discussion!!

Where to Invade Next", by Michael Moore. Some questions to address would be : What does this have to do with YOU? How does the information contained therein make you feel? What does this have to do with the U.S. economically and/or socially? What does this have to do with the topic of "business"?

What about you? I will give you a hint: each of the topics has to do with business, as you can probably see. What about Finance? And many of these topics have to do with the future of this country. Any ideas how that is?

I think it is Moores best film, managing to be solemn and humorous at the same time. My reaction was more somber. For me, the film reveals, without explicitly saying it, how the toxic masculinity of American society, especially our propensity for violence and domination, leaves us bereft of community, compassion, and respect for human dignity. Social harmony and caring, juxtaposed with social dysfunction and aggressive competition, make the USA look horrific by comparison. Our cruelty and brutality are on full display and, compared with more civilized countries, American social policies are revealed for what they aresheer madness.

In the film Moore visits (invades) various countries and claims some of their most successful ideas for the US. The idea is that rather than invade to destroy, we invade to learn how we could have a better and more just society.

Here are the countries he visits, and topics he considers, in order of appearance:

• In Italy: labor rights and workers well-being paid holiday, paid honeymoon, thirteenth salary, two-hour lunch breaks, paid parental leave, speaking with the executives of Lardini and Claudio Domenicali, the CEO of Ducati
• In France: school meals and sex education
• In Finland: education policy (almost no homework, no standardized testing), speaking with Krista Kiuru, the Finnish Minister of Education
• In Slovenia: debt-free/tuition-free higher education, speaking with Ivan Svetlik, University of Ljubljanas rector, and Borut Pahor, the President of Slovenia
• In Germany: labor rights and worklife balance, visiting pencil manufacturer Faber-Castell, and the value of honest, frank national history education particularly as it relates to Nazi Germany
• In Portugal: May Day, drug policy of Portugal, and the abolition of the death penalty
• In Norway: humane prison system, visiting the minimum-security Basty Prison and maximum-security Halden Prison, and Norways response to the 2011 Utya attacks
• In Tunisia: womens rights, including reproductive health, access to abortion and their role in the Tunisian Revolution and the drafting of the Tunisian Constitution of 2014
• In Iceland: women in power, speaking with Vigds Finnbogadttir, the worlds first democratically elected female president; the Best Party with Jn Gnarr being elected Mayor of Reykjavk City; the 200811 Icelandic financial crisis and the criminal investigation and prosecution of bankers, with special prosecutor lafur Hauksson
• The fall of the Berlin Wall

No one could watch the film objectively, assuming they realized that everything Moore is saying is true, and restate that stale line America is the greatest country. In fact, one should draw nearly the opposite conclusion.