Isn't that the whole point? Government run programs to "help" people that can't help themselves are basically forced charity, and I for one do not think that is ethical.
What does his body shape has to do with his point of view?
All those people hitting at him because of that are taking really cheap shots - in lack of valid arguments, maybe?
Maybe it's because he is so successful, and right-winger film-makers are not exactly making as good movies and books as he does (In sheer terms of sales) :2 cents:
Right wing film makers?
Because ...How exactly is helping people in need UNethical? :dunno:
The problem is that the "public safety" argument is overused. Roads and bridges are currently an infrastructure upkeep nightmare in the US and we are totally screwing ourselves with it. We should have invested that money into mass transit. Right there, individual power with the dollar makes that happen, "group rights" doesn't.And, if you think that government run programs that help people are "forced charity", then you would also think that taxes and everything that they help pay for is unethical as well. You know, things like public safety employees (policemen, firemen, etc), national defense, garbage pick-up, road upkeep, SCHOOLS...
The greatest harm can come from trying to do the most good. Ever heard of the expression "The path to hell is paved with good intentions?"
I very much understand what the US Government is supposed to be doing, and better yet NOT doing. The Founders wrote the US Constitution to embody the social contract theory of Locke and Hobbes and create a limited government, and that document was SUPPOSED to bind and limit it's power. The government exists ONLY to ensure we have the freedom to live our lives out of a "state of nature" and to be as free to pursue our own interests as possible. They understood that when the government becomes too large and gains too much power, for whatever the reasons, tyranny is sure to follow... it always has and will.
“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” Patrick Henry
Who lets you do that to you? Really? Who does? You do! With freedom comes responsibility.If people are forced into virtual slavery for somebody else’s economic benefit, and if masses of people are exploited by the few so they can gain wealth while the people that labor are given no reasonable choice other than to not work so they can starve and loose everything they have, then their really is no freedom to our lives.
But there is a huge difference between a "public good" that individuals choose to contribute to and a "public commons" that everyone is forced to support, where individual choice is removed.As far as the constitution and the founders are concerned. Socialism is an economic concept not a necessarily a form of government like a democratic-republic.
Because ...
1) People individually differ on who is "more needy"
This is my #1 complaint with "group rights." It would be one thing if the government required you for money and then you decided who to give to. Most major, religious texts recommend a percentage. But the problem is that they decide who that is, and I take serious issues with it at times.
Like lopsided AIDS research versus ignoring the Hepatitis-C epidemic during the Clinton administration to great complaints from the scientific community.
2) The money often doesn't go to the "needy," but much of it to the agency
The problem is that the "public safety" argument is overused. Roads and bridges are currently an infrastructure upkeep nightmare in the US and we are totally screwing ourselves with it. We should have invested that money into mass transit. Right there, individual power with the dollar makes that happen, "group rights" doesn't.
Libertarian-Capitalists aren't against social and safety services, they are against blindly labelling and funding anything and everything someone says they are. Just because it's a "public good" doesn't mean it has to be completely controlled (much less funded) by the government.
Moore is a flawed but important polemical documentary film maker.
Surely there are some things here we can all agree on.
GM was run by a gang of greedy incompetents.
Nobody is forced to go to see this movie.
The current healthcare system can be capricious, ineffective and is in some need of reform.
Mr Moore is fat.
Last year it came to light that a small group of Wall St types shafted millions of people for billions of dollars. They have gone largely unpunished and have continued to carry on pretty much as usual. If our elected betters don't see fit to go after them then satire and insult seem to just a bout all you have left.
Revisiting the issue of free speech in these forums again and again when someone says something you don't like is pointless.
America has a lot of people killed by gunfire compared to other 'western style' democracies.
From where I'm sat, it seems like Mr Moore knocks out a movie every three years or so. This hardly seems like a wave of indoctrination. His movies all seem to have a similar feel: serious then funny, then serious, then emotional, then funny, then serious again, then funny, then a revisit to someone from the start of the movie. The end, roll credits.
Like him or loathe him; he can entertain and hold the attention. On the way home from his movies you usually have something to talk about.
I can still remember sitting watching the 9/11 movie and squirming while he showed the footage of President Bush recieving the news of the terrorist attacks. You can debate the segment all day but you can not deny that in the ways that he wants to present his views he is a talented film maker.
Michael Moore is and always will be an idiot. He likes to stir up emotions so you will go and see his movies. It makes him a lot of money, and that is what he cares about.