How should one rise to a challenge?

I sometimes write messages on various discussion lists and, when the topic comes up, do not stop myself from making comments about the disaster that is the Bush administration. The other morning I got a private message from a person on one of these lists challenging me to go and look at a film that someone had done which tries to show that Fahrenheit 9/11 was biased. When challenged like this the natural tendency is to say, “Very well, I will see that movie” and, then to do it with, hopefully, something like an open mind. I thought about this for a while, however, and have come to the conclusion that I have no obligation to see that specific movie. There are several reasons. The most basic one, though, is that our time is limited – we can not afford to spend it on just anything that someone who disagrees with us challenges us to see. I would not watch a film that aims to show that Earth is flat nor will I watch a film that tries to rehabilitate Bush from the charges laid against him by Moore. In fact, there is even less reason to see the anti-Moore movie than one by the Flat Earthers. The reason is that even if the anti-Moore movie is absolutely right on every point it makes, the fundamental situation does not change one iota. This is because since Moore’s movie came out George Worst-ever Bush has failed on so many levels and in so many ways that his administration is utterly bankrupt politically, morally and historically – I mentioned in my previous post just some of the things he’s managed to fall over. So, I can let my interlocutor have all of his assertions and Shrub and Co. are still shown to be irredeemably awful in every way and that, after all, is much more significant than whether Moore is a good film-maker.