{"id":583,"date":"2007-09-11T01:36:21","date_gmt":"2007-09-11T05:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=583"},"modified":"2018-08-16T17:46:30","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T21:46:30","slug":"morris-2004-the-fog-of-war-eleven-lessons-from-the-life-of-robert-s-macnamara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=583","title":{"rendered":"(Morris 2004) The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. MacNamara"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/span><\/span>I strong\u00adly rec\u00adom\u00admend this film. It\u2019s prob\u00ada\u00adbly the best of the polit\u00adi\u00adcal doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtaries cir\u00adcu\u00adlat\u00ading today. Since news\u00adpa\u00adpers, radio and tele\u00advi\u00adsion have stopped being of any use to any\u00adone who wants to learn things about pol\u00adi\u00adtics, doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary films have emerged as the most effec\u00adtive medi\u00adum for dis\u00adcussing pub\u00adlic affairs.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For those who are too young to rec\u00adog\u00adnize the name, Robert Strange McNa\u00adma\u00adra was one of the pio\u00adneers of strate\u00adgic sys\u00adtems analy\u00adsis dur\u00ading WWII<\/span>, and served as Sec\u00adre\u00adtary of Defense for Kennedy and John\u00adson from 1961 to 1968. He then became Pres\u00adi\u00addent of the World Bank until his retire\u00adment in 1981. What is now called \u201cpol\u00adi\u00adcy analy\u00adsis\u201d is an ampli\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of the \u201csys\u00adtems analy\u00adsis\u201d that he intro\u00adduced to the Pen\u00adta\u00adgon. Under\u00adstand\u00ading McNa\u00adma\u00adra\u2019s back\u00adground, psy\u00adchol\u00ado\u00adgy and motives is essen\u00adtial for any attempt to eval\u00adu\u00adate Amer\u00adi\u00adcan for\u00adeign pol\u00adi\u00adcy dur\u00ading the 1960s.<\/span><\/p>\n

This doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary, by vet\u00ader\u00adan direc\u00adtor Erroll Mor\u00adris, is the exact oppo\u00adsite of the kind of slop\u00adpy, self-serv\u00ading crap that Michael Moore pro\u00adduces. A rel\u00ade\u00advant digres\u00adsion: Moore has done more dam\u00adage to the urgent and vital cause of oppos\u00ading Con\u00adser\u00advatism in Amer\u00adi\u00adca than any\u00adthing I can think of. Get\u00adting your facts wrong, fal\u00adsi\u00adfy\u00ading data, stag\u00ading pho\u00adny inci\u00addents, and gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly being a loud and obnox\u00adious ass\u00adhole are NOT<\/span> <\/em><\/span>the way to turn back the tide of Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive evil. Just because the Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives fill the air\u00adwaves with screech\u00ading, igno\u00adrant liars like Ann Coul\u00adter and Robert Novak does not mean that the tac\u00adtic should be aped by their oppo\u00adnents. We are sup\u00adposed to be <\/span>fight\u00ading<\/em><\/span> against evil, not cloning it. Moore\u2019s antics mere\u00adly degrade and dis\u00adcred\u00adit the cause of lib\u00ader\u00adty. It\u2019s worth draw\u00ading atten\u00adtion to the quo\u00adta\u00adtion from Bas\u00adti\u00adat that begins one of my \u201cmed\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtions\u201d: \u201cThe worst thing that can hap\u00adpen to a good cause is, not to be skill\u00adful\u00adly attacked, but to be inept\u00adly defended.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mor\u00adris\u2019s doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary is supe\u00adri\u00ador to Moore\u2019s stuff in every way. He remains off cam\u00adera, and appears only occa\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly as a voice ask\u00ading McNa\u00adma\u00adra ques\u00adtions that elic\u00adit reveal\u00ading respons\u00ades. There is no grand\u00adstand\u00ading, no attempt to entrap or embar\u00adrass Mac\u00adNa\u00adma\u00adra, no attempt to make Mor\u00adris the \u201cstar\u201d of his own doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary. There are no dirty tricks. Mac\u00adNa\u00adma\u00adra is giv\u00aden a fair chance to explain him\u00adself. The result is a his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly impor\u00adtant document.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is rarely acknowl\u00adedged by Democ\u00adrats today that the road to the present dom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion of Amer\u00adi\u00adca by Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive Repub\u00adli\u00adcans, with all its atten\u00addant eco\u00adnom\u00adic and moral dis\u00adas\u00adter, was paved by the idi\u00adot\u00adic choic\u00ades made by Democ\u00adrats in the 1960s. Mac\u00adNa\u00adma\u00adra was a key fig\u00adure in that era. As he looks back on these events from his old age, he reveals a pecu\u00adliar mix\u00adture of arro\u00adgance, self-doubt, guilt and blind\u00adness. This is real stuff. Infi\u00adnite\u00adly more valu\u00adable than staged con\u00adfronta\u00adtions and child\u00adish pranks. This is how polit\u00adi\u00adcal doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtaries should be made.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I strong\u00adly rec\u00adom\u00admend this film. It\u2019s prob\u00ada\u00adbly the best of the polit\u00adi\u00adcal doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtaries cir\u00adcu\u00adlat\u00ading today. Since news\u00adpa\u00adpers, radio and tele\u00advi\u00adsion have stopped being of any use to any\u00adone who wants to learn things about pol\u00adi\u00adtics, doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary films have emerged as the most \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[948,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-d-viewing","category-dt-viewing-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8875,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions\/8875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}