Get a job, you bum

Among the many, many articles being published in advance of the premiere this Friday of "Fahrenheit 9/11" -- the Michael Moore film which hopes to do nothing less than bring about the defeat of Bush in November -- is this one from the Cincinnatti Post, which includes this intriguing, and encouraging, bit of analysis (emphasis mine):

For months "Fahrenheit 9/11" has been a subject of heated discussions on op-ed pages in newspapers and talk shows, but it isn't the only documentary (a term that applies here in its broadest sense) to tap into today's political anxieties. Several other "impressionistic" documentaries, all with a dissident touch, are in theaters or on their way. They include "Control Room" (now showing at the Esquire Theatre in Clifton), about the Al Jazeera TV network; "The Corporation," a look at corporate policies and everyday American life; and "The Hunting of the President," which asks whether there was a vast conspiracy -- or a series of little ones -- to destroy the Clinton administration.

Nonfiction films have been growing in popularity of late, but this season's batch is joining a chorus of already raised voices. Some observers see a renewed interest in political ferment in today's media, extending from bestselling books on the Bush administration by journalist Bob Woodward, to the strongest flood of protest songs in 30 years, to the rise of talk radio on both the left and the right.

"Popular culture is embracing politics in a way it hasn't since the 1960s," says Joel Bakan, co-writer of "The Corporation" and author of the Free Press book on which that movie is based.

Oh -- popular culture is embracing politics. Not people.