What about Michael Moore?

[kristin]

I think Michael Moore would LOVE the opportunity to make the FDA look bad.

Unfortunately, I think he'd probably have a problem with the fact that e-cigs haven't been tested, either.

But I agree his politics and methods aren't the issue - it's getting that HUGE public forum his films garner. He gets people talking and I really think that is his purpose. It's hard to gain attention in the U.S. without controversy.

Even if people hate him, it's like watching a car wreck - people can't help but stop & watch.

It would put our cause on the front page.

 

[scottyj]

i dont talk polotics i was just stating how manny talk shows and variety of media out now like how that bill in ca went from oone thing to ecig ban in ca. imo i think word of mouth is great one of the greatest attention getters there is . put out pettions on facebook and alike not only send to polititions but also media if there is a line for occupation and a bunch of them say doctor and they all check out more will listen.my doctor is 100% against smoking hates it but when i told him i used the e-cig he just smiled and said great keep on using it if you need it

 

[ritalin]

...but I think it will fall on deaf ears because MM would probably totally agree with our cause but would not want to sit in front of Wolf Blitzer and the rest of the corporate media to try and fight for it because in the grand scheme of things, this issue isn't as large as say the economy or health care. A poster above had a brilliant idea of writing letters to hollywood stars that use E-cigs and have an overall good reputation with the public (someone such as Leonardo DiCaprio). I think that might be a pretty good place to start. Writing to Congress only works when we have a very large mass movement that bombards them with either hand written letters (NOT emails), or more importantly, phone calls.

I agree it very well might fall on deaf ears, but it doesn't hurt to try. Also in regards to stars. I think this is another great idea. The only problem I see is getting in contact with them. Some how I don't see their agents being to excited about it. But hell its worth a try.

This leads me to another idea, if we think we can organize a call bomb to Congress, that might get some traction. We could do something like this:

We pick a week and a particular Congress person. Each person on the forums calls that Congress person once for that week. Then next week we pick a different Congress person. We could create a very simple, standardized letter to read to them (or come up with your own). This would take only minutes a day, but if we got 100 people in one week to call one member of congress, we could actually get noticed.

I really really like this idea. I wonder though, how many lurkers do you think we have here versus people actually willing to participate. We are talking about Americans here, remember?

 

[ritalin]

Michael Moorer has his own agenda. For some reason he gets attention. Attention from him on e-cigs I think would be BAD.

Ok, I'll bite. Please will one of you MM haters out there please give me a reasonable, well thought out answer to why he would be BAD to have discussing our issue? Remember though, this also needs to take into account the fact that he can draw huge crowds that bring attention to our cause. Go on, I dare you to try.

 

[DuneBuggy]

Stars would be more likely to take on "niche" causes than MM and im not trying to downplay ours by saying that.I think its very important too and a outright ban would have underlying consequences. But most folks wont see that untill a product gets effected that they use...
Too many other problems (thats percieved to be of a larger scale to the masses out there) for MM to try to "capitalize" on. Which makes the hypocrites latest crap on screen all the more funny.

ritilan,MM isnt a smoker or vapes to my knowledge for starters.
I want to see someone vaping away while they are talking about it!

 

[scottyj]

ophra would be better then MM i dont care for ophra but all in all she has a way bigger following then MM . i would rather sit and watch ophra then mm

 

[Thulium]

Wow... I am not sure we even watched the same documentaries. Talk about throwing babies out with the bath water. I do not want to go down this road in this thread, so i will simply say I think you missed the point of his films and maybe you should watch them again.

I was intentionally oversimplifying and I also don't really want to get into the specifics. Suffice it to say that whenever I've watched any Michael Moore documentary, right around the time he makes a good point it seems to me that he throws in something rather stupid that nullifies the original point. Fahrenheit 9/11 was funny at points, but by the end I walked away from the film with the same feeling I had after watching documentaries telling me that the holocaust and moon landing didn't actually happen--some interesting points were made, but they were nullified by tremendous leaps in logic and a serious omission of critical facts. Bowling for Columbine didn't leave me feeling quite as empty, but it didn't really do anything to make me change my opinion. I tried watching Sicko the other night and fell asleep so I can't really comment and I haven't seen Capitalism: A Love Story but I'm curious about it because I'm not as attached to capitalism as other people with similar political leanings, but the basic premise of spending $10 to watch a documentary about the evils of capitalism seems a little silly.

AGAIN... As I stated before, I do not care if your views are even the EXACT opposite of MM, the fact that he has the ability to put a light on this subject warrants your perceived risks in writing him. With that I am going to go send this very same letter to Oprah, who I dislike and feel over-simplifies complicated issues, but who also has a HUGE F-ing audience.

My problem with Michael Moore is not my agreement or disagreement with his politics. My problem with Michael Moore is his tendency to make logical errors, leave out critical facts that don't mesh with his agenda, and the end result is not increased education but increased polarization. People that agreed with MM before watching his films will enjoy them and may pick up a few tidbits of new fodder for their debates with people that disagreed with MM before watching the film and after watching are only more upset and likely to find the alternate viewpoints even more appealing.

In a nutshell, I recognize that Fahrenheit 911 was a good film, but Fahrenhype 911 was better. As far as the politics go, I don't agree entirely with either, I just feel that the latter was more effective.

To the point of this thread, I'm not going to argue that people shouldn't ask MM to join our cause. I'm just saying that the polarizing nature of MM could make his support more trouble than its worth.

 

[ritalin]

ophra would be better then MM i dont care for ophra but all in all she has a way bigger following then MM . i would rather sit and watch ophra then mm

Then go write the damn letter already and stop arguing with me about MM
You can find her like in the following thread
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/campaigning-discussions/41620-oprah-show.html

Make sure you post the letter after you send it.

 

[DuneBuggy]

All we need is Leo,or Brad Pitt,etc to vape on the Tonight Show and it will make headlines.Discussions will foster,which is what we want right?

 

[ritalin]

People that agreed with MM before watching his films will enjoy them and may pick up a few tidbits of new fodder for their debates with people that disagreed with MM before watching the film and after watching are only more upset and likely to find the alternate viewpoints even more appealing..

Please tell me that you realize that if we did have all of these MM fanboys for lack of a better word on our side, that it would be more then enough to swing an opinion in our favor. That is the point. I agree that some MM haters will watch it and hate e-cigs just because MM made a pro e-cig movie. But that doesn't matter. The same thing goes with all of these polar opposite types in the media.

I promise you, go start a thread on how we need to get Glen Beck to run a story on this and Ill be there with bells on supporting it. Hell if you don't do it by the end of the night, I will start one myself in the morning. I LOATH Glen Beck BTW.

 

[pam]

Writing to Michael Moore is an excellent idea. Morgan Spurlock would be good too, as well as the documentarians behind the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

One good thing about Moore is that he is very, very supportive of young documentarians. He might not take on this cause but he could possibly pass the word on to someone who would.

I think "Who Killed the Electronic Cigarette?" would make an excellent movie. It's not just the FDA that is the villain in all of this. I've been particularly ...... at the American Cancer Society and American Lung Association. They have been fighting this technology, too, when they should be embracing its potential and even doing their own research. I'd love to see a movie that explored all these aspects.

 

[ritalin]

All we need is Leo,or Brad Pitt,etc to vape on the Tonight Show and it will make headlines.Discussions will foster,which is what we want right?

I agree this would be great. Again I think the biggest problem with this is contacting said stars. They are a little harder to get a hold of then our media outlets. I think Ill start a new thread pertaining to this.

 

[DuneBuggy]

Well with all due respect,which would be a more likely scenario?
MM making a speech/filming a mock..err documentary on somthing called a E cig.It gets attention in his circles and makes 15 minutes on cable news and the commentary in the papers.And its competing with wars,the ecomomy,Acorn,some wacko who cut people up and stuffed them in their freezer,health care,swine flu..etc
Or Leo casually puffing on one with Jay Leno while he talks up his latest movie? Its then on US magazine,the entertainment section of all the papers the next day,interest by the masses leads to more E cig articles.....
Stars need attention.Thats how they stay in business.Win Win for them.

 

[ritalin]

Well with all due respect,what would be harder to pull off and a more likely scenario?
MM making a speech/filming a mock..err documentary.It gets attention in his circles and makes 15 minutes on cable news and the commentary in the papers.And its competing with wars,the ecomomy,Acorn,some wacko who cut people up and stuffed them in their freezer,health care,swine flu..etc
Or Leo casually puffing on one with Jay Leno while he talks up his latest movie? Its then on US magazine,the entertainment section of all the papers the next day,interest by the masses leads to more E cig articles articles.....
Stars need attention.Thats how they stay in business.Win Win for them.

I agree and never said this was not a longshot. Move this discussion over to
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/campaigning-discussions/42164-star-power.html

 

[augie]

Hey Augie, I beat you by about one month. I mentioned getting Moore involved and was laughed off the thread

Well now maybe they'll take it a little more serious, as it might be banned in California in 4 days!

 

[WILDJC]

Well hell, I'd like to know about this.
In truth though I am sure he receives a good deal of email, suggestions and death threats. It is very likely that it is just lost in the sauce. That's why I say a better approach then a well thought out letter is to blast his inbox with hundreds of similar letters. I would think this would be a little bit harder to ignore.

I thought for sure MM would be interested in my story. Anyway, back in 2003, I met my source (which I will not reveal on this forum) while I was on the job. All I can say is that this person is ex-special forces/freelance mercenary (all of which can be well documented), whom the US government will deny any involvement with. This individual indicated to me that Osama bin Laden was taken out by a predator fly by, and he personally identified the kill. He revealed this information to me as a personal favor.

Of course my first question was why is this information not being made public? The response was that Bush/Cheney/ would then have no reason to invade Iraq.

There it is in a nutshell. I thought with MM's resources, he could delve further into this without fear from our government.

 

[augie]

Alright I just sent my letter to MM at the site provided as well as the email provided.

very good letter

 

[augie]

I think i've stirred the hornets' nest...not bad for a second thread..

 

[surbitonPete]

I love listening to Michael Moore .....great guy.

I enjoyed this interview.

FORA.tv - Filmmaker Michael Moore on Capitalism: A Love Story

 

[angelique510]

I too must say "Great letter, Ritalin."

This leads me to another idea, if we think we can organize a call bomb to Congress, that might get some traction. We could do something like this:

We pick a week and a particular Congress person. Each person on the forums calls that Congress person once for that week. Then next week we pick a different Congress person. We could create a very simple, standardized letter to read to them (or come up with your own). This would take only minutes a day, but if we got 100 people in one week to call one member of congress, we could actually get noticed.

This is a wonderful idea. Who here has the ability to organize us in doing this?

Celebrities are also a great idea. I will go read the "Stars" thread after I post my comment here. I think just seeing people with PVs, making them a common sight, would be better than a discussion or a debate that would almost always be colored by the personal or political agenda of the participants.

Oprah Winfrey might be a good vessel. She does make an attempt at putting forth both sides of an issue. But, she is not a smoker. I am suprized no one has mentioned President Obama. Much ado was made in the media over his being a smoker. Aside from being president, he apears to have more of celebrity pull than anyone in Hollywood these days. If we could get an e-cig into his hands, people all over the world would know about them.

A simple and direct way to bring e-cigs into the public eye, would be to make a gift of a PV to many of the celebrities actors, musicians, etc, that are known to be smokers. With a simple, "Here, check this out. You might enjoy this better than smoking, and you know all the things being said about smoking nowadays." Granted, it would be quite expensive, and not all the celebrities who receive one would use it in public, if at all, but the oposition has a lot of money to fund their objective. If every supplier asked for a donation with each purchase, and we started a fund on this and other forums, I think we could raise a few bucks. Even a partial success with this plan would get vaping into the public eye. Lack of knowledge of the product is seriously harming us.

What the e-cigarrette issue boils down to is personal freedom of choice, lack of governmental interference, and plain old fashioned supply and demand economics. With a few exceptions, these concepts are in oposition to the political and philosophical bent of the people that seem to have the most media clout. This, I believe, is the reason for the somewhat heated debate we have seen in this thread.

I wish you well in aproaching Michael More. I will write to persons in the media that may also be a voice for us. But we have to keep in mind the potential political and polarizing nature of anyone we would approach. They say any publicity is better than none, but bad publicity may do us more harm than silence on the matter.

Be well,
~A