Farenheit 911
Fahrenheit 9/11's Power Elite Theory
On June 25, 2004, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Michael Moore, released a controversial film, Fahrenheit 9/11, to the nation, that examined the actions of the Bush Administration in the time period following the tragic events that occurred on September 11, 2001. The film was protested by the nation's conservatives and thought to be rather comical to the nation's liberals due to the way that Moore portrayed President George W. Bush and the rest of the Republican Party. Moore showed in detail the different events or decisions that he felt were disputable from Bush's presidency, including the way he feels Bush unfairly powers the nation's population into following that of the power elite. We will use Mills's Power Elite Theory to argue that President George W. Bush and the power elite exercise their power over the American people through the many decisions and policies they make on our country.
In 1956, C. Wright Mills developed a theory that "the United States no longer has separate economic, political, and military leaders but instead the most prominent people in each region combine to form a united elite." Most people saw the two main levels of power in the special interest groups and the public, but Mills displayed three levels: the power elite then the special interest groups then the public. It is the higher levels that make the decisions regarding war, national policy, and domestic policy. Members of the power elite tend to be interested in similar things and also come from similar backgrounds. An example of this would be that most members are either educated at special schools, military academics, or Ivy League schools and also share common faiths in the Episcopalian or Presbyterian churches. Members of the power elite have known other members of the group for a long time, share the same groups of friends, and also intermarry (Sociology 407). They do all of this in order to make it easier...
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