Friday, July 30, 2004
I prefer Grinders, myself
A mini-controversy has erupted over Subway’s use of American counter-culture to sell sandwiches in Germany. Apparently the tray liners at German Subway stores feature an advertisement for Morgan Spurlock’s film Super-size Me asking “why are Americans so fat?”, and also feature a quote from the odious Michael Moore.
I’ve heard Spurlock talk about his film in a radio interview, and thought that at least part of his point was reasonable. It is true that we eat too much fast food here in the United States. I haven’t seen the film, but in the interview Spurlock was a bit coy about drawing any larger concrete conclusions from his own “research” other than eating at McDonald’s for three meals a day for weeks on end will make you fat. He just kind of talked about how the processed-food industry in this country is making us fat for profit and left it for the listener to decide if that meant we should hunt them down with pitchforks and torches, or sue them out of existence. My impression of the film itself is that its target demographic might have initially been health activists, but I think it ended up attracting the folks who really like “Jackass”, for the sheer novelty of watching someone do something terrible to themselves.
The Moore quote displayed on the liner reads “The only time I have been scared for my life has been going through a McDonald’s drive-thru”.
Surely the irony of making fun of fat Americans by featuring a quote from Micheal Moore cannot have escaped Subway’s German division. For the uninformed reader, I’ll have to simply state that a picture of Mr. Moore would make a good addition to the dictionary definition of corpulent. I’d like to link to a picture of him to provide evidence of this fact, but all the sites that prominently feature his image seem to be in French and German. Hmm.
They are onto something here though. They’ve at least identified someone with particular insights into why Americans (or at least one of them) are very fat. It's hard to believe all they could dig up from him on the subject was a bland anodyne attack on McDonald's. Maybe they should've just asked him "Hey Mike, why are you so damn fat?".
I realize this post amounts to a simple personal attack on Michael Moore. I’m OK with that. I’ve long since come to the conclusion that arguing with Moore fans about the factual content of his work is the equivalent, effort-wise, of attempting to write a mathematical proof of a religious viewpoint. There’s just a fundamental difference of outlook that cannot be breached by mere conversation. I offer as evidence my friend Jack’s laugh-inducing defense of Mr. Moore’s work.
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I’ve heard Spurlock talk about his film in a radio interview, and thought that at least part of his point was reasonable. It is true that we eat too much fast food here in the United States. I haven’t seen the film, but in the interview Spurlock was a bit coy about drawing any larger concrete conclusions from his own “research” other than eating at McDonald’s for three meals a day for weeks on end will make you fat. He just kind of talked about how the processed-food industry in this country is making us fat for profit and left it for the listener to decide if that meant we should hunt them down with pitchforks and torches, or sue them out of existence. My impression of the film itself is that its target demographic might have initially been health activists, but I think it ended up attracting the folks who really like “Jackass”, for the sheer novelty of watching someone do something terrible to themselves.
The Moore quote displayed on the liner reads “The only time I have been scared for my life has been going through a McDonald’s drive-thru”.
Surely the irony of making fun of fat Americans by featuring a quote from Micheal Moore cannot have escaped Subway’s German division. For the uninformed reader, I’ll have to simply state that a picture of Mr. Moore would make a good addition to the dictionary definition of corpulent. I’d like to link to a picture of him to provide evidence of this fact, but all the sites that prominently feature his image seem to be in French and German. Hmm.
They are onto something here though. They’ve at least identified someone with particular insights into why Americans (or at least one of them) are very fat. It's hard to believe all they could dig up from him on the subject was a bland anodyne attack on McDonald's. Maybe they should've just asked him "Hey Mike, why are you so damn fat?".
I realize this post amounts to a simple personal attack on Michael Moore. I’m OK with that. I’ve long since come to the conclusion that arguing with Moore fans about the factual content of his work is the equivalent, effort-wise, of attempting to write a mathematical proof of a religious viewpoint. There’s just a fundamental difference of outlook that cannot be breached by mere conversation. I offer as evidence my friend Jack’s laugh-inducing defense of Mr. Moore’s work.
Comments:
Why is Jack's defense of Fahrenheit 9/11 laughable? There's absolutely nothing wrong with his opinion. I suppose you are one of those friggin' brain-washed Republicans whose opinion is the only one that matters. Faschist.
# comment posted by 
: 9:49 PM, August 06, 2004
: 9:49 PM, August 06, 2004
It's ridiculous for several reasons. For one, it would apply equally to nutcases walking the street in sandwich signs reading "The end is nigh! Repent!". You don't sue those people because it's simply not worth it.
For another, think of what your reaction would have been had one of the parties libeled in Mr. Moore's work actaully gone ahead and brought a lawsuit. The teeth-gnashing would reach earsplitting proportions.
Suggesting that the lack of a lawsuit proves the truth of Mr. Moore's claims is the rough intellectual equivalent of me assuming that the Bush administration must be right in everything it does simply because someone as foolish as Mr. Moore is so opposed to them. I can think it all I want, but it's not an argument that could be logically sustained even among those who would tend to agree with it.
For another, think of what your reaction would have been had one of the parties libeled in Mr. Moore's work actaully gone ahead and brought a lawsuit. The teeth-gnashing would reach earsplitting proportions.
Suggesting that the lack of a lawsuit proves the truth of Mr. Moore's claims is the rough intellectual equivalent of me assuming that the Bush administration must be right in everything it does simply because someone as foolish as Mr. Moore is so opposed to them. I can think it all I want, but it's not an argument that could be logically sustained even among those who would tend to agree with it.
Hey, man. My post wasn't about Michael Moore the filmmaker. It was about Alan Moore; comics writer, visionary genius, and Sorceror Supreme of Northampton, England. Just saying.
No, not *that* post. The post immediately preceeding it, entitled "Movies", in which you state the following:
"I also saw Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 on opening weekend. Easily the best movie of the year for me. And before anyone wants to tell me that it's full of lies, let me just point out that if it were, Mr. Moore could get his ass sued. He's not though, is he? Instead, his opponents have tried every other weasel tactic to keep the film from being shown..."
That's the argument I was speaking of. I guess it would have been better had I actaully said that. Mumble. mumble. mum...
"I also saw Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 on opening weekend. Easily the best movie of the year for me. And before anyone wants to tell me that it's full of lies, let me just point out that if it were, Mr. Moore could get his ass sued. He's not though, is he? Instead, his opponents have tried every other weasel tactic to keep the film from being shown..."
That's the argument I was speaking of. I guess it would have been better had I actaully said that. Mumble. mumble. mum...
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