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[Stinkles]

"A Friend of Abe is someone who has reverence for those who serve in our military and believes that American liberal democracy is a unique success, different from others, and it's worthy of the respect of our popular culture ... of Hollywood in particular," said screenwriter Lionel Chetwynd, who helped organize Friends of Abe luncheons when they began four years ago.

You know, when the strongest claim you make publicly about your movement is identical to what your opposition would say, then it casts a very long shadow on the palatability of what your unstated beliefs actually are.

If the Friends of Abe wish to distinguish themselves from the "loony left," they might want to actually admit what really interests them.

 

[effzee]

what makes americal democracy any better than the democracies practiced in other free well off nations?

 

[M3wThr33]

what makes americal democracy any better than the democracies practiced in other free well off nations?

Moar christians.

 

[Stoney Mason]

what makes americal democracy any better than the democracies practiced in other free well off nations?

Generally some vague conception of this idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism

 

[MisterHero]

what makes americal democracy any better than the democracies practiced in other free well off nations?

according to some being able to say america sucks is why america is so great

but I love america

 

[grandjedi6]

according to some being able to say america sucks is why america is so great

But of course that would make you an anti-American hippy intent on bringing the anti-Christ to the world.

 

[speculawyer]

Moar christians.

He said 'better'.

 

[Alien Bob]

what makes americal democracy any better than the democracies practiced in other free well off nations?

Because only america has freedom, duh

 

[ZAK]

what makes americal democracy any better than the democracies practiced in other free well off nations?

why its americality of course

 

[vas_a_morir]

what makes americal democracy any better than the democracies practiced in other free well off nations?

American Football.

 

[speculawyer]

Came in to post this.

I'm not saying OMFG LOLZ SO STOOPID, but American right wingers really need some perspective.

Compared to the rest of the world, the country is already a fortress of right wing ideolegy.

Yep . . . I often ask people to name a country that is to the right of the USA. Pretty much nothing there. You could say Iran with its theocracy. Some have said 'South Korea' but they have socialized medicine.

 

[Guileless]

Yep . . . I often ask people to name a country that is to the right of the USA. Pretty much nothing there. You could say Iran with its theocracy. Some have said 'South Korea' but they have socialized medicine.

You should get in with a more cosmopolitan crowd that has heard about the exotic places where you get caned if you have a joint. Or the countries that still have the draft, some complete with military juntas. Places that requires women to wear veils outside. But none of that is as important as Fox News being allowed to exist right? Sometimes I forget about how tough it is to be an American liberal trapped in this right wing fortress.

 

[vas_a_morir]

You should get in with a more cosmopolitan crowd that has heard about the exotic places where you get caned if you have a joint. Or the countries that still have the draft, some complete with military juntas. Places that requires women to wear veils outside. But none of that is as important as Fox News being allowed to exist right? Sometimes I forget about how tough it is to be an American liberal trapped in this right wing fortress.

I can't say for sure who is right, but this post certainly appears to provide the feeling of someone getting "owned."

 

[polyh3dron]

It seems like a fun parody on Michael moore based on the trailer

lol Michael Moore wants to destroy America and ban the 4th of July. This is FUNNY. Seriously.

 

[charlequin]

What always gets me about these things is when conservatives complain about how there aren't enough conservative professors or creatives. Well no shit, son! One area where the left tends to have slightly more perspective is that they don't complain that they're under-represented in fields like high finance that tend to be in opposition to their stated ideals. Being a Hollywood conservative (or a right-wing librarian, or whatever) means you're opposing yourself to the fairly significant pro-censorship, anti-art portions of your own movement.

I concur with those who are correctly bashing this movie for doing a bad job of making fun of liberals. As a huge leftist type I am only too aware of how much ridiculous crap there is that's worthy of making fun of in the American left, so it's sad that these guys can't even come up with any good material. (Michael Moore jokes? In 2008? Really?)

Yep . . . I often ask people to name a country that is to the right of the USA. Pretty much nothing there.

That's fundamentally a silly question, with an answer that depends entirely on a pretty long series of persnickety definitions. Is Australia further right because they'll elect racist governments to eliminate their indigenous population and they'll censor art that isn't appropriate for 15 year olds? Is a nominal "democracy" like Egypt more right-wing?

It's better to break down more. The US' position on labor is to the right of almost any other democratic nation. So are the US' position on corporate personhood and taxation, on government provision of basic human services. We're pretty far to the right on sexual morality and Americans tend to get uncomfortable with everyone we could get compared to who's further right. Yet on nativism and immigration we're probably equal to most other democracies, even to the left of a number of them. etc.

 

[polyh3dron]

^^^^ Agreed.. Team America did it WAY better, and they poked fun at the right at the same time.

 

[charlequin]

South Park is funny when it makes fun of liberals because South Park is already funny. I honestly doubt I could think of something that set out with the end goal of making fun of American conservatives that was anything short of dreadful either.

Even back when Michael Moore was actually funny (back in the TV Nation days), the humor came from the situations (Moore driving a bus full of horny gay guys around to break sodomy laws in different states) and not from "lol Republicans are rich and mean."

I think the real issue is not understanding where liberals are coming from. Thinking that they, for example, believe everyone on the right to be evil is simply not true, and if you try to base your humor on that, you will fail.

Exaggerating real characteristics is funny. Exaggerating invented characteristics is funny only to those who believe they are real (i.e. right wing talking heads and those who follow them religiously).

Oh, definitely. Maybe these filmmakers should work at a food co-op or join a fringe hippie religion for a year -- that ought to give them plenty of legitimate material to work from. :lol

 

[polyh3dron]

Exaggerating real characteristics is funny. Exaggerating invented characteristics is funny only to those who believe they are real (i.e. right wing talking heads and those who follow them religiously).

Exactly.. wait, GET OUT OF MY HEAD LOL

 

[speculawyer]

You should get in with a more cosmopolitan crowd that has heard about the exotic places where you get caned if you have a joint. Or the countries that still have the draft, some complete with military juntas. Places that requires women to wear veils outside. But none of that is as important as Fox News being allowed to exist right? Sometimes I forget about how tough it is to be an American liberal trapped in this right wing fortress.

The answer that pointed out how hard this is to define was much better. Other countries have aspect that are more right-wing and more-left wing.

Caned if you have a joint? Hell, there are places with the death penalty for that. But then again, lots these places have socialized medicine & social engineering programs.

Countries that still have the draft? Well, much of Europe has military service requirements but people in the USA call them liberal socialist countries.

I think Singapore is a good answer though . . . but again, they've got socialized medicine too.

 

[speculawyer]

^^^^ Agreed.. Team America did it WAY better, and they poked fun at the right at the same time.

That movie was hysterical and did harpoon both the right and the left. The only annoying thing is that they slammed the left by name (listing all sorts of celebrities) but they slammed the right only generically (by being fictional generic politicians & generals) . . . they could have listed right-wingers by name as well.

 

[soul creator]

That movie was hysterical and did harpoon both the right and the left. The only annoying thing is that they slammed the left by name (listing all sorts of celebrities) but they slammed the right only generically (by being fictional generic politicians & generals) . . . they could have listed right-wingers by name as well.

that actually makes sense to me. The "crazy leftist mindset" in America can really just be made fun of when it comes down to specific individuals or subgroups (like PETA or something)...it's not like the average person thinks universal healthcare and opposing wars against people that never did anything to us is LOL CRAZY RADICAL. The fact is, most people do in fact want government to have involvement in certain basic areas. Most people are anti-war unless directly threatened. Most people do want guaranteed health care. Most people don't have a huge problem if rich folks are taxed more than poor folks. Also "leftists" aren't really one dedicated on-message voting group, so it's hard to pick out an overriding philosophy (partially why it's been difficult to get people to vote and self-identify as liberals). Also the far right has successfully shifted political discourse so far to the "right" that anything that's remotely opposing it is automatically considered "far left" no matter how mundane it is. We live in a society now where opposing illegal government wiretapping is somehow a "liberal pansy terrorist sympathizer" position.

On the other hand, the typical mindset that's considered right wing these days in America is open to all sorts of jokes. If someone literally believes America can invade whoever they want and that taking care of its citizens' health is somehow "communists taking away freedom", and that "trickle down" economics benefits the average citizen, then it's ripe for ridicule. Hell, the phrase "trickle down" is open to all sorts of humor! Also, the "right wing" mindset tends to contradict itself in a lot of ways as well (government should be hands off! But give large corporations all sorts of subsidies and bailouts!), so that also can be made fun of. And "the right wing" has been incredibly organized "movement" over the past 20-30 years, so you can't really nail things down to just one individual. Bush by himself hasn't caused all the problems the past 8 years, the entire government always sucks and private corporations should do every single thing mindset has been the problem.

Especially if someone still believes it after 20-30 years of this ideology's failure and unpopularity with the public.

eh, to summarize all this shit I typed (lol). The "extreme leftists" aren't really that influential in our public discourse and policy making. The "extreme right" have been put in power for years and have in fact influenced public discourse (in a largely negative way). So yeah, it's easy to find material to make fun of them as a general philosophy and not just random individuals.

 

[Guileless]

The state spends hundreds of billions on Medicare and Medicaid, administered through massive beauracracies. If that is "right wing," then the phrase no longer has any meaning. There's no draft, it's illegal to establish a state church, you can say virtually whatever you want about the government (and get rich doing so if you're clever), universal suffrage for anyone over 18, gender equality taken to the point that universities have to give scholarships to ladies bowling in order to field football teams, and a rights-consciousness so far ingrained that even semi-literate mountain people who couldn't pick the Constitution out of a lineup know enough to say, "You can't do that, I got my rights!"

Really now, if this were the most right wing country on earth according to GAF's generalized definition of 'right-wing' as undesirable and backwards, wouldn't the rest of the non-Western European world look a little better?

 

[ZealousD]

The golden rule of comedy. Right wing comedy is fail. They are not naturally funny. They should just stick to bombast and blowhardery, at which they excel. See Red Eye, Recent Dennis Miller and Colin Quinn for evidence.

No, the difference is that right wing comedy usually misinterprets the situation and thus tries to laugh and mock straw men. The Daily Show often uses video and lets it speak for itself.

Take the ACLU segment in this movie, for example. The right wing always likes to paint the ACLU as some kind of radical leftist organization, when in truth they're simply an organization that strictly defends constitutional rights. Apparently the Bill of Rights is some kind of radical leftist document.

 

[speculawyer]

The state spends hundreds of billions on Medicare and Medicaid, administered through massive beauracracies. If that is "right wing," then the phrase no longer has any meaning. There's no draft, it's illegal to establish a state church, you can say virtually whatever you want about the government (and get rich doing so if you're clever), universal suffrage for anyone over 18, gender equality taken to the point that universities have to give scholarships to ladies bowling in order to field football teams, and a rights-consciousness so far ingrained that even semi-literate mountain people who couldn't pick the Constitution out of a lineup know enough to say, "You can't do that, I got my rights!"

Really now, if this were the most right wing country on earth according to GAF's generalized definition of 'right-wing' as undesirable and backwards, wouldn't the rest of the non-Western European world look a little better?

You've posted twice now but neither time have you manged to list a country that is further to right.

 

[Stinkles]

The state redirects hundreds of billions of Medicare and Medicaid dollars to private corporations, administered through massive beauracracies. If that is "right wing," then the phrase no longer has any meaning. There's a constitutional ability to introduce a draft at any time, the state forgives debts and taxes on state-appraised churches, you can say virtually whatever you want about the government (and get rich doing so if you're clever) and they can know what you said in private thanks to known and unkown monitoring measures, universal suffrage for anyone over 18, gender equality taken to the point that universities have to give scholarships to ladies bowling in order to field football teams, and a rights-consciousness so far ingrained that even semi-literate mountain people who couldn't pick the Constitution out of a lineup know enough to say, "You can't do that, I got my rights! unless they are declared an enemy combatant."

Really now, if this were the most right wing country on earth according to GAF's generalized definition of 'right-wing' as undesirable and backwards, wouldn't the rest of the non-Western European world look a little better?

fixed

 

[Jumpman Jr.]

Friends of Abe has functioned like a support group, organizing informal gatherings where actors, producers, screenwriters, key grips and other industry types can share common values or discuss concerns like anti-Americanism in Hollywood movies or the perception of industry bias against conservatives and Republicans.

More like conservative Republican bias against the industry.

Nice double standard. If a liberal entertainer expresses an opinion, shut up and dance, you're only here to entertain. But if a conservative entertainer has something to say, they are the For America Group.


Anyway I just came to post that it's awesome Kelsey G and Dennis Hopper have appeared together in two movies in one year. Awesome.

 

[genjiZERO]

Barely.

You don't read Rand for joy. You read her to justify why you hate or love her ideology.

That's exactly why I picked up The Fountainhead. I knew enough about her philosophy to know that I disagreed with it. But I felt that I needed some credibility if I was going to argue against it.

 

[JayDubya]

The "extreme leftists" aren't really that influential in our public discourse and policy making. The "extreme right" have been put in power for years and have in fact influenced public discourse (in a largely negative way). So yeah, it's easy to find material to make fun of them as a general philosophy and not just random individuals.

This fails because we don't have an "extreme right" in power, neither in the fascist / authoritarian sense, nor in the economic sense. Bush and a Republican congress expanded Medicare and vastly increased foreign aid, for fucks sake.

 

[bengraven]

Yes, this film makes sense because all liberals believe that all wars have been unnecessary, believes that every Muslim person is innocent and that Michael Moore is always right no matter what.

 

[Guileless]

I get the sense that your criteria for what is "right-wing" is whatever you don't like about the United States circa 2008, so that would be an impossible argument to win. But if we made the criteria some representative blend of voting rights, minority and women's rights, consumer rights, workplace safety regulation and worker's compensation requirements, unemployment benefits, access to counsel in court, environmental regulation, gay rights, abortion rights, free speech, and spending on government entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicaid, and their equivalents abroad) I would say that with a few exceptions, virtually every country not in the EU or the British Commonwealth are more right wing than the US. That's like a hundred something? But I am not an expert on every country in the world so I would not make any definitive statements about where any country would rank on this hypothetical scale.

Edit: I forgot compulsory education. A feather in the progressive cap in this country, I should say.

 

[Hypnotoad]

I find it funny that Michael Moore is considered by many Americans to be from "the far left" when he's just a classic social democrat.

 

[M3wThr33]

I find it funny that Michael Moore is considered by many Americans to be from "the far left" when he's just a classic social democrat.

To the people making this movie, the 'Far Left' is anyone that doesn't think exactly as them.

 

[JayDubya]

I find it funny that Michael Moore is considered by many Americans to be from "the far left" when he's just a classic social democrat.

Yes. The two major political parties consist entirely of Michael Moore or Ann Coulter. That's all there is.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

No, the difference is that right wing comedy usually misinterprets the situation and thus tries to laugh and mock straw men. The Daily Show often uses video and lets it speak for itself.

Yep.

 

[ManaByte]

***Team America Image***

Might want to edit that out, it's bannable here.

 

[Hypnotoad]

This Ann Coulter is really scary. Seriously, Michael Moore cannot be possibly considered to be on the other side of the political spectrum, now can he?

 

[FoneBone]

This Ann Coulter is really scary. Seriously, Michael Moore cannot be possibly considered to be on the other side of the political spectrum, now can he?

This is a meme that has caught on among libertarians and right-wingers. I'm not a huge fan of Moore, but it is laughably inaccurate; I've said a number of times that the closest the left has, in terms of insult-slinging idiocy, is someone like Ted Rall, and he doesn't get a shred of the attention Coulter gets.

 

[Stinkles]

Yes. The two major political parties consist entirely of Michael Moore or Ann Coulter. That's all there is.

I think we can all unite in not wanting to hump either one. Welcome to the big tent of no-humping either of them.

 

[genjiZERO]

This fails because we don't have an "extreme right" in power, neither in the fascist / authoritarian sense, nor in the economic sense. Bush and a Republican congress expanded Medicare and vastly increased foreign aid, for fucks sake.

I'd never call the Bush administration "right-" (meaning conservative; and conservative meaning "maintaining the status quo") anything, except in terms of social issues. Government has increased leaps and bounds under Bush, and he certainly hasn't been fiscally conservative.

 

[Guileless]

Somewhere I have a book by Eric Hobsbawm from college but I can't find it, and I'm not sure if Perry Anderson's position on the Civil War is idiosyncratic among Marxist historians or if it is in fact widely accepted. But if you take the view that the United States is the most malign influence on world history, as I assume the Marxist historian does, then you would have to side with the Confederacy in the Civil War as a Confederate victory would seriously have weakened the United States in the future (which is why the British supported the Confederacy) and significantly altered history. So the joke about Sen. Obama washing the car with Arnold from Diff'rent Strokes is actually funny.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Somewhere I have a book by Eric Hobsbawm from college but I can't find it, and I'm not sure if Perry Anderson's position on the Civil War is idiosyncratic among Marxist historians or if it is in fact widely accepted. But if you take the view that the United States is the most malign influence on world history, as I assume the Marxist historian does, then you would have to side with the Confederacy in the Civil War as a Confederate victory would seriously have weakened the United States in the future (which is why the British supported the Confederacy) and significantly altered history. So the joke about Sen. Obama washing the car with Arnold from Diff'rent Strokes is actually funny.

Simple language mang...



I don't think most Americans are Marxist Historians so indeed the joke still isn't a rib-tickler for most Americans although as usual most of your post has some subtext that I'm not getting. (Probably related to Chomsky type intellectuals.)

 

[Macam]

For what it's worth, this movie is pretty much the epitome of precisely what Thomas Frank's "What's Wrong With Kansas?" book is about. Mind you, that book came out in 2004, the same year Michael Moore reached the peak of his notoriety with Fahrenheit 9/11's release, which says something about how stale Zucker's film antics are. As charlequin pointed out, it's 2008.

But hey, at least Gary Coleman finally got a job.

 

[typhonsentra]

I'm glad I'm not old enough to give a shit about Airplane. Otherwise this guy's transformation would probably piss me off pretty bad. I did enjoy Naked Gun though.

 

[Guileless]

Most Americans probably will never get anywhere near a work of Marxist history. But they can still get the joke, which is this: the Left has constructed elaborate defenses of the ideological opponents of the American government, e.g. denials of Serbian atrocities, and things like Michael Moore comparing the Iraqi insurgents to Minutemen. And now we have people writing apologies for Putin and blaming neocons. So it is reasonable to believe that these people would also find ways to make excuses for the Southern plantocracy during the Civil WAr, and compare them favorably to the neocons. And in the case of Perry Anderson he actually said it out loud.

 

[Ela Hadrun]

Oh, definitely. Maybe these filmmakers should work at a food co-op or join a fringe hippie religion for a year -- that ought to give them plenty of legitimate material to work from. :lol

Actually Mr. I'm surprised you said that and forgot that King of the Hill episode, "Raise the Steaks."

OMFG SO FUNNY

SO TRUE

 

[dave is ok]

This guy needs Leslie Nielson to be funny.

 

[Learn2read]

This guy needs Leslie Nielson to be funny.

Leslie Nielson is in the trailer

 

[SpoonyBard]

This guy needs Leslie Nielson to be funny.

The last funny movie he was in was Naked Gun 33 1/3 (although not as good as the previous movies let alone the tv series).

 

[Mahadev]

"LOL all muslims are called mohammed and Hussein!"

Fucking racist neocon retards. Btw looks who's guest staring:

 

[Branduil]

The right wing always likes to paint the ACLU as some kind of radical leftist organization, when in truth they're simply an organization that strictly defends constitutional rights. Apparently the Bill of Rights is some kind of radical leftist document.

How often does the ACLU defend the second amendment?