Keith begins...
My friend Michael Moore told CNN, quote, “We’ve lost something of our soul here in this country. Maybe I’m just an old-school American who believes in our judicial system. We’re better than them, we don’t just operate in an uncivilized way the way they did on 9/11.”
Keith does not agree but he is alarmed at the uproar that Michael's comments have created in the media. Keith makes the case that respecting the right to a divergent opinion is essential to the health of our democracy.
Demonizing of the questioner is what got us into Iraq.
When we are afraid to question official stories, we have entered into a lockstep mentality that allows distortions to drive critical policy decisions.
I want Michael Moore to question everything. I want him even to repeat the ten tweets he had in the aftermath of the killing of Bin Laden, in which he picked up on his theme from three years ago, when he told Larry King that the story that Bin Laden was living in caves, moving from one to the other, was palpable nonsense, that the only millionaire who willingly lived in a cave was Batman, and he only went there to change costumes.
Michael and those like him who will raise moral questions in a moment of patriotic nationalism are brave. They serve a function, like the canary in the coal mine. When the canary stops singing, there is danger in the air.
Michael Moore is damned good at questioning official stories and should be encouraged to do so, even at the risk of offending some liberals of uncertain provenance. Because I’d rather have one question too many than one too few and because while the Official Story is always “official” it is not always more than just ”a story.”
Edward R. Murrow would be proud. Keith does not agree with Michael on this one, but he sure as Hell is going to defend a critic of the government in their right to be be wrong.
The quickest way for a nation to ruin itself is to sanctify falsehood. And the quickest way to sanctify falsehood, is to attack anyone who even asks if it’s falsehood.
It's nice to know that Michael Moore will be a regular commentator on Current TV when Keith's Countdown begins on June 20th.