Michael Moore, the controversial author and filmmaker, is bringinghis own special brand of political thought to San Diego this evening.His appearance at the Del Mar Fairgrounds may finally bring about anend to all the controversy surrounding this very event.
Moore, who was originally supposed to appear on the campus ofCalifornia State University San Marcos, has been the topic of muchdebate ever since the release of Fahrenheit 9/11 earlier this year.
CSU San Marcos President Karen Haynes postponed Moore’son-campus speaking engagement in September until after the election,citing the university’s legal prohibition from using state funds on”partisan political activity or direct political advocacy” in astatement on the university’s Web site, www.csusm.edu.
Even after supporters rallied together to raise the required$37,000 appearance fee, Haynes did not budge. Moore offered to find aconservative speaker to counterbalance himself, but Hayne’s stillmaintained her stance on the issue.
Haynes had every right to make the decision she did. Moore doesnot belong on that campus – or any public campus – inan official speaking capacity this close to the national election.
Michael Moore has always been liberal in his political views.He chose the pro-gun constituency as a target for his Oscar-winningdocumentary, 2002’s Bowling for Columbine and had no qualms aboutletting the world know how he feels about violence in our society.
It is OK for a celebrity to espouse his or her politicalbeliefs. In fact, celebrities do it all the time. Moore managed to besomewhat objective in the way he made and presented his points inthat film and he was rightfully commended for it.
However, all of Moore’s objectivity was tossed aside inFahrenheit 9/11, his latest “documentary.” I use quotation marksbecause one can hardly call something that one-sided a documentarywith a straight face.
The film is very biased and extremely unyielding in its attemptto portray President Bush in the most negative light possible. It wasmade with the utmost intention of ousting Bush at any cost.
Moore himself made that intention well-known, stating hisdesire for the “documentary” to be “the first big-audience,election-year film that helped unseat a president,” according to TheNew York Times.
Moore went from a celebrity speaking his mind to an outrightpartisan. He has openly campaigned for Democratic candidates and gonewherever he can to call for the removal of the Bush administrationfrom office.
Because Moore has decided to go beyond his celebrity status andinto that of a political operative, CSU San Marcos was not only able,but firmly required to disallow the use of public funds to support orpromote his engagement to speak on university grounds.
According to Haynes’ statement, Moore’s agent confirmed thetrue purpose in touring colleges across the nation was to mobilizeyoung voters in a campaign against President Bush.
Just because you don’t endorse a specific candidate doesn’tmean you are not participating in overt political advocacy -by defaming Bush, Moore is engaging in just as much advocacy aspeople working for John Kerry’s campaign.
By this reasoning, the university would have violated the lawby covering any cost of the event.
Regardless of the money raised, public university money -therefore public funds – would have been used in some way oranother, no matter what anyone contends.
The student body offered to subsidize the appearance fee forthe filmmaker, but it would have taken much more work and money tosubsidize the entire costs of the event, including the venue rentalfee and operating costs.
Balancing Moore with a conservative speaker wasn’t a viableoption. That would have only required more money – somethingthe university is short of in this time of enormous shortage of statecollege funding.
In the wake of the controversy, Moore said his tour was topromote voting among the younger generation and to discuss issuesrelated to the arts and film, according to the San DiegoUnion-Tribune.
If this was indeed his purpose, he should have either waivedhis appearance fee so the students could cover the operating costs,or just waited until after election day.
He was unwilling to do either, and for that very reason, he isthe one to blame for this fiasco at San Marcos.
– Jason Arnold is a political science senior.
– This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDaily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com.Anonymous letters will not be printed – include your full name, majorand year in school.
