That capitalist extremist Michael Moore

But as long as we’re on the subject of hypocrisy, let us recall that anti-war Moore’s first choice for president was not John Kerry but retired four-star General Wesley Clark. General Clark’s contribution to the free world was that he commanded the so-called “liberation” of Kosovo in 1999. In said war, he directed NATO forces on a 78-day bombing expedition that cost untold innocent civilians their lives. The “humanitarian war” against Slobodan Milosevic, who, incidentally, posed no threat to the United States, was also waged without the approval or consent of the United Nations.

This leaves Clark’s anti-Iraq war stance and Michael Moore’s support of Clark slightly inexplicable. It should be noted that Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry voted in favor of that military action, which clearly explains his many current positions on Iraq. Or maybe it doesn’t.

But now that Clark’s relevance has been relegated to that of a Trivial Pursuit answer, we’re supposed to believe that Michael Moore is pro-Kerry.

We’re also supposed to believe that Moore is on his 20-state “Slacker Uprising Tour” of college campuses to encourage students to vote. Realistically, it would appear he has found yet another way to line his wallet, and the sheep are lining up to get fleeced. He’s received speaking fees of $23,000 from Penn State and $27,500 from the University of Arizona.

It is no secret that many college students tend to be liberal or at least left-leaning. Enter the student representatives at the University of Nevada, Reno, who’ve procured Moore for $33,000. In true liberal fashion, they used other people’s money to help fund it.

Of course, it doesn’t help that students are taught by liberal professors who’ve spent their lives dedicated to academics, where they can piously preach to students in a relatively sterile environment. It’s easy to argue against the death penalty when you’ve never dealt with real-life situations like representing or prosecuting a woman who has killed her own child.

These same self-styled purveyors of truth ultimately earn their living on the mother of all lotteries, called “tenure,” where you can’t be fired, laid off or downsized. It would be difficult to define that as a condition representative of the real world and conducive of developing practical ideologies that actually work.

The self-delusion that is academia continues with Moore’s appearance.

UNR President John Lilley wrote this little nausea-inducing statement about Moore’s visit: “Exploring other people’s points of view leads to greater understanding not only of that point of view, but also of one’s own point of view.”

I’d agree with that statement, but true intellectual discourse requires an honest and open assessment of the issues. Moore makes a living producing “documentaries” filled with half-truths, deceptions and blatant lies.

As much as Lilley and at least some percentage of the student body at UNR would like to believe, Michael Moore’s speech doesn’t bring any type of balance or intellectual discourse into the political debate. In any event, what could a filmmaker with absolutely no education or experience in economics, foreign policy, military strategy or Middle East affairs possibly speak about that would carry any credibility?

I expect that some students really just want to hear more of his blathering political rhetoric. In reality, Moore was probably cheaper than say, Susan Sarandon or Sean Penn. Either way it’s OK, but students should at least be honest about it and use their own money to pay for it.