And he sure didn’t appreciate the way Moore portrayed him in the film, nor did he approve of the movie’s content. Some said he would never have agreed to allow Moore to use him in the movie if he had known what Moore’s intentions were going to be. But then again, that’s what a propagandist like Michael Moore does. He distorts, deceives, manipulates and laughs all the way to the bank.
On Monday, June 26, 2006, Staff Sgt. Raymond J. Plouhar, 30, died of injuries he suffered while conducting combat operations in Iraq’s volatile Anbar province. His grieving father said, “I’m proud that my son wanted to protect the freedom of this country whether we all agree with the war or not.”
I’m sure his opinion of Michael Moore and the way he treated his son in “Fahrenheit 9/11” isn’t something that could be published in this column.
Now that Ray Plouhar has died, I wonder if there will be many Michael Moore-style filmmakers poking their cameras into Moore’s face and asking him how he feels. Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear what Moore would say about Ray Plouhar now?
I’m guessing that despite his millionaire lifestyle (I once watched him climb aboard a huge, private jet in State College, Pennsylvania), he isn’t sleeping very well these days. I have enough faith in the human condition to believe that even Michael Moore feels ashamed of what he did to one of our heroes. I’ve got to believe that he tosses and turns on his silk sheets, feeling pretty terrible that his movie caused Ray Plouhar and his family such embarrassment. I think he must be absolutely miserable in realizing what a mean-spirited jerk he is.
But then again, I tend to be an optimist about such matters.