Michael Moore's "Good Friday/Passover/Easter, 2002

[Danospano]

A Good Friday

Good Friday/Passover/Easter, 2002

Dear friends,

I've never quite figured out why they call it "Good Friday." I mean, for
Christ's sake, a guy got nailed to death on a cross! Actually it was THREE guys
on that hill in Jerusalem -- the other two being petty thieves who apparently
had run afoul of Rome's three-strikes-and-you're-out policy. Maybe someone came
up with the term "Good Friday" to try and put a positive spin on things,
realizing it's hard to attract converts to your religion with such a downer
image of its leader being executed. I've often wondered why the Catholic Church
doesn't use Jesus rolling back the stone and rising from the dead as its chief
icon, something we'd all like to be able to do someday. Instead, we get his
corpse hammered into wood and hung above every altar. It's like the Democrats
deciding to replace the donkey as their symbol with JFK's brains being blown out
the back of his head. Who'd vote for the candidate with that image next to his
or her name on the ballot?

I am being evicted today, Good Friday, from my office. I had just one week left
to edit my film, but the landlord -- heartless bastard! -- is having me tossed
out for non-payment of rent. Back in October, my publisher, HarperCollins, was
supposed to pay me for the work I did in writing "Stupid White Men." Citing "the
tragic events of 9-11" (a mantra that seems to have been repeated by every
business in America as they've shamelessly used the dead of that day to justify
their obscene layoffs and cutbacks) the publisher claimed they did not have to
pay me until the book was "published." I said, "What do you call 50,000 copies
of this very book that have already been printed and are now sitting in your
warehouse?" They said, "We call that printing 50,000 copies of a book that's now
sitting in a warehouse, but not yet 'published.'"

Well, once you head down the road trying to fight that kind of logic, you are
lost in a vortex from which you may never return. So, the book didn't really
"exist" (and it sat in "nonexistence" in that warehouse for another 4 months).
Meanwhile, I had no paycheck. Now, I don't want to bore you with my financial
situation, and I certainly don't want you feeling sorry for me. I have done
better than I have ever dreamed of with my high school education, and I'm sure
most of you could fill both my ears with what it takes for YOU just to make it
through the week. My current problems were compounded by the fact that I had
decided to spend the bulk of 2001 making the documentary film that I am now
finishing. I got my last paycheck for this film 12 months ago, so I was counting
on the fee for the book to get me through the rest of 2001.

When that didn't happen (as most of you know, the publisher wanted me to "tone
down" the stuff about Bush in the book, and I wouldn't, so there was a standoff
until they finally backed down), things began to fall apart. After I had already
gone a few months without being able to pay the office rent where our edit room
was located, the landlord went to court and got an order -- to have the sheriff
toss me out on the curb! Suddenly, visions of Deputy Fred from "Roger & Me" were
dancing in my head! Well, I negotiated with the landlord to give me a little
more time, and the angels from Salter Street Films in Canada (who have backed
this documentary from the start) agreed to pay some of the rent. But the
landlord would only accept the money on the condition that we leave the premises
on Easter weekend.

And, thus, here I am, using the last computer still hooked up to electricity,
writing you this letter. I can't get past either the irony or the yin/yang of
this moment: I've got the number one bestselling book in the country -- and the
landlord has just cut my off my electricity in the middle of this sentence! I
don't even know if the computer has backed-up this letter! Agggghhh!!...

Okay, I've returned from my encounter with the landlord in the hallway and the
lights are back on. How surreal is this? Now comes a message from the publisher
that the book goes on sale in the U.K. and Ireland this week, and they've also
just sold the rights for the book in China, Japan, Korea, France, Germany,
and... THE LINE JUST WENT DEAD! The phone company has disconnected our phone
lines. AARRRGGHH!!...

Okay, the phones are back up. And, lucky for me, just in time, because the guy
who does our taxes is calling to tell me that our tax returns are all filled
out... "But there's just one little problem -- you have no money in the bank to
pay your taxes!" he says.

"You know that home improvement loan you got to fix up your apartment? We'll
have to borrow that money from the bank instead to pay your taxes!"
Waahhhggggghhh!!!

What is next? Please, Supreme Being in Charge Up There -- I GET IT!: "You wanna
sell 400,000 books? A pound-and-a-half of flesh, sonny boy!"

The credit card company has now called because they have cut off our card. But,
wait, we paid THAT bill! People in our building have heard we are moving and are
stopping by to see if they can pick over our furniture and equipment at fire
sale prices. I see my desk being hauled away one minute... then I see someone
trying to walk off with our Ficus tree that we ran for Congress in 2000... and
now some stranger is swiping the third reel of our film! SOMEBODY STOP HIM!

The phones, though, are still working. I know this to be a fact because on the
phone is the lawyer helping us avoid yet another court appearance. The British
TV network, Channel Four (the people who produced the first season of "The
Awful Truth"), have not paid one of their bills here in New York, and it is now
way overdue. The guy wants to be paid -- he should be! -- but he hasn't sued
Channel Four for the money. He has come after us! And why not? Why go 4,000
miles across an ocean to try and collect when the Channel Four employee whose
name is on the bill -- mine! -- is just down the street from you?! So, just days
short of completing my documentary, I have now had to sell off half our edit
equipment to pay off the creditor whom Channel Four failed to pay. MOMMMYYYY!!!

Does it get worse? Of course it does! And this time, the news is tragic. My wife
and I have had four deaths in our extended family in the past four months -- and
now word comes today, Good Friday, that an in-law has had a horrible accident in
Michigan and is in critical condition. He was in Michigan to attend his mother's
funeral, just four days ago... she was a wonderful woman whose simple presence
brought happiness to all around her. I can still remember Maryann decorating the
church for us the night before our wedding, an inner-city church that had seen
its day and not many weddings of late. She had transformed it into a beautiful
place for my wife and I. Now her son lays unconscious in a hospital fighting for
his life.

The TV is on, blaring in the background... suicide bombers strike again in all
their horror and a former butcher-now-prime minister appears ready to slaughter
as many people as he can, their blood on their doorsteps will not protect them,
no angel will pass over to spare them... and my wife is on the phone with her
sister who is telling her this bad news about the accident and it all just
becomes too much to handle... my petty problems are reduced to the significance
they deserve, and I quietly go into the other room and start to cry. After a few
moments, I suck it in and get back to work boxing up my belongings, listening to
a producer tell me why "10 minutes HAS to come out of the film" (it won't), and
talking to my daughter who, out of the blue, just wanted to thank me for working
so hard so she can go to college.

And that made it all worthwhile.

Yours from Inside His Own Private Golgotha,

Michael Moore
Author
Filmmaker
Dad

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by Danospano:
A Good Friday

Good Friday/Passover/Easter, 2002

Dear friends,

I've never quite figured out why they call it "Good Friday." I mean, for
Christ's sake, a guy got nailed to death on a cross! Actually it was THREE guys
on that hill in Jerusalem -- the other two being petty thieves who apparently
had run afoul of Rome's three-strikes-and-you're-out policy. Maybe someone came
up with the term "Good Friday" to try and put a positive spin on things,
realizing it's hard to attract converts to your religion with such a downer
image of its leader being executed. I've often wondered why the Catholic Church
doesn't use Jesus rolling back the stone and rising from the dead as its chief
icon, something we'd all like to be able to do someday. Instead, we get his
corpse hammered into wood and hung above every altar. It's like the Democrats
deciding to replace the donkey as their symbol with JFK's brains being blown out
the back of his head. Who'd vote for the candidate with that image next to his
or her name on the ballot?

Yours from Inside His Own Private Golgotha,
Michael Moore
Author
Filmmaker
Dad

Good grief. I had wondered if this guy could ever get MORE offensive, and now I have my answer. I haven't read a more irreverent pile of bullshit in quite some time.
Good Friday is calld that because it is the day that Christ laid down his life and bought back humanity. It is indeed a good Friday for mankind. And the reason Catholics have a crucifix as a symbol? He really can't figure it out? It's because we should never forget the sacrifice Christ made for us.
And then, to close his ridiculous column with "inside his own private golgotha" is insulting; equating the petty problems he has in this life to the pain, anguish and suffering experienced by Christ on Golgotha. From where does all this hatred in Moore's heart come?




[This message has been edited by 80sU2isBest (edited 04-01-2002).]

[bonoman]

I must agree with you 80's.

I tend to enjoy some of what this man says but this is pretty self-rightous and the part about Jesus made me angry. Not the angry we usually get but for a man who profess to know soooo much and act like he knows so little it made me mad.

------------------
Running to Stand Still-"you gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice."

"we're not burning out we're burning up...we're the loudest folk band in the world!"-Bono

[zonelistener]

I am sure I will get blasted for this statement....

Yes, it is offensive to Christians (I am a Catholic), but he is probably not a believer - and has his right to free speech - and twist stories from the bible into his world. I, having studied the bible, found the humor in this. I doubt he really thinks he is jesus-like. It is a play on words - likening his situation to Jesus'.

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by zonelistener:
I, having studied the bible, found the humor in this. I doubt he really thinks he is jesus-like. It is a play on words - likening his situation to Jesus'.

I, having studied the Bible also, found no humor whatsoever in this. I'm not even sure he intended it to be humorous. It was just a vehicle for him to spew out his bitterness.
What part of this could you possibly find funny?

[This message has been edited by 80sU2isBest (edited 04-02-2002).]

[zonelistener]

Originally posted by 80sU2isBest:

I, having studied the Bible also, found no humor whatsoever in this. I'm not even sure he intended it to be humorous. It was just a vehicle for him to spew out his bitterness.
What part of this could you possibly find funny?

[This message has been edited by 80sU2isBest (edited 04-02-2002).]

He is a humor writer - Irony is his specialty. There is irony in his finding his life like Jesus'. I guess I have learned not to take life, or myself, too seriously. It's not worth it.

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by zonelistener:
He is a humor writer - Irony is his specialty. There is irony in his finding his life like Jesus'. I guess I have learned not to take life, or myself, too seriously. It's not worth it.

Irony is his specialty? Well, there is no irony in finding his life like Jesus' life, because his life isn't like Jesus' life. That was my point entirely; that he sure has some nerve comparing his life to Jesus' life.

[Danospano]

80sU2, why don't you just stop replying to anything that I post concerning Michael Moore. We all know you disapprove of anything and everything he has to say, so why don't you go join AchtungBubba and have your own personal, conservative, pseudo-intellectual orgy.

You have no sense of humor, and expect everyone to share your same exact beliefs. You make claims, but don't support them with well-grounded evidence. You shout from your mountain top like a priest during the Red Scare, and you're becoming very hateful in the process. Yes, I know that I'm returning the favor, but you should know that I've kept my mouth shut for quite a while.

Open your mind, and I'll talk
Close your mouth, and listen
Maybe you'll be surprised at how much your missing.
Maybe

[babble]

Originally posted by Danospano:
80sU2, why don't you just stop replying to anything that I post concerning Michael Moore. We all know you disapprove of anything and everything he has to say, so why don't you go join AchtungBubba and have your own personal, conservative, pseudo-intellectual orgy.

You have no sense of humor, and expect everyone to share your same exact beliefs. You make claims, but don't support them with well-grounded evidence. You shout from your mountain top like a priest during the Red Scare, and you're becoming very hateful in the process. Yes, I know that I'm returning the favor, but you should know that I've kept my mouth shut for quite a while.

Open your mind, and I'll talk
Close your mouth, and listen
Maybe you'll be surprised at how much your missing.
Maybe

I would just like to say that I as a Christian really do not see the humor in Micheal Moore's flippant and insulting remarks about Christ. I suppose you're going to tell me I have no sense of humor and am close-minded as well?

Danospano, if you can't tell that Micheal Moore's ambition in writing those words was to offend Christians then perhaps you are the one that is close-minded and blinded by your admiration of him. Certainly I don't see how you can post that inflammatory article on a public forum (which I'm sure you are well aware has many Christian members) and then tell people that are offended by it that they shouldn't be or that there is something wrong with them if they are and that they shouldn't post their feelings about it. I really don't think that 80's expects everyone to share his same beliefs and neither do I, but just because you or Micheal Moore don't have the same beliefs or feelings about Christ doesn't mean you can't respect our feelings about Him and our right to be upset when insulting remarks are made about Him.

[speedracer]

Hmm...I don't see that Michael Moore is attempting to mock Good Friday at all, or even that he's making any concerted attempt at humor in this article.

He just doesn't understand the significance of Christ's crucifixion, that's all.

[babble]

Originally posted by speedracer:


He just doesn't understand the significance of Christ's crucifixion, that's all.

Yes, perhaps that is all it is, but it seems to me that he chose his words in such a way as to come across as offensive to people who consider Christ and his crucifixion as more than just "a guy got nailed to death on a cross." I don't have a problem with people voicing their opinions but when it is done in a contentious manner, purposefully trying to offend people, that is where I have a problem.

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by babble:
I would just like to say that I as a Christian really do not see the humor in Micheal Moore's flippant and insulting remarks about Christ. I suppose you're going to tell me I have no sense of humor and am close-minded as well?
Danospano, if you can't tell that Micheal Moore's ambition in writing those words was to offend Christians then perhaps you are the one that is close-minded and blinded by your admiration of him. Certainly I don't see how you can post that inflammatory article on a public forum (which I'm sure you are well aware has many Christian members) and then tell people that are offended by it that they shouldn't be or that there is something wrong with them if they are and that they shouldn't post their feelings about it. I really don't think that 80's expects everyone to share his same beliefs and neither do I, but just because you or Micheal Moore don't have the same beliefs or feelings about Christ doesn't mean you can't respect our feelings about Him and our right to be upset when insulting remarks are made about Him.

Thanks, Babble! I appreciate you getting my back!

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by Danospano:
80sU2, why don't you just stop replying to anything that I post concerning Michael Moore. We all know you disapprove of anything and everything he has to say, so why don't you go join AchtungBubba and have your own personal, conservative, pseudo-intellectual orgy.b You have no sense of humor, and expect everyone to share your same exact beliefs. You make claims, but don't support them with well-grounded evidence. You shout from your mountain top like a priest during the Red Scare, and you're becoming very hateful in the process. Yes, I know that I'm returning the favor, but you should know that I've kept my mouth shut for quite a while.
Open your mind, and I'll talk
Close your mouth, and listen
Maybe you'll be surprised at how much your missing.
Maybe

Danospano, when you stop posting Michael Moore's offensive crap, I'll stop responding to it. Why do you post this stuff if not to get an argument from people like me? Be honest, Dude; you don't post it for your fellow liberal friends (many of whom would also find this particularly piece of trash offensive, I would venture). You post it to get an argument going.
And as far as me not having a sense of humor, you'll never know how wrong you are. 80sU2isBest is who I am on this forum, and he is the summation of all my political and religious beliefs. But I have had other names on this forum - one that I don't think anyone would ever figure out it was me. But you know what, Dude? I don't laugh at Michael Moore because he's NOT FREAKIN' FUNNY! Especially this tripe.
You call me hateful?? I think most people on this forum would disagree with you, even people who have more liberal beliefs than I. Go ahead, take a poll. I dare you.
Maybe YOU need to open your eyes and really look hard and honestly at this column by Michael Moore. If you do, you'll see several things that would offend most Christians (be they liberal, conservative, Catholic, Protestant, etc.). If you can't see those things, Sir, you are blind.

[Rono]

Originally posted by 80sU2isBest:

Good grief. I had wondered if this guy could ever get MORE offensive, and now I have my answer. I haven't read a more irreverent pile of bullshit in quite some time.
Good Friday is calld that because it is the day that Christ laid down his life and bought back humanity. It is indeed a good Friday for mankind. And the reason Catholics have a crucifix as a symbol? He really can't figure it out? It's because we should never forget the sacrifice Christ made for us.
And then, to close his ridiculous column with "inside his own private golgotha" is insulting; equating the petty problems he has in this life to the pain, anguish and suffering experienced by Christ on Golgotha. From where does all this hatred in Moore's heart come?


[This message has been edited by 80sU2isBest (edited 04-01-2002).]

Glad you show no emotions, 80tish.

[DrTeeth]

OK settle down people, he's just a comedian! If you don't like him don't go to his shows or read his books or open threads about him.

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by Rono:
Glad you show no emotions, 80tish.

I know exactly to what you are referring, Rono, but the two have nothing to do with each other. Re-read what you posted that I was referring to as "emotional tripe", and you will see that it is nothing like what I have posted here.
In that particular post, someone answered your question in a way you must not have liked, so how did you respond? By going off on some tangent and going on about 1)pedophile priests and (2)the president of the USA, neither of which had anything at all to do with anything. My point wasn't that you shouldn't be emotional. My point was that you should argue using logic, not go on some emotional tirade that didn't have anything to do with the subject at hand.
As you can see, in this post, I responded to Moore's column with a logical argument. yes, it did have some emotion, but the emotion was tied to teh argument; that Moore's post was an insulting piece of garbage.
So, you think you've somehow "got me" with your post, but you don't, because the 2 posts in question were not similar at all.



[This message has been edited by 80sU2isBest (edited 04-03-2002).]

[babble]

Originally posted by DrTeeth:
OK settle down people, he's just a comedian! If you don't like him don't go to his shows or read his books or open threads about him.

Well, I'd just like to say that I hardly know anything about Micheal Moore and upon seeing this thread, I had not anticipated being upset by it. Anyway, what is the point in posting an article in a forum with members of varying beliefs and opinions, a forum designed for discussion, if you only want people to agree with it and if they don't, ignore it. It just doesn't make sense to me. To be honest I'm not in a frenzy of anger or anything but I felt I should voice my opinion about it, especially since I agreed with 80sU2isBest and he was blasted so unfairly for voicing his opinion.

p.s. your welcome 80's

[YellowKite]

Originally posted by 80sU2isBest:
But you know what, Dude? I don't laugh at Michael Moore because he's NOT FREAKIN' FUNNY! Especially this tripe.
You call me hateful?? I think most people on this forum would disagree with you, even people who have more liberal beliefs than I. Go ahead, take a poll. I dare you.
Maybe YOU need to open your eyes and really look hard and honestly at this column by Michael Moore. If you do, you'll see several things that would offend most Christians (be they liberal, conservative, Catholic, Protestant, etc.). If you can't see those things, Sir, you are blind.

I thought it was funny ironic. I mean really - Moore has a point - it takes a really good spin doctor to make your religious leader's crucifixation into a observance day called Good Friday. Imagine the horror had the US tried to establish Thursday, April 4, 1968 or Friday, November 22, 1963 as 'good' anything?

The sign off including the reference to his own private golgatha just uses that as an anology for how he feels in being evicted for non payment or rent when he fact has the #1 non fiction book in the country. Irony.

It wasn't hilarious -but it was worth a chuckle. BTW Moore is a very nice person. A close friend of mine worked for him as a PA and she got the job because she was his cousin somehow. I was in his office when I was in NYC a couple years ago. Sorry to hear that the infamous ficus tree was almost kidnapped!

M

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by YellowKite:
I thought it was funny ironic. I mean really - Moore has a point - it takes a really good spin doctor to make your religious leader's crucifixation into a observance day called Good Friday. Imagine the horror had the US tried to establish Thursday, April 4, 1968 or Friday, November 22, 1963 as 'good' anything?
The sign off including the reference to his own private golgatha just uses that as an anology for how he feels in being evicted for non payment or rent when he fact has the #1 non fiction book in the country. Irony.
M

Martin Luther King (April 4, 1968) and JFK (Nov.22 1963) died and are still in the grave. Their deaths did not provide salvation to millions of people. Their deaths are not the cornerstone for one of the major religions of the world. What Jesus Christ accomplished on that day was a good thing for millions of people. The way Moore so flippantly discusses this most holy event is downrigth insulting.
I catch the irony in the fact that he is being evicted even though he has the #1 selling non-fiction book in the country. That is irony. But to compare it to the suffering that occurred on Golgotha; I don't find that humorous at all - it's quite frankly insulting. I would say it would be akin to a millionaire visiting a village in Ethiopia with starving children all around, and complaining that he's hungry because they didn't serve lunch on the plane ride over.

[speedracer]

Originally posted by YellowKite:
I thought it was funny ironic. I mean really - Moore has a point - it takes a really good spin doctor to make your religious leader's crucifixation into a observance day called Good Friday. Imagine the horror had the US tried to establish Thursday, April 4, 1968 or Friday, November 22, 1963 as 'good' anything?

The sign off including the reference to his own private golgatha just uses that as an anology for how he feels in being evicted for non payment or rent when he fact has the #1 non fiction book in the country. Irony.

It wasn't hilarious -but it was worth a chuckle. BTW Moore is a very nice person. A close friend of mine worked for him as a PA and she got the job because she was his cousin somehow. I was in his office when I was in NYC a couple years ago. Sorry to hear that the infamous ficus tree was almost kidnapped!

M

Crucifixation????