Osakatomebaby

Part 1: HoustonChronicle.com was the first new outlet to break the story of the media frenzy on Moveon.org's recent publicity. According to the publication, news outlets have given Moveon.org significantly more coverage than playing their actual ad would have, had it passed CBS's stringent screeners.

Aside from that absurdity, there was a quote that irked me:

"We see it as a free speech issue," said Eli Pariser, campaign director for Moveon.

Why am I somehow more offended by this now becoming the issue than I was by the rejection? (Besides the fact that it distracts from the message of the ad in question, which I agreed with?)

I think I just answered my own question.

I respect what these folks are working for, but they have a problem staying on topic (pot::kettle). Hello, org. If you really think the ad was the best message, best conveyed out of 1500+, and I liked it, why are you suddenly changing the subject from budget deficit to public ownership of the airwaves gall darn it. Don't get distracted by the media's self-referential nature. Use it for what it's worth. You are just playing into their hands.

This is why liberals are known as "whiny".

He goes on to try and do some unnecessary and unsuccessful damage control:

"We're not against the White House running an ad,"...in reference to an anti-drug message from the White House that will air during the game.

People noting it in blogs and articles isn't you saying it. And they're just pointing out an irony--don't protest so much, lady.

Part II: I used to love Michael Moore. Well, I still like his movies, but I can't stand his grandstanding and egoism (except when I'm in an especially absurdist frame of mind). The first time I ever saw him was at a UT screening of "The Big One". I think he got the best of whoosit at Nike, but I was young and I don't actually remember.

I went to a lot of speeches at that time.

The best was by Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's in 1994. Jerry spoke first. It was a well-timed, well organized event (with very very good free ice cream). I didn't know who they were either. Frankly, being from Tulsa I hadn't even heard of them. Tulsa was a Hagen Daaz town.

The spiel was basically this: Jerry was the set-up man. The opening act. He warmed up the crowd by telling how, in the early days, they started this business from scratch, played a lot of hippie games and so on. He kept emphasizing that Ben was a total nut and a lot of fun. Then he talked a bit about the cool things they were doing like employing ex-convicts in brownie production. Stuff like that.

Then Ben was up: tie-died Grateful Dead shirt and shorts, big Walt Whitman beard. He harangued the audience of mostly undergrad liberal arts majors for a full...I don't know, hour?...about the national defense budget and how it was all our fault for being liberal arts majors and we ought to go get our butts into business school because if we really cared enough to come here him talk about a successful alternative business then we really ought to go undercover in corporations and take over from the inside. Like I said, I had no idea what I was in for. It was well done. (I graduated in Asian studies anyway).

I also marched with the 300 or so protesters who sat in at the UT School of Law after Jesse Jackson spoke to a crowd of 5,000. I had been notably uncomfortable during the public prayer--I could handle that stuff at Catholic school, even went voluntarily, but in front of the tower it was...weird.

The protest itself was over the Hopwood decision--or no, actually over Graglia. Despite being the biggest protest at UT in the 1990's, it was a joke (well...come to think of it, there may not be any irony here after all). The organizers didn't have any repore with the crowd. Much less charisma. Besides that they were a pretty uptight bunch. When some protesters tried to start a non-sanctioned spontaneous protest chant they got shushed. Meanwhile the leaders were rather pathetically begging everyone to stay because pizza was on the way.

I'd like to apologize to Susan Napier for missing her much more interesting class that day. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

In truth, I wasn't really particularly supporting these folks--I have always had issues with how affirmative action actually works. Instead I was there for totally selfish reasons, I just wanted to see what happened first hand. When I realized it wasn't going anywhere and that my job at the women's co-op was probably more important I left. Well, right after I had a piece of pizza anyway.

Then two years ago there was a big tent liberal rally called Rolling Thunder. Of course I went. It was organized by Jim Hightower and, I don't know, a lot of people and there were all manner of interesting organizations in little booths. They were supposed to be "coming together" to discuss a unified liberal agenda of sorts (based on the idea that conservatives are more organized and liberals too scrappy).

Of course that wasn't what was happening at all, they were all competing for support and $$$ as usual. I did come across some interesting orgs but I didn't end up getting involved with any of them. The best one, I think, was called the Inside Books Project which collects used books to donate to prisons.

The agenda was tight--there was a new speaker every half hour alternated with rock bands on two ends of a rodeo arena. Unions, ex-Enron employees, Molly Ivins. As you might guess, Michael Moore was on the roster. He had just published Stupid White Men and I had my yet-unread copy in my bag right next to Abbie Hoffman's Revolution for the Hell of It...just in case.

Ben Cohen had the last slot. I talked to a lot of people, and asked "Are you staying to hear Ben?". "Who's that?". "One of the founders of Ben and Jerry's, the guy who paid for the big inflatable pie chart of the national budget and giant nuclear weapon." "Oh. No, but I can't wait to hear Michael Moore."

And at 3:00 he was on. He was supposed to talk for half an hour. Everyone crowded into the arena--booths were abandoned. He didn't even say anything for about the first five or ten minutes. Literally. He was standing there giggling like a kid with a fit. When he finally started to speak he didn't say anything either, but a lot of people cheered anyway. He totally ignored the agenda and went on for an hour. Honestly if I could remember anything he said or even the topic I would tell you. And no, I was not on drugs. I think everyone else was.

So having screwed up the schedule and leaving the organizers in the lurch he proceeded to his book signing in an adjacent building. The crowd followed. I thought, well I'm here, might as well get the autograph at least. But when I walked out at my leisurely pace I saw a line a good mile long. What the hell? Everyone wanted their dumb autograph and nothing was happening in the tent anymore.

Life is too precious y'all, and I don't stand in lines. So I left, thinking, I'll come back at six to hear Ben, but of course I didn't, I was too irritated. I went and hung out with my hippie architect friend and we drank wine and I was much happier.

Later I tried to read Stupid White Men to see if maybe I was just missing something, and Moore had really given an inspirational, resounding speech which I was just too dense to understand the subtleties of. I gave up after the first chapter. I knew his data was dubious, but he is a funny guy and I don't mind people going a little overboard to make a point. And he obviously moves people into action--at least the action of standing in line to bask in his presence.

What I hadn't realized when I bought the book was that it would read like it was written by a irritated 5th grader and lacking the humor that makes him palatable (and effective). I gave it away as quickly as I could--and not to Inside Books. That would amount to cruel and unusual punishment for some unlucky inmate.

Michael Moore is an embarrassment. I forgave MoveOn for having him as the main presenter because he does have cache. And Margaret Cho was dumb too, but funny. But like I said, it was a in-group thing and it was supposed to be entertainment around a larger cause, which was the issue.

Now I'm not so sure. I really thought this ad (which is, after all, showing on CNN this week) would signify some folks coming together behind a cause, but it looks like just more disorganized and undirected liberal angst. Why do I keep giving people the benefit of the doubt?

Coincidentally in writing this I thought of the fellow who had introduced me to Ben Cohen and found him here. I mentioned him to Jim and found out they had once had a bit of a scrap. Jim won (Jim always wins). Austin is a small world.

*I hereby vow to stop blogging on MoveOn.org. I'll be the first to formally end the free publicity (to my staggering readership, anyway). Besides that, you probably didn't read this post all the way to the end anyway.*