NOT COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU: THE CENSORSHIP CAMPAIGN AGAINST MICHAEL MOORE AND THE FILM PLANET OF THE HUMANS.
By Albert Lanier
On Earth Day in 2020, perhaps the controversial film of what has become a tumultuous year was released not in megaplex movie theaters or through streaming services or even on demand but on all places, You Tube.
Written and directed by Jeff Gibbs, a composer and researcher and writer who worked on projects with his good friend documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, PLANET OF THE HUMANS (POTH) is a documentary feature film that examines the green energy portfolio of Wind, Solar and most especially Biomass and Biofuel energy finding them wanting as alternatives to coal , oil and natural gas.
The film also exposed and harshly critiqued the efforts of corporate interests (Media tycoon Mike Bloomberg for one appears in a couple of scenes) to fund environmental groups and to influence the mainstream environmental movement.
In addition, the documentary had a sobering take on the lack of progress made by the promotion and implementation of green energy and the environmental movement. An emphasis of the examining the impact of the presence of human population as well as human consumption was made later in the film.
PLANET OF THE HUMANS was produced by Michael Moore known chiefly for his Oscar Winning feature BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE as as the films CAPITALISM A LOVE STORY, FAHRENHEIT 9–11 and ROGER AND ME.
PLANET has apparently come as a total shock to the senses to many. No one expected the generally Left-wing Moore, a self-described environmentalist, to produce a film that lays waste to renewable green energy and its claims and critiques the environmental movement by casting withering scorn on such individuals as former Vice President Al Gore and environmentalist Bill Mckibbon.
The film has been a success in terms of viewership. Over 8 million downloads making this potentially one of the biggest audiences ever for an environmental documentary.
It is probably this success but more likely the film’s content that has led to what can only be described as a ruthless campaign to cleanse and eradicate the film from the internet.
The organizer and master tactician behind this effort is ironically a documentary filmmaker named Josh Fox
Fox known for directing the documentary GASLAND and for his appearances on MSNBC’s ALL IN with Chris Hayes was an early opponent of POTH calling for the film to be “redacted” and removed from You Tube and possibly as many sites on the internet.
Fox apparently got his wish. One Toby Smith filed a copyright claim recently on about 4 seconds of footage used in a montage in the film describing how the minerals and elements used to make solar panels and wind turbines were extracted from the earth.This caused the video platform firm You Tube to yank the film from producer’s Michael Moore’s YT account until the matter was ostensibly examined.
Smith reportedly called POTH “a baseless shite doc built on bullshit” according to writer and Video editor/maker Matt Orfalea in a pice that can be found here on Medium.com entitled “Leaked E-mails Call For Censorship of Michael Moore’s New Film.”
Orfalea notes that “the same night Moore released the film, journalist filmmaker Josh Fox (“Gasland’) led an effort to censor it.”
According to Orfalea, Fox sent out an e-mail on April 22 to a number of websites emphasizing that POTH “must come down off your pages immediately.”
Another e-mail later that night called POTH “this abomination.”
Fox jumped on the “Destroy the PLANET” bandwagon early on by writing a piece for THE NATION magazine attacking POTH.
If Fox’s NATION piece was the sum total of his energies to oppose the film that would be deemed within the permissible boundaries of free speech.
However, Fox is no mere critic or instant bystander. He not only sent e-mails out to get various sites to drop any content about POTH, he also created an online petition against this film signed by such writers and intellectuals as Naomi Klein.
Therefore Josh Fox should be seen as an Agent Provocateur, instigator and saboteur trying to stifle and destroy free speech by trying to get POTH removed everywhere online.
That a documentary filmmaker like Fox should engage in gutter, hardball tactics against another documentary film is nothing short of shameful and appalling.
Fox though is not the only critic of POTH. Michael Mann, a Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University, wrote an opinion piece in NEWSWEEK in early May of 2020 entitled “Michael Moore’s New Film Turns Heroes Into Villains and Villains into Heroes.”
Mann enumerated at 3 controversies critics like him have with the film including that it uses data that is at least a decade old and that the film inaccurately boosts carbon footprint estimates for Biomass and Biofuels and that biomass accounts for 2 percent of energy produced as electricity.
Mann though doesnt stick to at least arguable criticisms here but takes cheap shots at Michael Moore stating he was “flacking the film like next month’s rent depended on it” and that by releasing the film on Earth Day “his intention was to launch a hand grenade that would produce maximum collateral damage to action on climate.”
The professor also asserts that POTH “so perfectly plays into a larger agenda under way aimed at forestalling action on climate.” Mann cites right wing outlets like BREITBART NEWS and groups like the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Heartland Institute ostensibly funded by fossil fuel concerns as supporters of the film who laud it publicly and recommend it highly.
It is clear what Mann is trying to do to both Moore and Gibbs-he is tarring them as Big Oil and Fossil Fuel Apologists by engaging in a pattern of Guilt by Association and even dishonest trickery and deception through these linkages to right wing and fossil fuel groups.
The end result has been a careless and fiction based smear campaign not only against Michael Moore who is simply the producer of the film but against POTH itself.
A final point that should be known is that there appears to be a press blackout against writers and journalists who wish to provide either praise or support for the film. The vast majority of pieces or takes on the film in major and other media have been largely if not overwhelmingly negative.
This writer was told by one environmental journalist on Twitter that he was unable to pitch or sell pieces to outlets providing a positive view of the film. He was clearly frustrated.
In conclusion, the campaign against PLANET OF THE HUMANS can only be called a war against this film.
After all, we have:
- A copyright claimant against POTH who virulently loathes the film
2. A filmmaker who not only wrote a critical article but worked behind the scenes to film dropped from sites and stripped from You Tube.
3. A scientist basically inferring that the filmmakers were doing the bidding of fossil fuel interests
4. A likely press/media blackout on any dissenting views of POTH namely anything positive.
The end result is that the enemies of POTH want this film gone or to quote one critic Assistant Science Professor Leah Stokes: “My only hope is that this film will be buried.”
A freelance journalist for 22 years, Albert Lanier wrote for newspapers like Honolulu Weekly and Pacific Business News and magazines such as Hawaii and Edible Hawaiia Islands before retiring in 2017. Since then, Lanier has written a blog for Medium.com and been a commentator and pundit on podcasts and programs. He can be reached at @criticinc on Twitter and on Facebook.
