1. Aren’t you afraid of getting hit by a car?

Not as much as dying /in/ a car, which, correct me if I’m wrong, is something like 11 times more likely.

My ability to avoid a crash is greater on a bicycle than in a vehicle, where my “body” suddenly takes up most of the space in my lane and speed demands split-second decisions. On a bicycle I have unobstructed panorama views and stereo hearing, and can avoid road dangers more effectively.

The truth is, I’m rarely biking that fast, and I’m rarely without a bike shoulder or sidewalk from which to eschew uncomfortable traffic.

2. What do you do when it’s raining?

I wear my rain jacket and waterproof pants and either wear my work clothes underneath if it’s cold, or fold them into my waterproof backpack. Or I ride in the buff and air dry at my desk at work. My coworkers used to complain, but now it’s the office norm.

3. How do you get groceries?

I walk across the street to Safeway and carry them home right now, but I used to load up my panniers and cruise down John St. waving my bananas at everyone like a monkey newly escaped from the Woodland Park Zoo.

4. Don’t you get sweaty?

Depends on a variety of factors including: how fast I’m cycling, whether there’s a tail wind or head wind, humidity, amount of pre-cycling hot coffee consumed, and hills. The amount I perspire is entirely up to me by adjusting the ratios of the above factors.  I apply deodorant daily just in case.

5. Will you ever buy a car?

Probably at some point. I could see myself in a golf cart (aka Neighborhood Electric Vehicle), which I honestly feel are set to become the iPod of the road by 2020, and am willing to start placing bets and taking names.

In the meantime, I have asked the City to install hovercraft kiosks at select urban street corners.

The GoGreen Conference at the Hyatt, Olive 8 was a modest explosion of various who’s who in this and that in the progressive, green-loving arena.  A particular session, Social Media and Your Sustainable Message: Maximizing Outreach Through Online Forums had me itching to intrude with answers to audience questions, but as the sworn-to-silence videographer, I thought it tacky to turn the camera unto myself. This would have been particularly obnoxious, given I was standing in everyone’s way to begin with.  The panelist answers have been condensed in a video (currently uploading very slowly), while my responses to questions I considered especially common are written below (and the censored version of this blog post is here: http://re-visionlabs.com/thelab.

Q: How much labor does social networking take?

No time at all if you:

1. Know what your objectives are before diving into Twitter, Facebook, etc.

2. Are an efficient social medialite because of fulfilling #1.

At Re-Vision Labs (@RVLcommunity), my objectives are as follows:

1. Connect with a community of news sources, thought leaders, and interested parties around Government 2.0, Environment, Education,Global Development, and, to a smaller extent, Microfinance and Social Media (the latter being my personal favorite, of course).

2. Engage with these folks and organizations online.

All one needs to do is spend a week (or really, a couple full days) building an infrastructure which makes achieving the above objectives really easy.  This infrastructure falls into two broad categories in Twitter:

1. Populate Twitter lists

2. Create a loose daily quota sytem of # RTs, DMs, @Replies, Bit.ly links, and “Original Thoughts” (as I call it) to ensure daily engagement that neither overwhelms you nor allows you to slack off, nor, most importantly, ensures you don’t become a Twitter Tool.

And on Re-Vision Labs Facebook (in which content can actually be more influential because it addresses a more intimate audience typically, but is actually harder in my opinion to engage people as a business site without the same wall-to-wall commenting options as individual sites):

1. Have a just plain cool site with pithy and/or interaction-reaction oriented wall posts, a colorful photo album, video gallery, polls, and, my personal favorite, friend highlights.

2. Invite friends to fan your page with personalized messages.

Ricardo Rabago from PCC Natural Markets immediately said, “It takes A LOT of labor,” to my surprise.  But I realized he was referring to his birth into the Twitter and Facebook universe.  The getting started phase is always a drag. But it gets exponentially easier once you build an infrastructure.  The most important question to ask yourself before fully committing to a social media strategy is, as Robago eventually asks the audience, “How do you develop a system where the information is coming to you?”

Re-Vision Labs founding partner Gabriel Scheer, on the other hand, responded, “Twitter can also be pretty lightweight.  Depending on what your strategy is, you can just check in once in a while and see what your followers are doing, whether you’re following anyone.”  It is what you make of it.  Like college, or intramural sports, or Basket Weaving 101.

Nik Blosser, Founder and President of Celilo Group Media summed it up best, in my opinion: “15 to 30 minutes a day, which isn’t a lot of time, but you do have to build it into your routine, and that’s probably the hardest part.”

Q: Can you give me an idea on the speed by which you’re converting new fans and followers?  And second of all, how are you complimenting your online with your offline presence?

Gabriel responded:  “I fundamentally believe that it’s really about the offline.  The online facilitates that.  It’s kind of like email; you don’t email your friends because you like emailing, you email to get some transaction accomplished.  Social media is another way to continue the conversation.”

I would like to respond in typical, borderline-offensive Aurea manner: Well, if by converting you mean objectifying fans and followers as potential clients, and employing only metric-laden tactics by which to drive new fans and followers into actual customers, then you’re just another myopic poser the world needs less of.  I am not anti-statistics by any means, but I think that hyper-focusing on, say, calculating each Facebook fan to be $3.60 turns us into the same short-term numbers-obsessed tools who littered Lehman Brothers and other investment banks and hedge funds who together precipitated the fall of the financial universe.  And brought us down with them.  Don’t cheapen my online community building.

Self-proclaimed social media “scientists” are intelligent salesmen wearing lab coats in my opinion (an example of this is Dan Zarrella, whose research is smart but objectives smarmy).  Numbers are easy, and numbers sell.  I think the most effective means to “converting” Facebook friends and Twitter followers into “clients,” is to truly and consistently view them as online neighbors who you want to build strong relationships with.  The point of prioritizing (prioritizing, not exclusively pursuing that is) the principle of social media — community connections — over statistics or example, is just plain Good Neighbor politics that serve you in the long run.  If your Rhododendron is hanging over their fence, they don’t simply uproot the entire bush because you’re just another sneaky Automaton involved in 2-D people mining to them.  If you value others through community engagement, not individual price tagging, your friends will become over time loyal customers, not bargain-shoppers.

Q: How Do You Avoid Burnout?

I think everyone had a good point and there isn’t really an answer to this question, as it depends on the person behind the computer screen, business objectives, and your overall strategy.  As Ricardo Robago respectfully assured the audience, “You can’t be there 24-7.  But people understand.  As long as you can get back to them in a reasonable time, people understand.”

Gabriel, taking that a bit further, asked us to recall that “it’s a dialogue between you and a community of people — it’s not just about youtalking to them. You don’t always have to respond to other people, because other people will.”  True—once you getting to a tipping point, or critical mass, your friends and followers will facilitate the conversation for you much of the time.

Personally, I think that one simply avoids burnout the way anyone avoids burnout—by being passionate about what you do.  With respect to social media, burnout is avoided by loving information, people, and ideas.  (And by being consistently engaged so you don’t have to drink from the firehouse every time you get thirsty).

Q: Do you recommend having a structured plan or policy around social media?  What happens if you have multiple audiences that have different needs?

I would like to echo Gabriel in that “strategy is very important.”  In fact, essential.  I can’t imagine not having a social media strategy and plan before even creating a Facebook or Twitter page.  Imagine bumbling around in a tumultuous sea of rapid-fire, real time information.  How on earth do you use any of that to generate value for your customers?  By know who you want to engage with, what type of information you’re mining, and why you’re online in the first place.

Q: What are the dangers that Twitter, or Social Media has with regard to your competitors seeing [content you post] or your followers and then targeting them?

I think Gabriel summarized this nicely: “It’s the same with any marketing ploy; who’s to say that if you put up a billboard a competitor can’t put one up across the road?  As you’re thinking about it from a crowdsourcing perspective, there’s having a great idea and then implementing that idea.  If you have a thousand great ideas… well, if you pick up the top ten ideas and your competitors pick up the next ten, you’re still up in front.  So it’s the action around the ideas in the first place and then how you engage that community around those ideas.”

Ditto.  The idea launches you into the war zone, but successful and speedy implementation is what wins.  But I’d also like to discuss how the internet and social media has really elevated the importance of “Giving away” ideas, thoughts, and recommendations.  Freebies are great advertising and a proven marketing strategy – and SO much easier to do now that you can advertise free webinars, seminars, and blog posts by experts instantly on the internet.  It’s the equivalent of a restaurant atmosphere now and how to entice customers into the door; preparing and serving quality food is what interested parties will pay for, based on the long-standing faith that quality yields quality.  Social media tools are the most cost-efficient and convenient way to show off your store front and what you have to offer– but the core value that drives repeat business is in the pay-for content that isn’t free online.  And that can’t be easily replicated by competitors combing through your tweets and blog posts.

Q: Are you marginalizing those without access to Twitter and Facebook?

What’s fantastic about 2010 is that anyone with access to a library, school, smart phone, or computer has instant access to Twitter and Facebook.  These tools are free, and access is at most a stone’s throw away.  And the glory on online AND offline community engagement is the latter can be used to reach those who don’t use online tools as their primary means of communicating.  In 201o, there is no excuse for not being able to “reach” people.  As Gabriel notes, “it’s not as much about race and class with regard to these tools, but who’s using it for what.”

I bet it’s weird to have a dad and a mom and a brother and sister.  What does it feel like to be one limb on a body?  To be part of a populated unit, each part interdependent?  I may never know that feeling.  Does it feel good?  Or just normal?  Normal is that feeling you have until you realize there’s a different normal.

I’m beside myself with this dog.  I feel like the world of pretentious pedigrees won.  Biscuit has the most wonderful spirit and is everything Matthew and I could want in a dog, except his separation anxiety is severe.  Doggy daycare wouldn’t take him because he’s a pit bull, no exceptions.  I spent all day trying to crate train him to no avail – he ends up self-mutilating.  It’s horrible and heartbreaking.

I’m seriously traumatized by this my first fostering experience, after 4 years of desperately waiting to take a rescue into my arms.  I felt betrayed in the first 48 hours of owning him, when an emergency vet trip because worms were dropping like m&m’s on the bathroom floor revealed that his ear needed immediate surgery.  One of the rescue organization’s other adoptee’s – a Chihuahua – was neglectfully unsupervised and bit a hole in Biscuit’s ear and it became horribly infected.  $500 dollars later I’m waiting at the vet listening to this poor animal howl in pain.  Of course, the rescue organization is not responsible for the vet bills, as I didn’t call 48 hours in advance.  But how can you be livid at an animal welfare non-profit?

I’m gonna cry all the way back to the rescue agency because this dog really really needs a chance – he is SUCH a good boy… as long as you’re in his field of vision at ALL times.  I mean, who else will love him?  The shelters are stuffed, the rescue orgs are totally maxed out resource-wise… kills me.

I failed at helping a wonderful animal become a wonderful pet.  I mean, yeah, anything is possible with enough time and money but… I don’t have that much time, and I have much less money.  But that makes me one of the thousands of people who just “give up” and give their dog away cuz they don’t want to deal with it.  Which is so incredibly irresponsible and self-centered and I can’t stand the idea of being one of them myself.  I feel like such a horrible person and a failure.  I feel cornered into being one.

I had an informational interview with Patricia Belyea, founder and president of Belyea Graphic Design, a local boutique ad agency.  She was confident, very smart, and extremely informative.  I learned three great lessons from our 30 minutes together that Friday at 8am at Victrola Coffee on Pike.

1. Do it.  But not for free.

At the very least, barter.  Bartering with a local company is a great way to build your portfolio and help out those without the funds necessarily to pay a “professional.”  I am currently compiling a list of local businesses that I would love to develop online media for.  For example, the 13 Carrot Cafe on Eastlake and Lynn, one of my very favorite weekend breakfast and brunch nooks.

2. Stop thinking of yourself as worthless and work for a for-profit corporation.

I don’t believe that one clearly thinks of himself/herself as worthless by going into the non-profit or public sector, but it has been for me, unfortunately.  I struggle greatly to think of myself as worthy of the private sector, with their good-looking men and women with families and new cars.  I wish I could divorce myself from this mentality, but easier said than done, as it has integrated into the fibers of my being.

3. Social media is a great place to explore and be active in right now.

Social media, crowd-sourcing, digital media and the like are common lingo for those in my social circle, but it is only now slowly being adopted by most companies.  Mrs. Belyea began experimenting with different types of graphic design years ago, when the tools were on the cusp of mass adoption by a burgeoning number of “creatives.”

Taking the above into consideration, I will continue to pursue my interests with fervor and as much confidence as I can muster, and tailor them to emerging needs.

I don’t think everyone realizes how much we learn through visual imitation.  I’m sure we taught that proverbial man to fish by first demonstrating.

I am extremely frustrated with my access to instruction and help in my new ventures at learning website and video design. The process of discovering each minor detail and learning what to do in response is very slow and very tedious and often completely ineffective. I ask and people tell me “just play with it.” Telling someone unfamiliar with designing a website using HTML to “just play with it” is dismissive and elitist, in my humble opinion.

For example, it took me 2 weeks to upload my first 3-minute video to Vimeo.  The file was too large, despite having such a short running time.  How do I make the file smaller?  I don’t understand why the file is so big when it’s only 3 minutes long.  Help.

“Just compress it,” one says.  “Just compress it.”  How do I do that?  Is there a compress key?  Help.

“You need to download a compressor.”

How do I do that?  Do I buy it on Apple.com?  Compressor.com?  Help.

I compressed the video about 4 different times, each time unsuccessfully according to Vimeo, which continued to tell me my file was too large.  Each time I had to wait the 3-4 hours for the video to upload before I was kicked off for having “file format too large.”  Help.

This went on and one for a few weeks until finally someone showed me how to compress my video – which literally took 2 minutes.  Thank you.

So I finally uploaded two of my videos on Vimeo but the image quality, despite the HD quality of the images and Vimeo, is total crap.

Why is it so bad?

“You need to de-interlace.”

How do I do that?

“When you upload it.”

This just goes on and on and on and on….

It’s infuriating.  I do not ask until I’ve researched independently and not found the answers I’m looking for, which is usually the case with regard to tiny technical roadblocks like the above.  But if I “just play with it,” everything should be quick n’ easy.  Plug n’ play.  What’s wrong with me?

This is a micro-example of a macro-issue of the know-hows and the haves thinking that the uninformed and the have-nots are just not trying.  I don’t believe the former are terribly self-aware in this context, and realize that they have most likely been shown a step here and there at some point in time, regardless of whether that knowledge was buttressed by self-tutoring.

As another example, I give about 10 hours a week of grunt labor (stuffing envelopes, washing dishes at Reel Grrls) in exchange for exposure to the organization’s capital.  Not knowledge, just capital.

Despite exposure to the capital, I’ve found that I really need human help in acquiring the knowledge necessary to use that capital effectively.  But at 27 that is hard to do when you’re out of school and everyone else is too busy.  Despite reading the entire HTML and CSS for Dummies, perusing multiple “how to” cites, and questioning friends, I still can’t do what I want to do- design a good-looking website and upload various short videos to Vimeo.

Again, the only help I seem to obtain is the, “just play with it.”  How is that helpful?  Why does everyone assume that we’re all “playing” with the same tools?  Or that we know what each tool does?  Especially since so many multimedia tools are dependent on each other to produce the desired effects.  I do not have the same website tools available to me that you have.  How would I know this, though, unless shown?

I’m frustrated by the fact that I’m knocking furiously on the door to the inner circle of knowledge, lugging my books around and washing dishes to borrow the capital periodically, and yet no one will let me in.  They wave me on.  They tell me to “play with it.”  I have a goal and I can’t reach it, through no fault of lack of effort or self-instruction or now, even capital.  People don’t realize that the formula for success is not so black-and-white and self-contained – that they have learned from others, whether they realize it or not.  Of course, when we know how to do something, we associate that knowledge with our own competency and intelligence, not the formal and informal resources we’ve had available- not to mention, especially, the influence of other humans who demonstrated or taught the process and we imitated consciously or not.

This all reminds me of the idiots who say, “look, if the homeless want to get ahead, they need to go to the library and teach themselves” (my coworkers from long ago used to say this).  Teach themselves WHAT?  Which books should they be learning from?  How would they know?  And how does one teach oneself a new language, anyway?  Just by playing with it?

“Just play with it.”  This dismissive, lazy, and elitist comment under the auspices of helpfulness has really gotten under my skin.  But I feel better after venting, and need to go play with Wordpress.

Running has been an immensely helpful breath into the soggy, dead meadow of my soul.

I’m so lucky to have discovered something so amazingly organic in its ability to help rebuild and re-heal this rib-breaking angst behind my lungs.  I’ll be on mile 6 on the Burke, rounding the corner around Gas Works Park, the City’s skyline twinkling in the distance when the chorus of my new favorite song begins its crescendo and the memories gush out from within the darkest caves of my psyche; I entertain this childlike fantasy that my grandparents are pushing my legs forward, expressing their pride in me, telling me it’s okay that I couldn’t protect them from their abusive children, that they’re in turn sorry not legally adopting me from my own abusive parents, that my life does have meaning because I will eventually give more than I suck up in oxygen …

I can hardly breathe because the emotions are just SO INTENSE and the tears are flying off my face as my legs hit the pavement faster and faster when the song ends and I revel in the pure physiological catharsis.

I asked 12 friends what they think I do best and more than half claimed I had a knack for “talking to strangers.”  One person said “being anal retentive about personal budgeting” but I no longer desire to be a stock broker (just a day trader on Ameritrade, haha).

Anyway, I set out on Sunday morning with an additional 1-person camera crew to interview random people in downtown Seattle on what “social media” meant to them.  The purpose was to make a video for the social media-focused start-up company I’m working for as well as test the validity of my friends’ assessment of my skills.  I had a blast.  The responses were fantastic.  The video is coming soon (Final Cut Pro has become an obsession for better or for worse).

What struck was that out of the 21 people I asked (no, not a statistically significant sample size but my videographer was getting tired of following me around), not many actually mentioned Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, iPhone, etc – the things I would have expected them to bring up.  Most resorted to deductive reasoning like such:

Well, social means group, not private, so the group.  And media means newspapers and magazines and TV.  So… magazines and reality shows?

Perhaps.  Social Media doesn’t have a universal, formal definition – yet.  But what was the MOST interesting was that all the teens I questioned were either dumbfounded or cynical, both of which made me nervous. 

For example, one young man in his late teens responded with a tirade about how social media was media owned by 10% of major corporations which dictate what we wear and who we talk to and what we think.  “I follow my own social norms,” he said.  He waved around an iPhone during this passionate speal. 

Similarly, a bitter street vendor trying to sell his hand-bound journals also glanced periodically at his cell phone while condemning “popular interests” that were “guided by Barnes and Noble” and similar mass producers. 

One woman proudly asserted her relative fame on Facebook, but most people were downright apologetic and/or embarassed about their use of social networking mediums.  Why?

Are we just not aware that we’re using Social Media or are we in denial?  I hope it’s the latter otherwise Americans might be sillier than I thought.

I met Mabeline the summer of 2005. She was soaking in the sun at Honda of Bellevue, most likely waiting for someone. There was something unpretentious but still polished about her I liked. I was there to purchase my very first vehicle. She was there to sell. I don’t believe in fate, but I do believe in pragmatic matchmaking that makes sense and saves cents.

I purchased Mabeline comfortably below the asking price. Flush with my newfound negotiating skills, I sat down to sign the paperwork. After Washington sales tax, excise tax, registration fee, six months’ worth of insurance, and a month of parking in my apartment building, the total price tag returned to almost exactly the initial asking price. How annoying. But I had my first car—my first vehicle of freedom.

I was 23 and simply nuts with the itch to drive. I didn’t have time in high school or money in college, and spent a year after graduation in rural Japan riding around on the conventional “mama cherry” (a low-riding steel basket bicycle which doesn’t go much faster than walking pace) between the rice paddies I lived among. Getting my license and a car immediately after returning to the US was the only thing I could think about—a natural next step upon returning safely to the land of milk and honey

After my 7th parking ticket I went to Target and bought a $175 dollar mountain bike.

I didn’t have payments on Mabeline, she was in “excellent condition,” and my annual insurance payment was a little over a thousand dollars. There was no pressing need, either for cash or for an upgrade, to sell the car. There was also no pressing need to keep it.

Seattle’s Department of Transportation’s “One Less Car” campaign inspired me to consider leaving Mabeline, rather than just threatening to every time I had a less-than-positive experience driving or parking—which was the strong majority of the time. While SDOT’s “incentive” of a $200 commuter voucher for selling your car didn’t itself inspire me to sell, it did make me think critically about what I could have instead of a car. (Thomas Friedman makes a compelling argument regarding what the US could have with a $1 gas tax here).

It dawned on me that while $200 wouldn’t go very far, the proceeds from selling Mabeline and savings I could accumulate by not even owning a vehicle could. Instead of wondering, “what do I lose?” I began envisioning what I could acquire instead.

As everything I purchase is ultimately a contribution to my happiness, be it frivolous or functional, I began by weighing the hours of happiness I expected to receive from various items.

For example, Pad Thai. I love it. Ordering out Pad Thai 3-4 times a week would contribute to roughly 12-16 hours of happiness (Eating the yummy takes half an hour and happily digesting the yummy takes about 4). On the other hand, I drove my car about 3-4 times a week for a total of roughly 3 hours. About 1 hour of that was pleasant, and about 30 min of that was out of necessity. Additionally, it was costing me about $100 dollars a week (see below table from SDOT’s cost of car worksheet), while even if I gorged, I could only consume about $40-$50 dollars on weekly Thai take out. Given the ratio of expense to hours of happiness, Pad Thai was clearly triumphant.

This exercise in anal hour-tracking led me to wonder what the pros of owning a car were, and their equivalent cons. A few are listed below.

Pro: Being able to get places.

Con: Spending as much time finding parking as driving, rush-hour traffic, and the constant cognizance of being a moving liability, always on the precipice of getting hit and having to deal with insurance, paperwork, repair, etc.

Pro: Leaving the City.

Con: Having to leave the City.

Pro: Not being stranded in the middle of nowhere alone at night.

Con: Wandering out into the middle of nowhere alone at night.

Pro: Getting to a job interview out in the boonies.

Con: Having to accept a job out in the boonies.

Pro: Being an adult, free to be entirely mobile.

Con: Being an adult eager to drive away.

Ultimately, the above boiled down to my desire to be lazy, and Mabeline’s demands were getting in my way. I couldn’t enjoy a leisurely ride because I was too busy driving. She always wanted gas at the wrong time, insurance coverage when I was out of money, and maintenance during the holidays. I’d rather sit back and let someone else do all that work—like Metro or Yellow Cab.

I sold Mabeline on my birthday, a somewhat bittersweet present to myself, and being without her has been fine. I ride my bike more, and I finally have time to read the newspaper by taking the bus. I earn $75 dollars a month by renting my parking space, which I use for more liberal Pad Thai take out orders. My grocery shopping is more efficient because I plan my meals based on the space in my backpack. I don’t have to worry about paying the insurance on time, scratching the car, washing the car, keeping it maintained, or ever finding parking again.

I no longer own such a major responsibility, and in its place I have a new digital camera, new couch, more take-out food, a greater appreciation for my surroundings, and an overall better sense of well-being. I have never been anti-car or even particularly environmentally sensitive. I sold my car because it seemed like a life without it would actually be less taxing, less expensive, and more liberating. It has.

Calculate the Cost of Your Car (from the “One Less Car” Campaign)

Year: 2004
Make: Honda
Model: 4DR Civic EX
Average Miles Driven Per Year: 3500/12 = 292 miles/month

1) (1)Depreciation this year: $3000 this year
2) (2)License, Registration: $ 87 per year
3) Annual Insurance $1100 per year
4) (3)Annual maintenance, tires: $ 200 annual check up
5) Total items 1-4 / 12 months: $366
6) Monthly car payment: $0 per month

7) (4)Monthly gasoline, oil: $21

(5)Monthly parking fees: $19 per month

TOTAL ITEMS 5-8 ABOVE: $406.00
COST per WEEK OF MY MABELINE:$101.50

1 – http://calculators.aol.com/tools/aol/auto02/tool.fcs
2- According to Seattle DOL’s “annual registration and license fees,” registration ($53) + King County Excise Tax ($34) applied to my vehicle and location between 2004 and 2008.
3 – Estimate
4- Based on annual mileage, average MPG, and $2.05/gallon
5- A 4-year total of roughly $900 in parking fines = $225/year = $18.75/month (terrible luck + naivety = multiple $200 violations and towing charges)

Michael Moore probably wants to change his clothes

I love Michael Moore with a schoolgirl excitement.  Though most Republicans and many Democrats insist my IQ drops consequently, I continue to love him shamelessly.  There are three reasons why.

1. The underdog may get smelly, but the upper hand can deal a devastating blow. 

This is a principle I believe is hard to argue with.  Moore exposes this fact publicly in Fahrenheit 911, Sicko, and most recently, Capitalism: A Love Story.  If we divide the world into proletariat and aristocrat, I believe the two are equally likely to lie, cheat, and steal, but the latter has the power to do so at the expense of a far greater number of people.  And therefore, at a far greater price to humanity and the planet.  Ironically, white collar crime is usually crafty and goes un-noticed.

For example, Bernard Madoff, Enron, the entire Bush Administration…

2. Inspiring discourse is a crucial first step toward change and progress. 

The most frequent criticism against Moore is alleged “factual inaccuracies.”  I actually think people cry “factually inaccurate” just to convey intellectual superiority.  It’s a fun catch phrase I believe  many unquestioningly apply to Michael Moore because he’s a fat guy from the sticks who openly criticizes Republicans and capitalism.  We tend to judge “those people” harshly in terms of intelligence, intentions, and aptitude.  But much more importantly is the fact that facts themselves are usually subjective.  Especially in the deeply interwined relationship between politics, economics, and society, behavior has a high degree of uncertainty associated with it– why exactly Hank Paulson or George Bush or the entire country of Saudi Arabia does something is any one’s guess.  Moore consistently makes articulate, educated guesses and supports his argument with the evidence his lawyers will allow him to publicize.  I wouldn’t be so quick to brush off his films as “factually inaccurate.”

Which is why I believe hovering over the “factually inaccurate” claim is pointless whether you like or dislike Moore.  The fact is (ha) that Moore instigates discourse around the “facts,” which is novel and nobel in this day and age, and a reason to greatly appreciate him.  My friend and I discuss whether something really happened, the ethical standards of this vs. that, and generally what we approve of and what we don’t on Wall Street, Capitol Hill, Mainstreet, overseas…  rather than whether Keanu Reeves was cool in those sunglasses during The Matrix.  Conversation among the masses is a great means (the best?) by which new and improved ideas which benefit the masses can emerge. 

3. Pop culture and the business of entertainment is as powerful as organic economics and politics. 

The most proven means to catching the attention of EVERY one at the same time– the rushed, busy, bored, lazy, inquisitive, intellectual, ambivalent, indifferent, and high– is through comedy and personalization.  Moore is excellent at playing the unassuming dork– and that is always going to be funny.  He also makes every film personal– we like to see the person who’s making the stink and throwing the fit.  This is why reality shows are such a hit.  People like to watch real-life characters, not hired actors. 

Michael Moore, the “just like you and me” guy from across the street, is the real-life character we like to watch on TV who is funny, charming, and just plain brilliant in his ability to catch the attention of many people all at once and deliver an insightful message that gets people thinking and talking.

And for these reasons, I ask for more Moore, please.  Oh, Dreamy Michael, be still my heart.