{"id":255,"date":"2004-06-21T21:53:30","date_gmt":"2004-06-22T01:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vmalt\/?p=255"},"modified":"2006-03-26T10:11:29","modified_gmt":"2006-03-26T15:11:29","slug":"toss-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/toss-up","title":{"rendered":"Toss-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’ve never watched a movie or read a book by Michael Moore. It looks like Christopher Hitchens has, and he’s not happy about what he’s seen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What’s tough for me is that I wanted<\/em> to cite the following line from Hitch’s “review” of Moore’s new “documentary”:<\/p>\n

Fahrenheit 9\/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of “dissenting” bravery.<\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, he totally topped himself when he called out Moore for quoting George Orwell:<\/p>\n

A short word of advice: In general, it’s highly unwise to quote Orwell if you are already way out of your depth on the question of moral equivalence. It’s also incautious to remind people of Orwell if you are engaged in a sophomoric celluloid rewriting of recent history.<\/em><\/p>\n

All of which is to say: read it<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’ve never watched a movie or read a book by Michael Moore. It looks like Christopher Hitchens has, and he’s not happy about what he’s seen. What’s tough for me is that I wanted to cite the following line from Hitch’s “review” of Moore’s new “documentary”: Fahrenheit 9\/11 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Toss-Up”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-explicit"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-47","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16908,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-595-laura-beers","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":0},"title":"Episode 595 – Laura Beers","author":"Gil","date":"July 10, 2024","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 595: Laura Beers \"I came to Orwell interested in him as a political historian and how he can help us understand our modern politics.\" Historian, professor & author Laura Beers joins the show as we celebrate her important new book, ORWELL'S GHOSTS: Wisdom and Warnings for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Ann Patchett\"","block_context":{"text":"Ann Patchett","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/tag\/ann-patchett"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/beerscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C740&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/beerscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C740&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/beerscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C740&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/beerscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C740&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/beerscomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C740&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2162,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/and-still-champ","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":1},"title":"And still champ!","author":"Gil","date":"July 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been so busy lately, I haven't checked the goings-on at The New York Sun. I wonder what's in today's Arts+ section? A review of David Lebedoff's new book on George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh A review of Cyril Connolly's \"Enemies of Promise\" A review of the best gins for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Gin"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Gin","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-gin"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":247,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/triumphalist-self-pity","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":2},"title":"“Triumphalist Self-Pity”","author":"Gil","date":"May 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"The British are so much better at ripping idiots apart, as this review of a book on Orwell & Hitchens proves.","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2070,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-may-30-2008","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":3},"title":"Unrequired Reading: May 30, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"May 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If elected, I promise to deliver links every Friday morning! \"There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fashion mistakes \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the wrong fit, the accidentally see-through top, etc. \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wearing a bikini and fishnets to a charity event.\" * * * The media thought it was a big deal when the Yankees and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8638,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-112-remainder","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":4},"title":"Episode 112 – Remainder","author":"Gil","date":"March 28, 2015","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show: Clive James - Remainder \"I should have led a more balanced life, but that's easy to say at the end of things. When you're caught up in what you're doing, it's very hard to be reasonable. And art isn't really made out being reasonable.\" Clive James\u00a0was diagnosed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/clivejames-e1535852544725.jpg?fit=1200%2C940&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/clivejames-e1535852544725.jpg?fit=1200%2C940&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/clivejames-e1535852544725.jpg?fit=1200%2C940&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/clivejames-e1535852544725.jpg?fit=1200%2C940&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/clivejames-e1535852544725.jpg?fit=1200%2C940&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":842,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/in-a-barrel","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":5},"title":"In a barrel","author":"Gil","date":"February 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Nice post by Andrew Sullivan, ripping up Stanley Fish for \"post-modern claptrap\": Yes, Fish has read Nietzsche, hence his homage in the sentence: \"The first tenet of the liberal religion is that everything (at least in the realm of expression and ideas) is to be permitted, but nothing is to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}