3 - Rhetoric, the Art of Manipulation

Rhetoric, the Art of Manipulation
By: Mingcao, Valerie and Thomas

Michael Moore and Rhetoric

In this week’s Documenting Myths class, we watched two documentaries made by Michael Moore; Fahrenheit 9/11 and Capitalism: A Love Story. We also learned about Greek mythology and manipulation through rhetoric (pathos, ethos and logos) to help us with the following assignment. Pathos is a Greek word that defines “emotion”, ethos is “credibility” or “ethical appeal” and logos means “logic”. With this knowledge we could have a better understanding of Moore’s goals and strategies throughout these films and could make connections with the mythology.

Propaganda: Who to Believe?

Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 documentary film of 122 minutes by Michael Moore. It was filmed in the United States, but was only released months after it had been released in other countries because of some legal problems. The movie received much critical acclaim; it received a Palme d’Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and is noted to have received a 20 minute standing ovation. It was also a huge box office success, becoming the second highest grossing documentary. The movie is a reflection and critic on George W. Bush’s presidency from 2000 to 2004, the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001 and the War on Terror that Bush declared, from Michael Moore’s point of view.

The main issue presented in the documentary revolves around the manipulation and propaganda employed by the U.S. government under George Bush’s presidency and how it related to the war in Iraq. The film focuses around the tactics used to instill fear in the citizens as a method of propaganda. The population would be on high alert at all times because of news channels and other forms of mass media broadcasting warning messages about possible terrorist threats. Government officials and Bush himself delivered speeches about threats that the nation was supposedly exposed to. The Homeland Security Advisory System would also raise the alert level to red and back to orange or yellow, repeating this back and forth to keep a constant aura of threat to keep the population fearful. Another instance where propaganda was employed was during the recruitment of new troops, especially in less fortunate places like Flint, Michigan, where many of the interviews took place. They proceed by seemingly interrogating their prospective recruits and often promising them things that could fulfill the less fortunate kids’ dreams, which often were not entirely true and were twisted into a different context, that they would get in return for enrolling in the military.

Another major issue presented in the film is Bush’s intention. Over the course of the film, we can see that his motivation may not be for the good of the country, but lies in his self-interest. The relationship between George W. Bush’s family and the royal Saudi family is a primary indicator of that, because the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks was part of Bin Laden family, which was in turn closely connected to the royal family. We are shown the close relationship between these two families; 24 individuals that were part of the Bin Laden family were allowed to leave the country, without any proper interrogation days after the 9/11 attacks. Unsurprisingly, much of the funding and investments in Bush’s oil company were from the royal Saudi family. The Bush administration also created false pretenses under which they invaded Iraq for their large oil supply. He led people to believe that Saddam Hussein was in the process of making nuclear weapons and that to end the terrorist threat that the Taliban were posing, they would have to invade Iraq, a country that had never done a thing to the United States. This motivation driven by self-interest does not only apply to President Bush, towards the end of the film, Michael Moore asked various congressmen with no children enrolled in the military who approved of the war and long term deployment if they would like to enlist their children in the military.The answer was no for all of them. This shows that people in power have an insatiable thirst for power and wealth, ignoring the real reason people elect them in the first place.

The film itself is like a puzzle, Michael Moore gives us various pieces of information, and with all of it assembled together, we can create a relatively clear picture of what he is trying to convey. Moore never forces his views on us, but frequently asks rhetorical questions, which leave us agreeing with him most of the time. This film relates to the topic seen in class this week, rhetoric. Michael Moore employs all three aspects of rhetoric in this film: logos, ethos and pathos. Logos is using facts, statistics and other statements to persuade us. He tells us many facts, such as Bush being on vacation, away from Office, 42% of the time in his first term of presidency, 24 Bin Laden family members leaving the country, etc. Ethos is the use of credentials to get us to believe a point. He conducts many interviews with people of all positions: congressmen, FBI and other security agents, psychologists, soldiers on deployment, and regular citizen, such as Lila Lipscomb, the woman who lost her son while he was on duty. The people working directly in relation to the government or to the war are undeniably deemed credible sources. However, Lila Lipscomb also has credibility, because she is one among the thousands and millions of families who have suffered from the war. Finally, pathos is the usage of emotion as a mean of persuasion whether the emotion conveyed is sadness or happiness. Moore uses footage of Iraqi people and soldiers suffering from the war in an attempt to convince you through sorrow. He also uses montages of videos to make a fool out of George Bush, while also adding comedic sounds or music for comic effect. The combination of logos, ethos, and pathos makes a documentary convincing and persuasive, as shown by Michael Moore’s documentary.

The movie is very well structured, Moore doesn't simply throw the pieces of the puzzle at us, he gives them to us in a chronological order, which follows an order of time and at times, an order of logic. Each piece of information given contributes to his goal. Whether he is showing us video footage of events, interviews with people, or even live footage of himself, we can piece them all together, to get a message. Moore is a master of manipulation, he puts scenes that trigger questions in our heads at the beginning of the film as an attention grabber, he then recounts events in order to let us form a general opinion about the subject in matter continued with examples and details that bring up several emotions to stir our minds up, and finally concludes with a more determinate answer in an indirect way.

However, as convincing as his film may be, we must still remember that even he is biased. While his documentary does provide some good points, we can consider it to also be propaganda. The movie focuses on the idiotic side of President Bush and has no mention of the good things the Bush administration has brought to the United States. Without us realizing, Moore used many propaganda techniques in his movie, which are elaborated upon on this link:

http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/11/9-propaganda-techniques-in-michael.php

So a lesson learned from viewing this movie is that although something may seem credible and unbiased, there is almost always a matter of personal opinion that comes into play, and in this film, it seems like Michael Moore’s dislike for the former president incompetence may have fueled the essence of this movie, which is to share his point of view and perhaps get the viewers to also build up a dislike for Bush and to not vote for him.

Money over Everything

Capitalism: A Love Story is a documentary of 127 minutes by filmmaker Michael Moore, which takes a subjective look at the economical crash in 2008 and how it affected the Americans who lost everything they had and a look at those who profited from it. He started the movie with a home-made video from American citizens getting evicted from their homes by police officers breaking their way in and arresting them. This made us question what happened and Moore shortly began to explain to us what capitalism really is. In his words, capitalism is a concept of taking and giving a fair share of our wealth, but mostly taking, which leads us to something called the profit motive. That means people will do anything to make profits, no matter who suffers the consequences. For example, they made an institution with lucrative intentions for delinquent kids and teens to be placed in for rehabilitation. Judge Ciavarella sentenced children for minor offences in order for his friends, those who run the facility, to make money. One boy that Moore interviewed was sent into Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas for throwing a piece of steak to his mom’s boyfriend. How ridiculous is that? Ciavarella later pleaded guilty to Honest Services Fraud.

Another example of making profit for all the wrong reasons is “the dead peasant policy”. A company who can buy into a life insurance for their employee is called corporate-owned life insurance. Without that employee or their family knowing, their life is covered so when they pass away, that company can collect tax-free death benefits. In other words, you could be working for a company who receives money from your death, and you wouldn't know anything about it… awful isn't it? In case you didn't know, Wal-Mart is one of those companies.

I think what makes the film special is that Moore used real-life stories and real people going through these shocking situations, showing us how they feel. This really plays into the pathos, making us feel pity for those who are victimized and feel anger towards the victimizer.

One of the first cities to be affected by the money-grabbers is Michael Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan. General Motors (GM) went bankrupt, leaving thousands of people without jobs, and practically the whole town was left unemployed soon after that. Nowadays, ironically, Flint has a “sign-making” company that provides 60% of foreclosure signs across the U.S, which is the sign they put up in front of a house once the people inside have been evicted. Moore gives us statistics to prove a point, making use of logos. Many of the facts he used are compiled on this link to show his extensive use of logos:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/facts/capitalism-love-story

Moore also uses the “ethos” part by showing us interviews with people who we think have credibility, such as Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren. She couldn't even answer Moore’s question of “Where’s our money?” which just goes to show that sure, she has a big name, but does she really know what she’s talking about? Also, Moore enjoys making former President Bush look like an idiot on camera, so it makes us wonder if he really knew what he was doing while he was in office.

After watching Capitalism: A Love Story, we now have a better understanding of what really happened, where it at all started. Americans have been fooled by the “Great concept of Capitalism”. The movie has made us reflect on how cruel and heartless one can be. Some will go to the end of the world to take everyone else’s money and leave them in misery. Maybe these profiteers will watch Moore’s film and understand the damage that has been done to millions of Americans.

Rhetoric in our Lives

Many have felt the tragic attack on the world trade center on September, 11, 2001 and have lost belongings during the 2008 recession. In the movies Fahrenheit 9/11 and Capitalism: A Love Story, directed by Michael Moore, we are sent on an emotional rollercoaster with the interview of people who have lost loved ones to more comedic videos that made Bush look like a fool. Many examples of these emotional spirals in both movies to make us to grasp the situation and what we can learn from them.

People felt fear because of 9/11 and the American economy collapsing on itself and the government used that fear to manipulate the population, so that nobody would question what they were doing. However, fear will only last until the people are raised by courage, courage from the workers at factories for not leaving the building until they were paid the right amount of money, courage that the soldiers who enlist in the military so that we are safe from physical and emotional harm have shown us. "You can't kill someone without killing a little bit of yourself" as one of the soldiers said. When people learn not to fear, they can achieve goals that the government doesn't want them to. This film doesn't just teach us about courage or pain, but to see what the truth is.

Michael Moore is a master of playing with the audience’s emotions, but with each emotion that he makes us feel, we ask can ourselves this question: "Are we being manipulated?" This critical aspect of the film is part of what made it so famous, the self-reflection that made people realize certain truths that were untold. The way that the way that Moore structures his films is Capitalism: A Love Story begins with a shocking scene of police men breaking into a home and arresting the home owners, and then proceeded to explain the situation and the main issue that we will explore throughout the film. Right away he captures your attention with this kind of imagery. He’s very skilled at playing with your emotions and shows you shocking examples to make you think about what kind of world we live in. He can make you feel sad one second, you’re cracking up the next and he leaves you with your jaw dropped to the ground. He also has a great sense of humor which definitely make his films captivating and makes you want to keep watching.

Michael Moore uses many techniques of manipulation to get us to believe his arguments and eventually agree with him. He gives many facts and statistics, but without expressing his real intention. What he gives us is like a puzzle with all the pieces and wants us to assemble it ourselves, making it more convincing for us since it lets us make our own assumptions which we most often times believe. He then uses many heart breaking stories to sadden us in an attempt to make us side with him as if it were in pity or compassion. This usually is a strong factor in his persuasion, as stories of families whose children died on deployment and families that greatly suffered from loss during the recession. It makes us reflect on how it would be if we were the ones in that situation and how we would feel. Our sympathy towards the victims in his documentaries translates to us sympathizing with his argument. He also makes us laugh through many montages of clips of George Bush’s idiocy and simply by poking fun at Bush in general. This makes us think that Moore is a likable person whose arguments won’t simply be brushed off. He also uses many clips of interviews in his documentary, allowing us to see that many people share his opinion and that we should too, because after all, the more the better. All these techniques seemed to work very well, as we agreed with the majority if not all of his arguments and that when we finished watching the two movies, we shared the same opinion as him.

To answer to the question "Are we being manipulated?" we must look at the world we see today. When Obama became president, he rebuilt America's economy and has done very well in his seat of power. However, this year, with the crisis in Syria, decisions have to be made in a situation not entirely different from 12 years ago. However, before entering another war that will inevitably claim the lives of hundreds or thousands, we must first investigate the situation in its entirety. While many say Obama has done a much better job as a president than Bush, we cannot know for sure whether he has any ulterior motives or not. In this article we see Obama's plan for Syria:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24043751

We have already suffered from the Iraq War for a dishonest cause and the results were the deaths of many men and women and wasted time and resources. Obama had made actions that have improved the United States by creating more jobs and trying to implement public health care. It would seem strange for a man that has done so much good to consider something that seems like it could escalate to a case similar to the war in Iraq.

So what can we learn from these two movies? Facts that are given to us cannot be trusted blindly, we must do some critical thinking for ourselves, and let us decide whether the given truth is the actual truth or not. We also learned that despite the fact that documentaries are generally unbiased, many may in fact be very much biased, such as these two Michael Moore films and that they are meant for the sole purpose of persuasion. We must not let manipulative techniques control our opinions. For example, during WWII, many Germans who were not mean spirited and who in normal circumstances were nice people, were subjected to lots of propaganda and became evil ruthless people. While our case is nowhere near Nazi Germany, we must still keep a critical eye about things that we are told to be the truth.

Redefining Documentaries

I think we can all agree that Michael Moore is a great film-maker and definitely knows how to incorporate ethos, pathos and logos, which were this week’s main topics. After having watched both Fahrenheit 9/11 and Capitalism: A Love Story, we can come to a conclusion that Moore greatly dislikes Bush! Even though he does not show both sides of the story completely, his opinion is clearly very convincing and it’s hard to not agree with him. Through this, we can say that some documentaries are not so unbiased after all. Although with all the evidence he shows throughout without revealing the other side of the spectrum, it’s easy to side with his opinion all this still leaves us wondering “What’s the next scandal that will be revealed to us through Michael Moore’s films?”