael Moore Really Teaches Us About Political and Social Change In America\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-2\">Introduction<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his previous films, Michael Moore opened minds regarding injustices in deeply emotional areas including corporate responsibility, gun violence, 9\/11 and the Iraq War. In <i>Sicko<\/i>, and his related appearances, he has pursued change in the American health care system. But Moore&#8217;s work and life embody two underappreciated themes even more central to social change in America \u2013 moral courage and campaign, election and media reform. In this eight-part series of posts, I explore the importance of these intertwined themes and their relation to Michael Moore. I then propose a formula for focusing influential individuals and organizations on these core leverage points to stimulate fundamental, sustainable sociopolitical reform in America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,7,16,5,13,9,17,18],"tags":[666,610,630,517,646,528,667,69,587,668,521,661,636,605,619,171,663,606,522,607,608,173,80,158,123,643,161,169,669,178,628,629],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-personal-development","category-politics","category-positive-change","category-psychology","category-social-change","category-social-justice","category-systems-thinking","tag-9-11","tag-al-gore","tag-bowling-for-columbine","tag-campaign-finance-reform","tag-corporate-responsibility","tag-democracy","tag-democracy-reform","tag-election-reform","tag-environment","tag-fahrenheit-9-11","tag-films","tag-gandhi","tag-gun-violence","tag-health-care","tag-iraq-war","tag-leverage-points","tag-martin-luther-king","tag-media-reform","tag-michael-moore","tag-moral-courage","tag-peace","tag-personal-development","tag-politics","tag-positive-change","tag-psychology","tag-sicko","tag-social-change","tag-social-justice","tag-sociopolitical-reform","tag-systems-thinking","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-war-in-iraq"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}