This has been a rough political week (more than usual anyway) and many of my female friends are alternately furious and depressed by the Kavanaugh appointment to the Supreme Court. If you are feeling some outrage or despair, perhaps you might get some catharsis out of watching Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9, a dissection of what went wrong in 2016 and what America needs to do to move forward.
Will the first 20 minutes of this movie make you want to claw your eyes out? Perhaps. As you relive November 9, 2016, with the initial certainty and jubilation that Hillary Clinton would win and then the eventual jawdropping agony that heralded her defeat, part of me experienced the surge of utter misery that dogged me for weeks (and let's be honest, even now) after the election. But what follows is a careful look at the current state of American politics and the many ways in which our democracy is almost laughably undemocratic. Are there extended interviews with historians and Nuremberg prosecutors that compare us to Nazi Germany? You bet.
Much of the movie focuses on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, which touches upon corruption, greed, and wanton disregard for the poor and disenfranchised members of American society. A predominantly black and working class town, Flint has been neglected so thoroughly by our politicians that it is astonishing to witness how we so casually let this humanitarian crisis unfold within our borders. The villain of the piece is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a former Chairman and CEO of Gateway Computers, who prioritized profit over people and switched the drinking water source of the town of Flint to appease corporate interests. When the water was found to be contaminated and the children of Flint were registering abnormally high lead levels in their blood, did he immediately switch back the source of the drinking water? Of course not. Instead, the government conspired to forge lead level results, kept saying the water was safe to drink, and dismissed the citizenry and their health concerns, ensuring that the next generation of Flint children will face irrevocable mental and physical health harm due to lead toxicity. But when General Motors complained that the contaminated water was corroding their auto parts, they immediately got switched over to fresh water from the Lake. Our children don't deserve clean water, but our cars certainly do.
Don't be fooled; this isn't solely an anti-Republican movie. Moore heavily criticizes the Obama administration's response to the Flint crisis, including the President's visit to the town where he pretended to drink the water and therefore treated the entire episode as a farce. Going back to the election, Moore also delves into the Democrats' rigged primary system, where Bernie Sanders, despite being the favorite candidate, was shunted aside by the super delegates who handed the candidacy over to Hillary Clinton. After that, we have the electoral college to blame, a system where the person who wins the popular vote still loses the election and America continues to be this insanely undemocratic nation where the candidate that the majority votes for still doesn't get to be President of the United States.
So where do we go from here? The movie ends with a focus on the Parkland, Florida school shooting that mobilized a generation of teenage protesters who were too young to vote but old enough to organize the worldwide March For Our Lives. Along the way, Moore also interviews ordinary men and women who were energized by the election to run for office and win seats in the House of Representatives through grassroots campaigns that were driven by a promise to give all Americans a better life. What struck me about all these extraordinary human beings is their compassion and need to make America better for all Americans, not just the Americans in their immediate vicinity. Empathy is sorely lacking amongst our politicians, who are increasingly insular and incapable of voting for anything because it's a cause they believe in. Instead, all they know is they want to get re-elected and vote along Party lines. The hope of this film is that these new Representatives, like Alexandra Occasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, will re-invigorate the Legislative branch to represent a government that is truly by the people, for the people.
The appointment of Brett Kavanaugh is yet another slap in the face of the women of this nation who don't think it's too much to ask that the branches of our government not be staffed by privileged, empathy-deprived men who face serious allegations of sexual misconduct. Is there really no one else that we can get to take on these jobs? So if you are still reeling, take some nominal comfort from the rising political stars and activists highlighted in Fahrenheit 11/9, but also remember that the fight is not over. Rather than turning inwards in a depressive funk, keep speaking up, writing, and register all of your friends, family, and colleagues to vote in the midterm elections.
Much of the movie focuses on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, which touches upon corruption, greed, and wanton disregard for the poor and disenfranchised members of American society. A predominantly black and working class town, Flint has been neglected so thoroughly by our politicians that it is astonishing to witness how we so casually let this humanitarian crisis unfold within our borders. The villain of the piece is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a former Chairman and CEO of Gateway Computers, who prioritized profit over people and switched the drinking water source of the town of Flint to appease corporate interests. When the water was found to be contaminated and the children of Flint were registering abnormally high lead levels in their blood, did he immediately switch back the source of the drinking water? Of course not. Instead, the government conspired to forge lead level results, kept saying the water was safe to drink, and dismissed the citizenry and their health concerns, ensuring that the next generation of Flint children will face irrevocable mental and physical health harm due to lead toxicity. But when General Motors complained that the contaminated water was corroding their auto parts, they immediately got switched over to fresh water from the Lake. Our children don't deserve clean water, but our cars certainly do.
Don't be fooled; this isn't solely an anti-Republican movie. Moore heavily criticizes the Obama administration's response to the Flint crisis, including the President's visit to the town where he pretended to drink the water and therefore treated the entire episode as a farce. Going back to the election, Moore also delves into the Democrats' rigged primary system, where Bernie Sanders, despite being the favorite candidate, was shunted aside by the super delegates who handed the candidacy over to Hillary Clinton. After that, we have the electoral college to blame, a system where the person who wins the popular vote still loses the election and America continues to be this insanely undemocratic nation where the candidate that the majority votes for still doesn't get to be President of the United States.
So where do we go from here? The movie ends with a focus on the Parkland, Florida school shooting that mobilized a generation of teenage protesters who were too young to vote but old enough to organize the worldwide March For Our Lives. Along the way, Moore also interviews ordinary men and women who were energized by the election to run for office and win seats in the House of Representatives through grassroots campaigns that were driven by a promise to give all Americans a better life. What struck me about all these extraordinary human beings is their compassion and need to make America better for all Americans, not just the Americans in their immediate vicinity. Empathy is sorely lacking amongst our politicians, who are increasingly insular and incapable of voting for anything because it's a cause they believe in. Instead, all they know is they want to get re-elected and vote along Party lines. The hope of this film is that these new Representatives, like Alexandra Occasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, will re-invigorate the Legislative branch to represent a government that is truly by the people, for the people.
The appointment of Brett Kavanaugh is yet another slap in the face of the women of this nation who don't think it's too much to ask that the branches of our government not be staffed by privileged, empathy-deprived men who face serious allegations of sexual misconduct. Is there really no one else that we can get to take on these jobs? So if you are still reeling, take some nominal comfort from the rising political stars and activists highlighted in Fahrenheit 11/9, but also remember that the fight is not over. Rather than turning inwards in a depressive funk, keep speaking up, writing, and register all of your friends, family, and colleagues to vote in the midterm elections.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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