More on Moore

Daisy Chang’s dismissal of Michael Moore as “the fat, geeky kid from high school” was laughable (Letters, April 6). As too was Daniel B. Jeffs’ claim that Moore now “swims on his belly with other bottom feeders, political dregs and America-haters who arrogantly exercise the tyranny of the minority” -- whatever that means. Added to which, Mike Roush’s characterization of Moore as an “admitted conscientious objector emperor with no clothes milking the right of the 1st Amendment” too disturbs, the three combining to conjure images of a pack of rabid dogs foaming at the mouth. It seems to me that, if anything, it is Moore’s love of our nation and what he likely considers its greater unrealized potential that drive his beliefs.

To condemn the filmmaker in such a reactionary manner raises a red flag because it underscores a growing mind-set in our nation. Since when has it become treasonous and “un-American” to debate and disagree over the necessity, course and meaning of complex events with the potential to render tens of thousands of people dead or injured?

D. Young

Santa Monica

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“Milking the right of the 1st Amendment” and “tyranny of the minority”?

I hope I was not the only one who shuddered when I read these phrases in the letters criticizing Moore. Let’s get one thing straight: Either you have the freedom of speech, which means the freedom to disagree, or you have fascism. It is not possible to “milk” a freedom -- it is only possible to have it, or not to have it. In a democracy how could one possibly have a “tyranny of the minority”? A democracy requires a majority consensus. If the writer believes that there is a “tyranny of the minority” at work right now in America, perhaps he agrees with Moore and believes that George W. Bush was not voted in through a democratic majority? As Bush is president, either there is a democratic and untyrannical majority in power, or George Bush, and not Moore, is the tyrannical minority. Moore has no more power than you or I. He merely has the power of all American freedoms.

Another “fat, geeky kid” in the timely book “Lord of the Flies” was also the only one to clearly see the truth of the paranoid society forming around him. “Piggy” (who was murdered by paranoid fascist forces for speaking the truth) made one mistake: He believed everything on the island would be all right if there were some adults present, because they would “sit down, have some tea, and discuss.” Piggy, however, clearly was too innocent to take into account cruise missiles, BLU-82 “daisy cutters,” AC-130 gunships and cluster bombs.

Delores Mitchell

Los Angeles