not really surprising....

i remember, when i was a youngster, that democacy and public discussion were founding principles of this country. and that the "free" market would be a way to facilitate these principles. i guess i was wrong.

disney is the enemy!

To play devil's advocate: Disney has the right on first refusal. They are a corporation that can make decisions that can be wildly unpopular. They can choose to not distribute anything for any reason.

Consumers, based on that decision, can modify their opinion of the company and decide to debate this in a public sphere (which, I might add, is also occurring).

In many ways, Disney has added to this discourse by choosing to not distribute it. People are talking about it, Associated Press has picked it up. CNN is talking about it and people are discussing it in message boards and with each other. The movie can now be romanticized and marketed in that way.
Now people know that Eisner is looking at the political message the Moore is addressing and is basing company decisions on those. We can see the play between politics and the entertainment industry and this relationship is nothing new.
Thoughts?

You have to wonder who is doing the muzzling, Disney or some vague impression of financial threat from conservative politicians?

Conspiracy theorists? Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they are not out to get you.

I think it might just be reactionary on the part of Disney, and not a political threat with agency on the part of Jeb Bush, et al. Perhaps a result of spending too much time in the "backroom" with politicians?
Liberals, like conservatives, have also had similar sorts of dealings, so I don't think it's a left vs. right issue. Rather, it may just be a Bush v. Eisner thing....hmmm...curious though.

i think the words "devils advocate" say's it all........

of course they have the right,
as a corporation, they have to play favors to polititions who do the same......
i'm just surprised it took someone this long to cut his legs out from under him.
hopefully someone else will still release it.

this reminds me of the bush biography fortunate son..........

Disney is so stupid, but it's their right. They did the same thing with dogma and Lions Gate picked it up. So, I'd imagine Mr. Moore will have no problem getting this movie out.

If anyone's interested, Michael Moore is supposed to be on CNN tonight at 10:00 eastern talking about this.

Read this from Leftist Village Voice reporter Marc Cooper, who thinks Moore is full of shit. Two things seem clear.

1. Moore understood from the beginning of his dealings with Disney that they wouldn't distribute it.

2. Moore is shamelessly distorting and misrepresenting the truth and depending on the ignorance of the public in order to create a non-controversy that appears to support his villification of corporate America and paranoia about the Bush family.

Lies And Moore Lies [Updated]
Is bloviator Michael Moore making up stuff again?

Sure looks like it.

Just days from the opening of the Cannes Film Festival he’s basking in a wave of publicity that the Walt Disney Company is blocking subsidiary Miramax from distributing his new documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” on political grounds.

Publicity-hound Moore’s allegations about Disney ring false. The very same Disney Company -- through its Hyperion division-- just published Pacifica Radio host Amy Goodman’s new book “The Exception to the Rulers” – a volume brimming with just as much lefty fringe politics and anti-Bush theorizing as contained in Moore’s films. Indeed, Goodman's book is a blunder-buss assualt on corporate media conglomerates-- like Disney!

The Mouse House seems sophsiticated enough to put up with and even finance the slapshots by Goodman and Moore if a profit is to be made. Duh!

Dissecting the current dust-up, it seems clear that Disney never intended to distribute Moore's film. Maybe the Mousketeers are cowards, but at least they are consistent. And Moore is whining now only to hype the pre-Cannes buzz. Sources report that Miramax never planned to release the Moore film, that it was always slated to come out through Lions Gate, as did the earlier Dogma.

Below find an exclusive full text copy of the article by Andrew Gumbel which will appear in Thursday's London-based daily The Independent which quotes inside sources saying there is nothing new in Disney's red light, that Moore knew it was a no-go from the outset. After you've read Andrew's piece take a look at this L.A. Weekly column I wrote in March describing Moore as the Ann Coulter of the left.


Read it all

[Edited on May 05, 2004 4:56PM]

well, everything i was gonna say, stockula basicly did.

Moore is a fuckhead.


Disner just gave Ron Jeremy the VIP treatment at Disney World this week, so don't go acting like they are shills for the Rightwing, lol.

it is simple, an "all American instatution" will only alienate thier base by associating with Moore, if anything, i bet they planned this all along to show that they are not behind him in a very public way. good for Disney.


besides that, only the biggest of idiots would put anything out this soon that slams the US with "911" in the title. i have a feeling that his propaganda riden and heavilly misleading "Bowling..." (where he handily left out that about half the school shootings were stopped by armed teachers or citizens) is the last major relaese will be seeing from that chump.

[Edited on May 05, 2004 by Stirfry]

The sad thing is how many millions of people around the world are going to take this liar at his word when his movie is released, on schedule, this summer.

yep.

PS. i also would like to thank the writer of this NEWS story for giving us the news and not starting it with "Bush is a fucktard" or "Moore the victim of censorship" there is too much of that here and i am glad to finally see NEWS in the NEWS section. thank you.

[Edited on May 05, 2004 by Stirfry]

I'm not so sure about Moore making stuff up, but I do agree with Disney's decision not to distribute his film. Moore is a timebomb, and you can never tell what is going to come out of his mouth. If Disney were to stand behind him, and then he were to, say, make a contraversial statement at the Academy Awards, it would make Disney look bad, or at the very least, imply they share Moores views. Just think, he could suddenly shout "Abortions Tickle" at the premiere, and Disney would have to answer to the public for it.

Thanks for noticing. I thought it was an interesting news piece and wanted to let that speak over any issues I might have. I actually despise Moore, as well as Disney's code of ethics.