I saw the new Michael Moore film tonight and I feel inspired again. I know he's a highly polarizing figure, but since I was a little girl, I have been watching his TV shows and movies (yet again, a perfect example of what kind of household I grew up in) and credit him with my move to studying politics instead of the path my parents and myself saw me taking, music.
Now I've never seen myself as similar to him, and I could never do what he does, but his passion for justice and dignity within the institution of American government has always inspired me. I tell people this and get dismissed right away, and I've always found it absolutely amazing how much people vehemently hate him. I was in my late-teens when Fahrenheit 9/11 came out, and I went with one of my best friends to see it opening night (as I did with Bowling For Columbine earlier on) and there was a feeling of comfort I had surrounded by people who genuinely believed what he was doing was simply looking for the truth in all of the bullshit the media and government propagates in our daily lives. I felt like the polarizing effect he has on people is something I could relate to at the time, going through the motions at my high school every day.
I met Michael Moore when I was 16, after seeing him interviewed as part of The New York Times's brilliant TimesTalks series. It was seriously such an overwhelming, amazing moment for me to just tell him how much his work meant to me, and receive encouragement (and a hug) from someone that really meant so much to me. I've met quite a few "celebrities" over the years, but this was the first time I was so overcome with emotion that I broke down and cried walking down 5th Avenue afterwards. I'll never forget it.
So no matter what people say about him to this day, I let it go. Because I know what his work and his efforts in American culture mean to me, and he will continue to inspire me as I figure out what path of work I want to go down.
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