Manufacturing Dissent is a topical documentary seeking to separate fact, fiction, and legend. It chronicles Michael Moore on tour during the promotion of Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), all while exploring the politically charged climate in America that has prompted Moore's ascension from documentary filmmaker to icon of the political left.

This film alleges that Michael Moore did speak with Roger B. Smith twice in 1987 (at General Motors' shareholders meeting) and 1988 (at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York), but Michael Moore didn't put that footage in Roger & Me (1989). However, even Roger B. Smith himself said in a 1990 interview with Los Angeles Times that he had never stayed at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Michael Moore himself also denied this allegation to Associated Press: Moore said that he did speak with Roger Smith at the 1987 shareholders' meeting, but that was before he started working on Roger & Me (1989) and the conversation had nothing to do with the film.