Palmer Events Center
'Sicko' Shouldn't Have Romanticized Cuba as Much as It Did
RECEIVED Wed., July 4, 2007
Dear Editor,
Though an adamant supporter of nationalized health care, I was deeply disappointed by Michael Moore’s new documentary, Sicko [Film Listings, June 29]. Not because of his message, rather because I thought his romanticized excursion into Cuba to compare its nationalized system to the U.S. system was ridiculous and inane. Fidel Castro is notorious for not taking care of his people and for covering it up for a couple of days to dazzle visiting foreigners, and Michael Moore fell right into that theatric. Castro is repressive of artists, writers, gays, and anyone who does not conform, sending people to terrible prisons and concentration camps until they do. The people who do conform are lucky to get a meal since the country is so poverty stricken due to Castro’s disastrous economic policies. Of course, Mr. Moore is not the only one blind to the truth about this terrible dictatorship. Seems like everyone is wearing one of those trendy Che Guevara T-shirts these days, but no one really gives a damn about the Cuban people. We would rather believe they’re living in a fairy-tale land of universal health care under a benevolent communist system.
Though an adamant supporter of nationalized health care, I was deeply disappointed by Michael Moore’s new documentary, Sicko [Film Listings, June 29]. Not because of his message, rather because I thought his romanticized excursion into Cuba to compare its nationalized system to the U.S. system was ridiculous and inane. Fidel Castro is notorious for not taking care of his people and for covering it up for a couple of days to dazzle visiting foreigners, and Michael Moore fell right into that theatric. Castro is repressive of artists, writers, gays, and anyone who does not conform, sending people to terrible prisons and concentration camps until they do. The people who do conform are lucky to get a meal since the country is so poverty stricken due to Castro’s disastrous economic policies. Of course, Mr. Moore is not the only one blind to the truth about this terrible dictatorship. Seems like everyone is wearing one of those trendy Che Guevara T-shirts these days, but no one really gives a damn about the Cuban people. We would rather believe they’re living in a fairy-tale land of universal health care under a benevolent communist system.
Michael McCown