Moore Crushing of Dissent

Via Andrew Sullivan, I found this piece from Slate by Jack Shafer, laying out Michael Moore's undying commitment to intellectual freedom:

"Any attempts to libel me will be met by force,'" Fahrenheit 9/11 director Michael Moore told the New York Times on Sunday (June 20, 2004). "The most important thing we have is truth on our side. If they persist in telling lies, knowingly telling a lie with malice, then I'll take them to court."

The Times also reported that Moore "has consulted with lawyers who can bring defamation suits against anyone who maligns the film or damages his reputation," and that he's established a "war room" to monitor attacks on the film. Lest anybody miss his threat, the filmmaker repeated it the same day on This Week With George Stephanopoulos and in the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, and will probably whistle the same libel tune all week long in publicity interviews for the film, which opens Friday.

Remember that ALA, in its infinite wisdom, will be showing "Fahrenheit 911" at next week's annual conference in Orlando, in order to raise funds for ALA's intellectual freedom efforts. The same film whose director is threatening libel suits against anyone who dares criticize it. Nope, no irony here.