Let Them Eat Cake

By Alberto de la Cruz


In Michael Moore’s latest feature length fantasy titled, Sicko, the filmmaker attempts to show us just how bad the healthcare system in the US is by comparing it to the so-called free universal healthcare available in, of all places, Cuba. With his usual disdain for actual facts and the complete disregard for context that are so prevalent in all of his films, Mr. Moore would have you believe that the average Cuban citizen has access to and receives superior healthcare in comparison to the average American. The truth about Cuba’s healthcare or better said, lack of healthcare, is easily verified by anyone who has access to the internet (Cubans on the island do not have this luxury—internet access is available only to the elite). There, anyone can view actual photographs and read first-hand accounts of the filth and lack of medicine and medical supplies that plagues virtually every hospital and clinic in Cuba available to the average Cuban citizen. Mr. Moore, finding these actualities inconvenient to his storyline, prefers to perpetuate the propaganda put out by the Cuban dictatorship and shows you only the healthcare that is available to communist party officials and tourists. Moore, who is not as dumb as he looks, is fully aware of these inequalities, but chooses instead to disseminate the lies and distortions that continually hurt the Cuban population at large. Michael Moore and his Cuban communist friends all enjoy personal freedom and access to exceptional medical care. To the rest of the Cubans who must suffer under the yoke of communist oppression and medical apartheid, Mr. Moore’s intentional omission of facts simply says; let them eat cake!

Sicko is just another example of the left’s bigoted and elitist posture towards people enslaved by leftist dictatorships. Moore would like you to believe that he is a champion of the downtrodden and the exploited, but the reality is that he is part of the reason millions of Cuban citizens continue to be subjugated and exploited by the ruling communist elite. From their limousines and private jets, Michael Moore and those like him lament what they call the ghastly US embargo on Cuba, all the while ignoring the atrocities committed by their hero, Fidel Castro, on the Cuban people. The truth is that Michael Moore and his leftist brethren have no concern for the well-being of the Cuban people; their only concern is their own welfare and the promotion of their leftist political ideologies. That it hurts the Cuban people is of no consequence to them. Perhaps Cubans are not high enough on their evolutionary scale to warrant the entitlement of full-fledged human rights.

This elitist attitude is not new among the left, though they have done an effective job of cloaking their bigotry. Nevertheless, their total disregard for the welfare of the Cuban people speaks volumes about who they really are and what they really think of Cuba. Like modern-day Marie Antionettes, Michael Moore and those of his ilk subscribe to an elitist self-indulgence, caring only for themselves, their own comfort, and the advancement of their beliefs and philosophies. They have no concern for the Cubans that are languishing under a totalitarian dictatorship; they want to sip their mojitos and enjoy the island’s pristine beaches without having to worry about such unpleasant topics. Emulating 18th century French aristocracy, these haughty patricians have no interest for the daily struggle that common Cubans must endure to feed their families. Instead, they raise a toast to the island’s dictator and compliment him on his dubious societal advances, apathetic to the inhumane conditions that the vast majority of Cubans must live in.

Although Moore is fully aware of the cruelties inflicted on the Cuban people by Castro’s heinous government, it is obvious that it does not bother him. He is more than willing to look the other way and accept whatever the despot’s propaganda machine spits out to hide the sad state of affairs on the island. Apparently, Mr. Moore knows what is best for Cuba and its people better than the eleven million who have to deal with, and live under, the dreadful conditions that exist on the island. When pressed about the truth of life in Cuba, Moore prefers to skip the topic, reverting instead to some bland drivel that people have “various levels of freedom around the world.” If he were to answer the question honestly and not hide his obvious bigotry, he would have most likely said that Cubans do not have the same freedom that he enjoys because they are not smart enough or socially evolved enough to have it.

From its inception, the premise behind communism and socialism is that average people do not have the ability to make a decision for themselves. They need the guidance and leadership of the State to tell them what to say, what to think, what to wear, what to watch, what to read, what to eat, when to sleep, when to work, and when to rest. This is elitism in its most vile form—removing all rights to individual freedoms and thought. Mr. Moore finds this type of tyranny readily acceptable for the Cuban people. Of course, such a system would never work for him—he needs to pursue his art and considers himself too good and too smart to have his free expression stifled. For the repressed population of Cuba, however, he finds it a viable and just form of governance that supposedly (as he reads the cue cards provided to him by the Cuban Ministry of the Interior) provides the most basic needs to its people.

Although Moore values his freedom dearly, and would never relinquish it for the benefit of the State, he expects Cubans to continue doing so. By shilling for the Castro dictatorship, he becomes a willing accomplice to the forty-eight years of gross violations of human rights committed by Castro’s tyrannical dictatorship since taking power in January of 1959.

Michael Moore may consider himself too clever to be found out, but the millions of Cubans who crave liberty and justice have his number. Those people who he does not deem worthy of justice will continue to struggle and fight for the day when they are finally free of oppression. Michael Moore may feel superior and more worthy of freedom than mere Cubans, but they have something he has never had: Integrity.