{"id":21,"date":"2007-08-02T20:21:35","date_gmt":"2007-08-03T01:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-2\/"},"modified":"2022-05-30T15:40:23","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T19:40:23","slug":"michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What Michael Moore <i>Really<\/i> Teaches Us About Political and Social Change In America &#8211; Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Introduction (Part 2 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><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: This is Part 2 of an eight-part series. You may want to start at Part 1 of the series, <\/em><a title=\"Summary and Table of Contents for 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\"><em>Summary and Table of Contents<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Sicko and Beyond: New Inspiration from Michael Moore<\/h3>\n<p>Two weeks ago, I finally saw <a title=\"Michael Moore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/politics\/polheroes\/moore.shtml\">Michael Moore&#8217;s<\/a> new movie about the health care industry, <em><a title=\"Sicko by Michael Moore\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B000UNYJXQ\/howardssystem-20\">Sicko<\/a><\/em>. As usual I was impressed. Moore has an incredible ability to take a crucial topic and at least touch on all of the main aspects of the issue, while still making the film entertaining and moving. I was also astounded as usual at the nerve he has to stand up so forcefully for what he believes in and to go to such lengths to demonstrate his views. Again, in <em>Sicko<\/em>, he pushes the envelope, confronts and exposes and speaks out loudly and clearly. This blend of talents and tactics allows him to really focus our attention on areas of injustice that we should be ashamed to have ignored and gives his films the potential to truly open minds.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>After the movie, I spent some time watching his recent media interviews and other appearances. I was impressed even more than in the past with his outspokenness and his engagement in taking real action toward positive change. In his <a title=\"Michael Moore on CNN with Wolf Blitzer\" href=\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=JpKoN40K7mA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer<\/a>, he confronted not only the health care system, but the complicity of the American media itself in a way rarely seen on television. He did a <a title=\"Michael Moore on Capitol Hill\" href=\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=DYnadAE685o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">press conference<\/a> with members of Congress to back John Conyers&#8217; new health care bill, <a title=\"H.R. 676\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hr676.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">H.R. 676<\/a>. He also took the time to <a title=\"Michael Moore Brings Health Care Campaign to California State Assembly\" href=\"http:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/article.pl?sid=07\/06\/14\/1413243\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">speak to the California State Assembly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Both <em>Sicko<\/em> and Moore&#8217;s post-film activities inspired me. But they also made me want to take the opportunity to focus on what I feel are the two main issues that Moore&#8217;s work and life embody and connect with that may not be getting the attention they deserve.<\/p>\n<h3>The Underappreciated Themes of Michael Moore&#8217;s Work and Life<\/h3>\n<p>As primarily a filmmaker, Moore&#8217;s work has tended to center around particular issues of emotional concern to vast numbers of people. In <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>, he focused on corporate neglect of workers. In <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> he focused on gun violence. In <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> he focused on the aftermath of 9\/11 and the development of the Iraq War. In <em><a title=\"Sicko by Michael Moore\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B000UNYJXQ\/howardssystem-20\">Sicko<\/a><\/em>, he focused on the shortcomings of the American health care system. All of these are tremendously important and deeply affecting topics.<\/p>\n<p>Yet within these disparate pieces of work, as well as within his life itself, two important areas are demonstrated or sporadically discussed without often taking center stage. In this series of posts, I will focus explicitly on these two areas &#8211; moral courage and campaign, election and media reform &#8211; and discuss why they are so crucial to progressive change, how Moore demonstrates them, and how we can vastly increase our ability to actualize progressive changes by bringing individuals, organizations and development efforts together around these two core issues.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Continue on to Part 3 of this series, <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<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Return to Part 1 of this series, <a title=\"Summary and Table of Contents for 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\">Summary and Table of Contents<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction (Part 2 of 8) Note: This is Part 2 of an eight-part series. You may want to start at Part 1 of the series, Summary and Table of Contents. &nbsp; Sicko and Beyond: New Inspiration from Michael Moore Two weeks ago, I finally saw Michael Moore&#8217;s new movie about the health care industry, Sicko. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,7,16,5,9,17],"tags":[666,630,517,631,69,521,636,605,619,606,522,607,173,80,158,643,161,169,628,629,644,609],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-personal-development","category-politics","category-positive-change","category-social-change","category-social-justice","tag-9-11","tag-bowling-for-columbine","tag-campaign-finance-reform","tag-cnn","tag-election-reform","tag-films","tag-gun-violence","tag-health-care","tag-iraq-war","tag-media-reform","tag-michael-moore","tag-moral-courage","tag-personal-development","tag-politics","tag-positive-change","tag-sicko","tag-social-change","tag-social-justice","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-war-in-iraq","tag-wolf-blitzer","tag-workers-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","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=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}