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Review Archive
BOOKS
Stupid White Menby Michael Moore
Regan Books; New York, NY; 277 pgs; Hardcover; $24.95
He makes a public nuisance of himself and many people love him for it. Not everyone, but lots of people do. Of course I'm talking about Michael Moore, who staked his popularity and fame with Roger & Me, a documentary about getting an interview with General Motors CEO Roger Smith after layoffs in a Flint, Michigan plant resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs and immeasurable pain and misery.
Stupid White Men is about the Coup that President Bush performed during the 2000 Presidential Election; the election rigging; the favors called in; the nepotism rampant among the upper-class big-wigs; the slow destruction of our planet; global warming; arsenic in your water; the bad things we do to one another as a culture; and a great many other things. There's a lot in here, folks.
I finished reading the book in a day and I have to get a few things off my chest, so bear with me as I confess...
I used to pride myself in having very little knowledge of politics. Honest. It wasn't something that I boasted about in public, it was, rather, a tiny inward pride of ignorance. Whenever the subject of politics came up among my friends, I'd quietly recede from conversation, excuse myself to the bathroom, or just change the subject after they'd finished a paragraph or two. I never felt knowledgable on the subject, rarely talk out of my ass (unless I'm absolutely sure I can get away with it), and I never had occasion or incentive to educate myself in the matter. I was, ashamedly, more than a wee bit proud of ignorance.
My lack of interest was mostly because I never saw anything worthwhile in politics. What are these men after? Money? Surely not, they're all loaded. Power, then? Getting into politics for power is like getting into acting for fame: It's a fools game. It'll burn you. It'll cause more heartache and destruction than it will provide joy or happiness. Of course, it doesn't appear that these men actually want to be "happy." If so, why on God's green Earth would you run for president?
To me, they're all liars and cheaters with the same agenda, regardless of party affiliation: They're interested in making money, telling us what we want to hear, retain power as long as possible, get away with as much as possible, and when they finally leave their appointed office, they wish us to remember well of them.
Kind of sad, really.
These were my thoughts back when I was completely ignorant in the political arena. Now I've learned a little more, listened to various views, people's opinions, read the news.... And guess what? That's still my opinion, however, it's been solidified into a belief. No longer is it just a casual opinion that could change with the breaking of a wind. This is what I believe.
Here's another confession: I voted for Bush in the 2000 presidential election. It wasn't so much a vote for Bush as it was a vote against Lieberman. I don't like people telling they want to put restrictions on my words, I don't like people rabid for censorship—and Gore just happen to be lucky enough that Lieberman was advocating the loudest when I was making my voting decision.
My mistake. As a nation, we can handle boners like Lieberman. He's a lot of hot air. People like him have been bitching for the past 50 years (probably even longer, but I couldn't say for sure—I'm still learning), he's an old man that's shocked, SHOCKED, I SAY! by the youth of America. And he should be—another 15 or 20 years and we'll be taking care of his crippled ass.
Anyway, back to my abject ignorance and my shameful Bush vote. 2000 was the first year I ever voted. For anything. I was 25 years old and it was the first time I voted. Four years earlier I was spending a semester abroad in Ireland and had forgot about the absentee ballot thingy. I didn't have the form which I didn't really care about anyway. And four years before that I was too young. I've voted once, and voted Republican....
And I will never do so again.
I think it's important to vote. Even if you despise politics. Fine, go vote for a socialist group. Or just go play with the election booth until they kick you out. But it's important to at least go exercise your right.
"So, what is all of this political soul-searching about anyway, Brian?" you may be asking. "And what does that have to do with Moore's book?"
First, I learned a lot. A lot about politics and a lot about Moore. But I don't, and won't swallow his arguments whole-hog. The end of his introduction ends thusly:
So I'm stuck with a car that doesn't run, in a country where nothing works, everything sucks, and it's every man, woman, and state-tested child for themselves. Survival of the richest—no more lifeboats for you, or you, or you!
Bollocks. Everything doesn't suck. My life surely doesn't suck. Am I the only one? If you walked around any neighborhood and asked anyone if "everything sucks" what do you think they'd say?
Now, surely this is Moore's humor coming through, and I understand the use of hyperbole to drive home a point. And I also agree that in this day and age one has to yell and be dramatic if he's to get anyone's attention. Of course, many people may agree with his expression of discontentment. I definitely wish things could be better.
But then the last line of his book ends thusly:
You deserve better...
Wow. Tell us things blow (or suck as the case may be) and then tell us that we deserve better. Who wouldn't like someone, and be inclined to agree with the man who says these things to you. Thanks, Michael!
If you agree with Michael Moore's philosophy, read his book. It's available everywhere. If you don't agree, but are interested to hear what he has to say, then read his book, it'll make you laugh. If you don't agree with his views, but want to read something a little better written than my square mind-peg trying to get into the round politico-hole, then read what James Lileks has to say about Moore.
So, where am I in the middle of this agenda-maelstrom of shit and lies?
I'll say this: Moore is an extremist BUT if only half of what he says is true—then I've just shat my pants. I'm sittin' taller in my chair because I'm scared for the future. That there might not be one worth living in; that it might not exist; that it'll suck more than Monica did in the Oval Office.
This book is about a lot of stuff. Political stuff. Financial stuff. Legal stuff. But mostly I'd say this book is about the stuff which comprises the human emotion that we encapsulate with the word "rage." Moore's looking around himself and doesn't see what he likes. He's angry at the politicians and the men who run corporate America for letting this nation become what it's has become. It is important to note, however, that even though Moore categorically divides America into two camps "us" and "them," sometimes he's just as mad at us for allowing this to happen. And so we come to what I believe, is Moore's principle lesson, his overall message:
If you don't like the way things are, then do something.
Do ANYTHING.
Change the world.
Whether you agree with Moore's views or not, you have to give the man a hand—he has an incredible ability to inspire hope of change and belief that an individual does matter.
Ain't no one who can argue that those aren't Two Good Things.
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