Michael Moore visits Utah

So the big Utah news of the day, warranting a front-page article in the Salt Lake Tribune is that Michael Moore, creator of Farenheit 9/11, spoke at Utah Valley State College last night.

Curiously, UVSC’s own news page doesn’t even talk about Moore speaking on their campus. I get the distinct impression that the college is embarassed by the student association’s decision to hire Moore to speak, and wishes to distance itself from the controversial action in order to preserve relationships with mostly-conservative alums that give the college most of it’s budget. But that’s just a guess 🙂 And, regardless of their own opinions on the matter, they did not interfere with the student council decision to have Moore speak — though they did buckle to pressure and schedule conservative commentator Sean Hannity to “balance” Moore’s perspecive.

For those of you who don’t understand what the hubbub is about, here’s the background. Utah County is the most conservative county in the country. The population is well over 80% members of the LDS church. It’s a singularly unique bellweather, because despite the presence of a major university (Brigham Young University) in its midst, it is still overwhelmingly right-wing.

The announcement that the student council of UVSC had spent $50,000 (including travel) of its diminutive budget to bring a single, extremely liberal speaker to the campus, made front-page news and caused a commotion the sleepy county hasn’t seen for years. Alumni began calling to revoke their pledge support. An individual in the county offered $40,000 to the student council to prevent Moore from speaking. Many conservative parents were up-in-arms, feeling that the funds of their children were being misused.

The amazing story within the story is the strength of the student council leadership in resisting bribery attempts, extortion, threats, and a lawsuit all in efforts to prevent Moore from speaking. I’m flatly amazed. And I’m even more amazed (in the opposite, “rubbernecking a car wreck” rather than “astounded at someone’s resilience” sense) at the response of county residents who went to such lengths in an attempt to silence someone whose opinions they disagreed with. It doesn’t seem to be a response befitting a free country… or a free county.

All in all, it’s been very, very fun to watch!

I’m interested in a transcript of the jokes told by Roseanne Barr, a Utah native, who appeared on the stage with Moore. Too bad the show was sold out within a few days of it being announced.

Anyway, here are a few of the many articles regarding the appearance:

• Moore speech at UVSC draws cheers, boos. This story briefly mentions the audience member that pointed an object at Moore and was escorted from the building.
• Moore War Creates Its Heroes
• Tears, Jeers, and Cheers: few in audience are neutral
• Moore: Voices
• The Sun Rises. There’s a notable quote in this one:
  

  The sun came up Thursday morning.
  Utah Valley State College did not fall into a hole in the Earth’s crust. Orem was not overwhelmed by locusts, frogs or, even, crickets.
  Michael Moore came, spoke, soaked up the applause, collected his well-earned fee and left for the next stop on his Slacker Uprising Tour. There he will don the locally appropriate baseball cap and again make the argument that some folks in Utah County had been warning us was treading the line of treason:
  Young people ought to get off their butts and vote.
  It’s hard to see why anybody has a problem with that.
  …Silly, pointless ideas, after all, don’t get a rise out of people. Only powerful ones do.

• Utah Saga of Moore Isn’t Over
• Wanting Moore? KRCL to replay speech. (Unfortunately, despite hunting around on KRCL’s web site, I was unable to find last night’s archive.)