Ruthlessness and stubbournness.
I have seen it all through life.
Ruthlessness is one of the finest traits of the intelligent man.
How exactly is “having no compassion or pity”* a fine trait?
*Verbatim definition of “ruthless” from my dictionary.
Please read what I said, Lobsang, or were you mistaking me for someone else? I did not mention employment in any of my posts.
I like Michael Moore.
But I didn’t like “Stupid White Men”. Sure, it was an enlightening read, but if it’s satire, then it’s lazy satire. What is the ‘I employ blacks only’ satirising? Companies that employ whites only? What, they’re a bad thing? Oooh! Edgy and controversial stuff! Just the thing we need satirized!
So is it even humorous satire? Er, not very. In fact it’s so unfunny I had to wonder if he was being serious or not. He gives all these genuine sounding reasons why he thinks his ‘blacks only’ policy is a great idea, and they’re all true, not in the least bit ridiculous or amusing. They are good reasons! But for the fact that they blatantly discriminate against others on the basis of the colour of their skin. So will someone point out the satire here please, 'cos I can’t seem to put my finger on it.
And as for Dubya. Ok, Michael, we get the message. You don’t like him and the facts you present suggest a large degree of shenanigans in his electoral campaign. But banging on about this on every page, throughout the book, no matter what the topic, doesn’t make your argument any stronger. You begin to sound just a little fanatical and a bit of a bore.
Overall the book left my mystified over which bits were for real, which bits he was satirizing and which bits he has seriously lost the plot on. For someone who has some really good points to put across, that can’t be a good thing.
I seem to have misquoted you. It was Ruebens that said it. I apologise.
Generally, people like Michael Moore, but don’t like the book.
So are we saying he’s written better? (it is the first and only MM book I have read. And I haven’t finished it yet)
What I like about the book is not MM’s writing skill or satire. It’s the information in the book that I like.
Oh please, it’s OKAY for Michael Moore to disrespect his fellow white men. It has the same urbane and sophisticated charm of black people referring to each other as “nigga”.
I think we’re saying he should stick to TV and film. Maybe his style of satire doesn’t works so well on the page. Or maybe he’s better presenter/producer than a writer.
I think his writing is slightly lazy. What insight there is is submerged in oversimplification; e.g. his “explanation” of Northern Ireland, while not entirely inaccurate, was such a gross oversimplification that I felt it prolonged inaccurate stereotypes and lazy thinking.
Yeah. That really struck me. I was left thinking that if this is how he interpretes Northern Ireland, something I do know about, just how much can I believe of everything else he says?
And if this flippant “solution” is supposed to be just a joke, then it isn’t a funny one. It’s just the sort of stupid and lazy attitude to foreign policy he takes Americans to task on in other parts of the book.
Said what? I was referring, in a very general way, to the management of Fortune 500 companies, ie the handful of irresponsible white idiots that Moore is attacking.
You seem to have read it as some comment about the rightness or wrongness of employing blacks! Gee, thanks for making me sound like some racist pig.
It’ll be difficult if you take a comment out of context in that way again! Or were you expecting something else? …
Anyway, I still don’t see the ‘satire’, and it looks like I’m not alone. Can you please explain it? I’m still 3 days away from being able to re-read the book.
Hastur:
Well, for one thing, its totally un-American.[ul][li]Socialism is a belief in collective efficiency & entitlement.[/li][li]Capitalism is a belief in individual empowerment & accountability.[/ul]And more important than it being un-American, socialism never works better than capitalism. It rarely works at all.[/li]
Capitalism is the financial version of democracy. You have the freedom to elect the government and in turn the government is not burdened with your individual welfare. With personal freedom comes personal responsibility.
A blast from the past: fun and games at a “Stupid White Men” book signing. Enjoy your new hero, Lobsang.
Count me in as another one saying MM should stick to TV and films. It’s not necessarily a knock on him–I just think his humour is more visual than textual. Take, for example, his stunts on “TV Nation,” which were hilarious and enlightening. How well do you think they would work on the printed page?
Lobsang said
So, you’re saying that you like poorly researched factoids. The info in the book is rather shoddy and many times unreliable.
How nice of you to turn that into a dig at me.
So I am at fault for having a good first impression of a book. Ok.
when asked “what is wrong with socialism” someone said.
Explain how something being un-American is wrong.
In the sense of trying to sell people on ideas that are fundamentally opposed to everything their country was founded on and believes in. That, in my book, qualifies as ‘wrong’.