I received this as a gift, and thus I read it. I couldn’t believe how stupid it is. It’s like he doesn’t even have to try anymore. Here’s some examples:
On a list of ways to prevent future ist attacks:
“8. We need to offer the world a drink of water.”
I won’t post the whole thing, as i don’t want to violate any rules, but he goes on to yell at some ambiguous undefined entity for not giving everybody in the world clean water. He just says it and stops. He doesn’t offer any sort of explanation as to how this would be executed or anything.
“17. Start ing the hell out of people with WHITE skin”
That is singularly the worst logic I have ever seen in my entire life. Words fail me.
I’m too mad to find more. Maybe I’ll come back later. Suffice to say at one point he decides he can speak for God. Al Franken used the same thing in his book.
There’s was something in “Stupid White Men” that made me raise my eyebrow. In it, he advocated that the people in the L.A. Riots should have been going after the rich white men in Beverly Hills. And I’m thinking, “Like what you are now, Moore?”
Aside from being a master liar, I think he’s quite stupid. Seriously. His arguments have always sounded to me to be very superficial and lacking in insight. He’s a good filmmaker and has a good ear for comedy and satire, but when it comes to understanding geopolitical events, he’s WAY out of his depth.
I haven’t read Dude… but I did read *Stupid White Men, * at least I started it. It was so lame I gave up one it before I was half way through. Loved *Farenhite 911 * though.
Stupid White Men was good fun. Dude… lacked any of the same energy or punch. It wasn’t driven by the same anger that fuelled its predecessor.
Viewed purely as political tomes, of course they’re ephemera. But they have an important role, in that many people reading them don’t pay much attention to other forms of political discussion (columnists in decent newspapers etc.). I suppose that in that way, it’s a left-wing alternative to right-wing ranting on TV, radio and in newspapers.
That’s a common viewpoint among white rich liberals in Beverly Hills, and not unique to Moore. Twilight: Los Angeles had a particularly stirring perspective on the riots as revolution, and Moore may be parroting that.
It’s kinda hard to get through. Doesn’t flow very well and I find myself losing interest. He tends to try to make his point way too many times, even if his point is kinda stupid.
I agree with some of the stuff he says. Other stuff, not so much.
Several times during the read, I have asked myself “What’s THAT got to do with anything?”
Well, ummm, water is kind of a big deal. It’s probably going to becomemore and moreimportant as time goes by.
Americancompanies and WTO/IMF/World Bank supportedprojects are causing real and actual harm today. It is not that we are not providing clean water, it is that we are pushing projects and policies that make this already scarce resourse scarcer and pricier and hurts the poorest people in the world. Our policies are putting a price on other countries natural resources that they can’t afford to pay. This is something worth studying, as it is likely to become a situation like oil…except nobody ever died from lack of oil. And it is something we as United States citizens can do something about.
I do admit that Moore’s lightly researched and heavily inflamed writing style- which is meant to drum up support more than to provide deep analysis- leaves a lot of desired. A good introduction to water problems is Arundhati Roy’s essay The Greater Common Good.
I’m pretty far leftward, and I consider Roger and Me, Downsize This!, and both of his TV shows to be brilliant.
But I found both Stupid White Men and Dude, Where’s My Country? to be weak. I think that most of the points he makes can be legitimately made, so I don’t really understand why he relies on weak, spurious, or just outright incorrect information in order to make them.
I think you’re misunderstanding my point. I am not doubting that the world needs clean water. I’m simply pointing out the ridiculousness of yelling at some random entity for not giving people water as if all it takes is bringing a cup over to the sink.
Michael Moore is as good an example as any that just because you agree with someones politics doesn’t mean they can’t be an arrogant retard.