Marc Gregson Film 1070 10/5/2013 Mid-Term Essay This Divided State: Division Through the use of real

life documentation, This Divided State shows the theme of hypocrisy as it appears in many different situations. The film takes place in a predominately conservative, LDS community in Orem, Utah, also known as Family City, USA. There, Utah Valley State College (UVSC) decides to invite the liberal filmmaker Michael Moore to speak on their campus. This ignites a massive controversy. The film chronicles that controversy and highlights the hypocrisy in it through through Joseph Smith's quote, reactions to freedom of speech, and both Sean Hannity's and Micheal Moore's visit to the college. The first image shown is a quote from Joseph Smith that states, Political views and party distinctions should never disturb the harmony of society. After this, the film summarizes the history of the Mormon pioneers and the persecution that led them to pursue a land where they could live freely. While the pioneers suffered so much at the hands of bigotry, their descendents have taken to persecuting others for thinking differently. Kay Anderson, a well off Orem man of LDS faith, says in the film that we are not a contentious people, and yet this same man is at the forefront of the anti-Michael Moore controversy. He gets into shouting matches, offers to pay the college to not have Michael Moore speak, and eventually ends up suing the student body President and Vice President. At one point he says that freedom of speech is only protected when the majority agrees with it, and if they don't, the majority have the right to tell that person to shut up. Kay Anderson might be a devout church going member of his faith, but his words are in direct conflict with Joseph Smith's words. But not all members of the LDS faith share Kay Anderson's opinion, and are more in harmony

with Joseph Smith's statement. One of the head people at UVSC, not named, during a discussion, tells Kay Anderson that while they share the same faith, they don't share the same views. At another point, another member, a former LDS missionary, talks about the challenges of his mission, and how he remembers just wishing that others would be willing to listen to his message instead of slamming the door on his face. He says that people are close minded and that there is a lot of ignorance. This ignorance is also a form of hypocrisy. Some of the LDS faith expect tolerance from everyone else, but at the same don't give that treatment to others. This is evident while Sean Vreeland is getting students to sign his anti-Michael Moore petition. At one point, a man identifying himself as not from this country asks Sean who Michael Moore is, and here Sean shows his ignorance by stumbling through his words, and then finally proclaiming that Michael Moore is anti-Bush. His ignorance doesn't end there. His petition's goal is to stop student money from being spent to bring Michael Moore to campus. Yet, Michael Moore was being paid through sponsors and through ticket sales. No student money was used. Sean created a petition out of ignorance. And those that signed his petition also express the same ignorance. One signee, a UVSC student not named, talks to the camera about why he signed. He describes Moore as straight lies and utter hate and that he is not educating us as all, yet when this student is asked if he has seen Fahrenheit 911, he replies that he's seen enough of it to know that he doesn't need to see all of it. Later he also reveals that he has only seen bits and pieces through the news and that his opinion is based on what he heard from friends. Throughout the film, we are shown many houses with American flags outside and Bush Country signs. Freedom of Speech is in the 1st Amendment and those that express their political views on their lawns, or outside their homes have a right to do that. But some of these same citizens, like Sean Vreeland, would rather suppress the rights of others through a petition than allow them to speak. This is just another example of the hypocrisy that is documented in this film. In perhaps an attempt to appease some of the disgruntled citizens and students, UVSC invites

Sean Hannity, a popular conservative radio host to speak at the campus. Many are excited that Hannity is coming because he appreciates their values. And Hannity himself touts that he is not being paid to come to UVSC, which isn't true of Michael Moore. However, he does require a private jet, and his total expenditure is similar to Moore's fee. Furthermore, during Hannity's speech, he didn't create an open dialogue, but instead just mocked the liberals in attendance and when certain professors spoke, he cited them as examples to why our education system was failing. Instead of giving hard facts to support his point of view, Hannity resorted to mocking others and persecuting them. In an ironic twist, the man who started this whole firestorm, Michael Moore, was just as hypocritical as everyone else in the movie. Moore stood at the podium, spouting off nice things about the student body officers being the bravest that he's ever met. But during his speech, he doesn't create an open dialogue, doesn't talk too much about the issues, but instead does a ra ra ra like a high school cheerleader. And he is exposed for his political hypocrisy, when supporters of Ralph Nader (a candidate Moore used to support) exercise their freedom of speech and are then summarily kicked out of the assembly. Sadly, one of the men that Michael Moore so highly praised, Jim Bassi, also becomes an example of hypocritical actions. Bassi said that he wouldn't back down to Kay Anderson or anyone else, yet, when the civil lawsuit came, Jim Bassi asked his friend, the Vice President, Jim Vogel, to step down. This shows that even those who intend to stand strong against others can eventually falter and become hypocrites themselves. Another form of hypocrisy was that after both Michael Moore and Sean Hannity spoke, everything went back to normal. All that free speech: open dialogue, petitions, lawsuits, all things this country gives its citizens as part of their freedom, accomplished very little. We can hope that something edifying came to the students, but neither Moore nor Hannity brought anything new to the table or even really discussed the issues.

And once the people left the speeches, life still went on. No fire and brimstone crashed to the earth, no mass hysteria in the streets. On election day, Utah didn't suddenly turn blue. And Orem somehow kept its values and managed not to turn into Las Vegas. The most depressing thing in this whole film, is that the one tangible change we can see is a friendship torn apart. The country is as divided before the film as it was after. Perhaps this is the greatest hypocrisy of all, we believe that our free exchange of ideas will accomplish something good, but maybe, in some cases, it can do more harm than we think.