Hi! My name is...

Posted Aug 25th 2007 11:10PM by Jim Kenefick
Filed under: Manufacturing Dissent

...Jim Kenefick. You may know me from such films as Sicko and Manufacturing Dissent. Somehow I ended up in both of them. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that I run Moorewatch, a site dedicated to cataloging and correcting the falsehoods and misrepresentations found in the work of Michael Moore.

If you know nothing about the fact that my wife and I ended up in Sicko, please visit this page and follow the links. Everything will be explained. In fact, I would ask that you read that before you make any personal comments about me, my wife or our sort-of appearance in Sicko this summer.

A brief background of the site; Lee and I both run our own blogs. One day in 2002, we were talking about how we had recently both posted a few things about Moore's Bowling For Columbine. A few of our favorite blogs were doing the same. "Wouldn't it be great of we had one place to collect all these posts? Sort of a clearinghouse for debunking information?" Two minutes later the domain was registered and Moorewatch was born.

And just to head off any potential flame wars, I am not a fan of Bush, a Cheney disciple, a Fox News watcher, nor do I listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Bill "I'm a clone of Moore" O'Reilly. Hell, I'm not even a registered Republican anymore. More about me here, if you care. Ultimately, it boils down to the fact that I'm after the truth, as you should be.

And that brings me to Debbie, Rick and Manufacturing Dissent. As you may know, Debbie and Rick set out to make a film complimenting Michael Moore. They are both kind, upstanding people, and their politics are certainly not opposed to what Moore claims are his. What they found, however, was that they could not make a film complimenting Moore as a human being. The truth led them elsewhere. That's the difference between good documentarians and bad polemecists.

A documentarian tells you the story they find. A polemecist finds the story they already wanted to tell.

We're neither of those things at Moorewatch, by the way. We're bloggers. We react. We research. We try to correct the lies, half-truths and cute editing tricks that fill Moore's films. We're thrilled to see a project like Manufacturing Dissent, and even happier that it came about because two filmmakers felt compelled to tell the truth as they found it.

In the next few weeks, I hope to be able to show you why Michael Moore can't be trusted. I hope to be able to convince you that if you've ever intentionally watched a Michael Moore film and felt like you learned anything, you need to see Manufacturing Dissent. Most of all, I hope to find the truth, wherever it takes me, and I hope you want that as well.

Reader Comments

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1. you're doing god's work!

kate at 1:47PM on Aug 28th 2007

2. Moore is a Hollywood film maker and Hollywood is the land of make believe. Subjects like war, famine, drug abuse and government corruption are subjects Hollywood mogols use to make films and hopefully serious money.

I go to watch Hollywood films to be entertained, not educated or enlightened.

Willet at 1:34PM on Sep 11th 2007

3.
It's about time someone is putting the spotlight on this phoney; wish you had done it a long time ago. The stuff he spews about himself, our country, our leaders is obvious crap, but people seem to WANT to believe it. Weird.

L.K. Clark at 1:03PM on Sep 11th 2007

4. Michael Moore's docomenteries are intended to wake up people like you who choose to selectively ignore what is happening in our great country. Michael is one of the few great Americans who are not afraid to speak and publish the truth about some of the big social problems and opportunities faceing us today.
Michael, thank you and keep up the good work!
Walter*

Added by JimK - Moore lies. He's not telling the truth. He never has. He's selling you your own angst.

Think about this, without usning any of Moore's words to form your thoughts: Why would Moore spend his life telling us the government - Dems or Repubs - can't be trusted, but then ask us to turn over ALL our healthcare to them, making private insurance ILLEGAL?

WHY? Can you answer that in your own words?

walter gasser at 8:37PM on Sep 11th 2007

5. Please get your facts stright. Michael Moore has not called for making privat insurance illigal. Mandates to regulate the industrie in favor of the majority, all of us consumers is what is required. Michael does nothing more than raising questions, asking the us, the people to think about it and ensure that all of us healthcare consumers are getting a fair deal. There are sufficient resources alocated to the healthcare sector to have all involved be winners, not just the special interests. Where are you coming from on the issue? Are you simply a Michael Moor basher?
Walter

Added by JimK: Walter, Moore SPECIFICALLY AND EXACTLY called for the abolishment of all private insurance. You don't know what the hell you are talking about. In five seconds using Moore's search on his site, I found this:

THAT'S the only thing we should be talking about. How profit and greed are killing our fellow Americans. How profit and private insurance have to be removed from our health care system.

Looks like YOU need to get some facts before you make an ass of yourself again.

*UPDATE* From JimK again: Walter, I went back and did this search at google, and it shows 28 different results. Dozens of times Michael Moore has said he wants to ELIMINATE private insurance. Including this one:

Moore encouraged politicians to take a four-part pledge: to support free, universal care; to eliminate private insurers; to regulate phamaceutical companies; and to refuse money from the health care industry.

Now...after you apologize, care to explain that, like I asked the first time? Why would Moore tell us that the government is incompetent, and then declare that our ONLY source of healthcare should be the government?

walter gasser at 8:38PM on Sep 11th 2007

6. It seems that people on Moore's side of the issue surrounding the health care "crisis" always get nasty when someone who has done the research, listened to them, and saw actual quotes of more and had the guts to bring them to light. It is so easy these days to find someone to be one of Moore's sheep. Why can't people look at the facts that people who criticize Moore divulge? It's wierd, like a huge hate thing, and to those who hold Moore up on such a high pedestal want to be led to slaughter or something. I do not get it, but I can tell you this. It always scares me when someone wants to remove the people from the equation and suggest that the government and only the government knows whats best for all of us. Be afraid, very afraid....fools.

kimberley at 10:10AM on Sep 17th 2007

7. A lot of people are jealous of Michael Moore. He makes some people very angry. It's interesting.

I don't think he's perfect but he's done a great deal of good for this country, beginning with Roger and Me, back in the days when we had a car manufacturing base.

How many people aren't worried about health care these days?

He has a lot of courage too. He's certainly a showman but he's put himself on the line many times. I think he loves this country more than his detractors want to see. The USA was based on dissent.

colin at 8:45PM on Sep 13th 2007

8. All I know is on was on a flight once (in first class) when Moore came on the plane and proceeded to be the most obnoxious jerk one could imagine. Quite honestly if he had not been a celebrity he likely would have been removed. He was rude to everyone, especially the flight crew, was upset about his seat assignment, service levels, etc., etc. Man of the people my ass. He is 100% full of BS. If he says its noontime I'd bet my bottom dollar its actually dark outside. He is a complete fake. Period.

mark A SCHNEIDER at 8:59PM on Sep 13th 2007

9. All I know is on was on a flight once (in first class) when Moore came on the plane and proceeded to be the most obnoxious jerk one could imagine. Quite honestly if he had not been a celebrity he likely would have been removed. He was rude to everyone, especially the flight crew, was upset about his seat assignment, service levels, etc., etc. Man of the people my ass. He is 100% full of BS. If he says its noontime I'd bet my bottom dollar its actually dark outside. He is a complete fake. Period.

mark at 8:59PM on Sep 13th 2007

10. SHOULD HAVE HAD THIS MAJOR COVERAGE FOR CHENEY AND BUSHS LIES ABOUT WMDS... AND THEIR 9/11 INVOLVEMENT.
THE STENCH OF TREASON FROM THE WHITE HOUSE KEEPS GROWING ... NEW YORKERS KNOW IT WAS AN INSIDE JOB.

t at 9:08PM on Sep 13th 2007

11. Moore is, and has never, been anything but a mockumentrist. I, myself, cannot fathom why it's taken this long to "out" him. He's made millions of dollars on pure hogwash.

Thankfully, I've never invested a cent in hogwash :)

Jane, the realist at 9:23PM on Sep 13th 2007

12. Michael Moore is a courageous man and film-maker. The government fears him because he does not fear it. He is being investigated and audited right and left because he dares to question authority. Michael Moore is following in the footsteps of our founding fathers -- questioning abysmal leadership and exposing greed. Paraphrasing here..."There is nothing to fear, but fear itself." No truer words were ever spoken. I laugh at "Manufacturing Dissent" and I weep at how George Bush and his cronies have manufactured so much fear.

Lauphen at 9:17PM on Sep 13th 2007

13. Moore must be making plenty of folks nervous...
After he came out with 'Fahrenheit 9/11',the pro-Bush Nazis came out with 'FahrenHype 9/11'...which was a waste of film because most of the stuff in Moore's film turned out to be true later,and only 23% of the American population are still stupid enough to continue to believe Bush.
I'm sure 'Manufacturing Dissent'will be as big a waste of time & celluloid as 'FahrenHype 9/11' was...

Mike at 9:26PM on Sep 13th 2007

14. Jim K., in one post you state that Michael Moore had stated he was all for "making private insurance ILLEGAL" but then change your terminology to "SPECIFICALLY AND EXACTLY called for the abolishment of all private insurance" and then again changed your terminology to "wants to ELIMINATE private insurance". i do believe there is a difference in definitions here between:
**illegal: not according to or authorized by law (meaning one could be placed in jail for not abiding by said law)
**abolishment: to end the observance or effect of (again, seems to be a legal term here)
and **eliminate: to put an end to or get rid of (more casual and not lawful, don't you agree?)
Thank you to Websters online for those definitions. =)
So, which is it that you think Moore is asking for?

Response from JimK: Are you for real? What the frig do you think "e,iminate" means? How the frig would the government "eliminate" something except to make it illegal? Pretty stupid question...

barbe at 10:01PM on Sep 17th 2007

15.
Jim,

You sound almost apologetic for taking on Michael Moore. You shouldn't. He manipulates, re-creates, conjures up crap solely to make inane points. Oddly enough, I find myself agreeing with some of Moore's concepts. Where we differ is in his actions. I find Moore duplicitous at best, outrighly wrong and false at worst.
I saw Manufactuing Dissent at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March. I loved it.
It screened alongside my film, "Running with Arnold," at the SXSW. Viewers have made comparisons of my film to a Moore film because my team took on Arnold Schwarzenegger and how duplicitous the Terminator could be in winning an election. That may well be true, but I'd like to think that I wasn't lying, cheating and scamming my way into a movie -- as Moore has perfected.
I'm glad to see that Manufactuing Dissent is gathering steam. The screening at SXSW was heavily attended, but then I never heard another word. So good for them.

Dan Cox
Director/Writer/Producer
"Running with Arnold"

Dan Cox at 9:42PM on Sep 13th 2007

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