Filmmaker Michael Moore is no stranger to controversy, specializing as he does in skewering the shibboleths of capitalism. But it does seem like he went out of his way in his latest effort, Planet of the Humans, to alienate one of the few groups of people he has managed not to alienate thus far. Unlike Moore's previous movies, it's even available free of charge on YouTube, so he REALLY wants to make a statement with it.
In Planet of the Humans, Moore - or rather Jeff Gibbs, who actually wrote and directed the film - takes on pretty much the entire environmental movement by taking aim at the supposed hypocrisy of climate change initiatives, trashing solar panels and electric cars as unenvironmental, and targetting climate activists like Al Gore and Bill McKibben.
Unfortunately, it seems to be riddled with untruths, half-truths and out-of-date information. It has elicited responses from a whole host of scientists and personalities, who have called it "shockingly misleading and absurd", pointed out "various distortions, half-truths and lies", and accused it of trading in "debunked fossil fuel industry talking points". There have been calls to have the movie removed from public platforms, calls that have been largely resisted lest the environmental movement be accused of censorship.
I've never been a huge fan of Moore's abrasive, in-your-face style, but he has just lost himself a big chunk of his following with this one. And possibly put the environmetal cause that he claims to support back a few steps, because others will use this as ammunition against it, errors or no errors.
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