Dear Michael Moore,
Let me preface everything by explaining that one of the reasons that I called this blog "Letters to the Wasteland" is because I primarily wrote letters pleading for sanity from those to whom I was writing. Basically, I wrote to those who desperately needed to hear what I had to say.
It is perhaps fitting that, in what will likely be my final blog entry here, I write to you, Mr. Moore, someone who probably really doesn't need to hear what I have to say as, deep down, perhaps you know what I'm about to say. Perhaps you've even heard it by now.
I saw your new movie "Sicko" last night. Much like your other movies, I enjoyed watching "Sicko." Undoubtedly, you intended many of the scenes to be disturbing, particularly those involving people getting crushed by health insurance companies as if they were ants. Well, as one of your favorite targets would say, mission accomplished. I was extremely disturbed by the extreme mistreatment given American citizens by their health care companies. I shook my head in disgust and anger over how other countries are more than capable of giving their citizens free and adequate health care, and I appreciated your point about how those countries care for their citizens in a way that our country does not.
However, I sensed extreme distress from you, Mike. At times in the movie, even you seemed disturbed and exasperated at how much better other, less wealthy countries do at providing health care for their people. At times, you even seemed downright depressed at what you were hearing. I can't say I blame you.
At the end of the movie though, you kinda surprised me. You essentially asked what has happened to the America you thought you knew, the America where people look out for each other down to their worst enemies, where people have consideration for one another and really CARE about things, and where people aren't so apathetic and/or scared of their own government.
This surprised me, Mike, because I thought that, in all of your experience, you would know by now that the America you speak of doesn't exist, and maybe never has.
Oh sure, to an extent, there's the example of rural America. They are blindly loyal to Republicans, unfortunately, but at least they tend to care about themselves and their neighbors.
But look at the rest of the nation. In big and moderately big cities, people care about one thing and one thing only: money. They would beat, punch, kick, and step over their own relatives to get it.
Like I said, I know that you probably know this and that you're probably frustrated by it too.
To be honest, I don't know when this started exactly, but it is by no means a new switch in American thought. For years and years now, America has been marked by companies making outrageous profits at the expense of other human beings. Look back to slavery, the turn of the 20th century, and the countless wars that America has entered into. Clearly, America has a history of being solely concerned with profit at the expense of others.
Especially in the big cities today (Chicago is a perfect example), the people will run into you on the sidewalk and not apologize. They will walk through the door that you held open for them and not even given you a second glance. They will try to kill you with their cars and then act like it's your fault. Most importantly, they will take money from almost anyone if it puts them in a bigger house.
It's sad and it's sick, but it illustrates my point.
Mike, you also made the point that Americans are essentially afraid of their government, and not vice versa. I disagree. In actuality, I think that it's not that Americans are afraid of their government, it's just that they don't think they can change anything. America is a big country, and lobbyists spend hard to win over the politicians that people think (or feel like) they're electing. No one in Congress is free of big money any more. What can one citizen do?
All in all, it's a hopeless system and unless someone breaks through the money that holds this nation's consciousness like an iron fist, nothing will change.
Mike, I don't fault you for seeing the best in America. I see it too. I also don't fault you for truly believing in the ability of this country to change. I hope for this change every day.
The fact is though, too few people in this country care more about their fellow citizens than money, and whatever the reason for that, it's wrong.
But I still hope that America can turn itself around. I still hope that things can change. I still hope that there's something I can do as an individual to help people care about their fellow citizens. I still truly hope that I can do something to make a difference.
And I'm convinced now that it doesn't lie in typing things here.
If there's anything that your films teach, Mr. Moore, it's that the problems this nation faces are monumentally large. They call for action, not words.
So stop talking America, and do something about this mess.
I think it's about time that I did.
