Tuesday, June 29, 2004
SPINNING MAKES ME DIZZY
I listened to Hugh Hewitt's radio show last night and admired his textbook cross-examination of a steady stream of loony Farenheit 911 fans (plus one loony right wing conspiracy theorist) who called in To Set Hugh Straight. He asked each and every one of them what part of the movie they found most persuasive (they all seemed unprepared for the question even though he was a one-trick questioner here). Whatever they answered, he had the facts to counter it. You could hear the callers' gears seize up.
I'm a lousy cross-examiner myself. The only time I did a succesful cross examination, I began to realize the witness was testifying while drunk. Although I can't be sure that all of the callers were sober, Hugh's cross-examinations were almost TV drama-like in their succinctness. Aha!
The parade of rebuttal, while entertainingly delivered, merely cemented my determination not to see the movie. You see, I am a terribly manipulable. Especially by movies. I cried at E.T., weeped while fuming at myself for being such a sap, then laughed, exactly where the filmakers had decreed that I should. It's something about the visual input. Don't send me mean mail. I know I'm pathetic. It's beyond repair. I once cried at an affecting episode of The Bionic Woman
.
OK, I was very young then. But I still don't trust myself. Mr. Moore himself protests he isn't "trying to pretend that this is some sort of, you know, fair and balanced work of journalism." So if I were to see the movie I'd have to take the time to study up on all the misrepresentation exposes, to counter the influence potential. Hugh may have time to both marshal the facts and watch the movie, but I have better things to do.
I'm a lousy cross-examiner myself. The only time I did a succesful cross examination, I began to realize the witness was testifying while drunk. Although I can't be sure that all of the callers were sober, Hugh's cross-examinations were almost TV drama-like in their succinctness. Aha!
The parade of rebuttal, while entertainingly delivered, merely cemented my determination not to see the movie. You see, I am a terribly manipulable. Especially by movies. I cried at E.T., weeped while fuming at myself for being such a sap, then laughed, exactly where the filmakers had decreed that I should. It's something about the visual input. Don't send me mean mail. I know I'm pathetic. It's beyond repair. I once cried at an affecting episode of The Bionic Woman
.
OK, I was very young then. But I still don't trust myself. Mr. Moore himself protests he isn't "trying to pretend that this is some sort of, you know, fair and balanced work of journalism." So if I were to see the movie I'd have to take the time to study up on all the misrepresentation exposes, to counter the influence potential. Hugh may have time to both marshal the facts and watch the movie, but I have better things to do.
