Moore Than They Bargained For - So, Michael Moore gave a speech at the Academy Awards. (He won for best documentary)

A lot of people have been outraged by his speech. Many were offended by the fact that he had people on stage with him who may not have shared his views, and sprung this on them without their knowledge. I can understand why that might bother people.

I was thinking about this. I am not always a fan of Moore's tactics, though I have long followed his work and agree with a lot of his politics. And I have gotten a real kick out of a lot of what he has done.

He claims that he told people he'd be making a statement on stage:

"Moore said backstage that he invited the other nominees to join him while walking up the aisle. He had warned them during the commercial break that the invite and the rant were coming."

Realistically, when Michael Moore calls you onto the stage and is about to say something, don't you know what's coming if you know anything about the man. Just the warning about the rant should have been enough.

Folks were applauding his political commentary (in his movie) moments before, and then when he gives them his honest opinion in his statement, all of a sudden it's distasteful. It's a little inconsistent. People don't have to like it (and many don't) but at this point to be surprised by it is puzzling.

I know a lot of people aren't going to agree with me on that. But I also think it's great that someone is willing to express an unpopular conscience. The people booing didn't get up in front of the world - they remained anonymous.

If Moore is guilty of anything, it's putting those other directors on the spot when he invited them up, since they knew what was likely coming. They weren't denied their decision just because they didn't know the exact text of his rant - they were forced to make a decision. No one made that decision for them, but no one likes to be forced into making a decision.

That's not a very strong complaint, in my eyes. And if Rush Limbaugh told me he was going to rant on stage and invite me up, I sure as hell would not follow him up there.

They knew what they were getting into.

(And I've stayed pretty much away from the substance of his speech!)