George Santayana got it right when he said:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
The more familiar, and often unattributed, paraphrase of his aphorism – 'those who forget history are condemned (doomed or bound) to repeat it.' – is wrong. In 2003, Americans hadn't forgotten the Vietnam War. It was the past reality of it that few remembered. The few that could clearly see the same pattern of lies, deceit, false patriotic jingoism and the inevitable death and destruction of peoples and lands for no reason other than to transfer money from the federal treasury to the death merchants. The few that the vast majority proudly labeled un-American, unpatriotic, or traitors.
Michael Moore was one of those few. Through his remembrance of an evening in March 2003 on DemocracyNow – likely the best and worst hours of his life – I better remembered the loneliness and painfulness of this past.
... I mean, it was the fifth day of the Iraq war. Remember, they weren’t going to even have the Oscars. And I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. ...
...
So, anyways, Diane Lane came out, read the nominees. She opened the envelope. She said my name and Bowling for Columbine. I’m in this like out-of-body experience, getting up out of my seat. ...
And I’m walking up to the stage, and it was like, you know, the two voices that are in Gollum’s head in Lord of the Rings. You know, I had that—it was like—you know, like one voice was saying, "Oscar! Precious! Precious Oscar! Just thank your agent and the people, the little people who brought you here, and leave the stage!" And the other voice was going, "No, there’s a war on! You have to say something! You have to!" "No, no! Don’t listen to him! Don’t listen! No! Oscar! Precious!" "No, Oscar bad! Bad Oscar! War going on!" And it was like this fight going on in my head for like the thirty seconds it takes to climb the stage. And I’m walking past Martin Scorsese and Meryl Streep. They’re all like, you know, "Go get ’em, Mike!"
The good, committed Christian men in my office had a few days earlier reveled in the spectacle of "Shock and Awe." The months of back and forth between us – they had labeled me naïve for not trusting the government that Saddam had WMD and slightly crazy for invoking the specter of Vietnam and quagmire because Iraq is a desert and not a jungle – left me the odd one out. The only woman, the only atheist, and the only one sickened by bombs dropping on innocent, real people.
Anyways, and then I said, "I’ve invited my fellow nominees up here, because we make nonfiction films. We really believe in the power of nonfiction, because we live in fictitious times with a president, a fictitious president, elected by fictitious election results." I don’t know if I got to the words "election results," because by that time it was a freakin’ riot. And the "boos," and they were like—and it had just gone from this huge standing ovation to now it was just like—just us like—but I’m looking down below and where all the actors and directors—nobody’s booing me amongst the nominees. It’s all coming from the balcony, where the sponsors are sitting and the agents and all the money people, and they were just so angry. And they struck up the band on me, and they’re lowering the microphone. "My forty-five seconds isn’t up!" And I just blurted out to Bush, "Anytime you’ve got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, you’re in trouble."...
Me: Way to go Michael Moore. My co-workers: Bravo for those that booed his fat ass off the stage.
Okay, those guys weren't in the totally crazy camp. They were okay with french fries. Would never smash a CD to make a political point. And weren't about to dump their bottles of French wine down the drain. They didn't exactly know who Michael Moore was before he won an Oscar. And they likely would have enjoyed most of Bowling For Columbine if they bothered to see it.
...But, so I got out out of there. And I did not want to go to any of the parties. In fact, I remember we walked into the Governor’s Ball that’s attached to the Oscars, my wife and I. And we had our parents with us, you know. And I felt so bad for them. And people were just giving me the dirtiest looks. I remember Jon Voight and Matthew McConaughey wanting to come at me. I remember walking in, and it’s like people just walked away from me like I was the plague in there. And you have to remember, again, this was the fifth day of the war. And in our memory, we’ve sort of forgotten what that was like. For those of you in your own communities, at work, at school, when you were against the war, especially once it started, you were in a very small minority. I remember Keith Olbermann attacking me on his show. That’s right, since apologized. I remember Al Franken—
Oh, yes a very small minority. Smaller than it was during Desert Storm. A few hours during the few hours of that war, I sought refuge in the phone room of a Pacifica fundraiser. One caller tearfully told me that I was the only person he'd spoken to in the prior weeks that understood why he opposed the war and before ending his call, thanked me for making him feel sane. I hope he fared better in 2003. I didn't. Not that I ever questioned my sanity.
Because he was in favor of the war. I remember Al Franken attacking me, because he was for the war. That’s right. I remember David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, writing that editorial in The New Yorker supporting the war. To see the New York Times and The New Yorker help give Bush the cover he needed and lead us to war, they’re actually—it was more of a criminal act than Bush himself, because they enabled it and allowed it to reach a wider, more mainstream audience. So, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who were the studio that put the film out, they were for the war. My agent, the infamous Ari, was for the war. I mean, I was—I was alone in this and—
Remember the past. And the long list of SOBs that in 2003 not only couldn't remember the past but would today have it that we not remember where they were and what they did in 2003: John Kerry, the Clintons, Ari Emmanuel to name but four. Here's a Senate vote recap to help you remember. Sadly Senators Kennedy and Byrd are no longer with us; thus further shrinking that minority in the Senate.
Remember as well the kindred spirits or kind ones among the many.
....
And Sherry Lansing, who ran Paramount at the time, one of the first and few women to run a studio in Hollywood, and her husband is William Friedkin, the director who made The Exorcist, and they saw that, and us just standing there. And she came out of the crowd and walked into this big middle zone where nobody would get near me. And in front of everybody, as everybody was just giving me the stink eye, came right up and put a big kiss on my cheek. And it was—I’ll never forget that, because—and I’ve told her since. I said, "That was really kind of a brave thing to do." And she says, "I’m just tired of dealing with all of these [bleep] holes in this town. So, you know, you did the right thing."
And I apologized to Diane Lane, because she had to stand there during the whole booing. You know, "I had to put you through this." And she said, "Are you kidding? I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life. You let me be part of this historical moment."
Must remember to keep Sherry Lansing and Diane Lane on the good guys list.
The past is again slipping away. New Orleans has prevailed against Katrina. We stay in Afghanistan to win because we can't remember that we didn't win in Iraq. "The Gush" is an anomaly; off-shore drilling done right is perfectly safe. Clean-coal will save us from global warming. The banksters are on the side of the people.
(If Rambo didn't win the Vietnam War for us, then it must have happened the day Ronald Reagan won the Cold War. Not that I would know since I still remember that we lost.)