Michael Moore – Stupid white men (05-011)

[gerbie]

Michael Moore – Stupid white men (05-011)

I remember the first episodes I saw of TV nation. I was impressed. Somebody in the US not just critical on the government, but also someone who used a sense of humour, in the meantime showing the mistakes in his society.

The years that followed Moore turned into a celebrity. He won an Oscar and became famous for his acceptance speech. Stupid White Men is his second book. I had to read it, but soon found out that this isn’t a book. The book consists of chapters that had to do with things he has done in the past. I recognize chapters as episodes from TV Nation or The Awful Truth. I notice pieces that could have been on his websites, I see pieces that later appeared in Fahrenheit 9/11. There is no red line, no conclusion, no coherence.

The book gave me the same feeling as the movie had. Moore seems nice, but to get his point beyond, he has to resort to all methods he seems to hate at first. I can imagine why his opponents hate him, why people go deep to find something that is wrong in his articles, shows and movies. He is not a very likeable character, seems too convinced of his moral superiority.

Thing is, underneath all the criticism, I do agree with a lot of things he writes. The chapter on the ‘stolen’ elections makes sense. An open letter to George Bush can be funny (I wrote one myself in my web log 3 days after 9/11). The racial differences in the US need no explaining, the story about the state of the educational system scared me. As a teacher myself, I notice the tendency in my country to follow all mistakes from both the US as the UK, so when I read about sponsorships of big American schools, I am scared that someday soon I am teaching at the Coca Cola College myself. Where students get expelled for wearing a Pepsi shirt, something you couldn’t even think of. Truth is more bizarre than fiction as ever.

I enjoyed reading this book, but I am not sure how to place it. Moore will never be an example anymore, yet I hope he continues what he is doing. I will probably read more. Someday. I just can’t understand why this book wasn’t published for a while, as stated in the extra chapter the new publisher added in this edition. It’s not exactly Mein Kampf or Satanic Verses, or did I misunderstand it?


Number: 05-011
Title: Stupid White Men (and other sorry excuses for the state
of the nation)
Author: Michael Moore
Language: English (USA)
Year: 2001
# Pages: 307 (2145)
Category: Politics
ISBN: 0-141-01190-4

Comments

[javamental.livejournal.com]

I had heard that they wanted to shelve the book for awhile after 9/11, due to the general "Everyone Support the Great Leader!" brand of patriotism going around. With Moore, though, it's hard to tell. He writes interesting things, and I think his heart is in the right place, but I also thinks he gets carried away. I think that you kind of have to take Moore with a grain of salt.

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

Similar to my idea: he has good pov, yet to get them across, he tends to exaggerate.