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diversions
Don't
be a 'Stupid White Man' or other sorry excuse
By Phil Witte
On-line Forty-Niner
While most of us
sit back in our comfortable middle class lives, evil forces
work quietly behind the scenes to make the world a worse place.
Michael Moore points out that it is not a member of a faceless
minority that is most likely to cause you harm, but, as he
terms them, "Stupid White Men."
They are the ones responsible for all the harm that has come
to him -- the ones that do the evicting, laying off, downsizing
and all the other ways our livelihoods are taken from us.
Moore took on former General Motors Chairman Roger Smith in
his documentary "Roger & Me," and spent his
first book "Downsize This" taking on corporate downsizing.
This time he tackles even bigger prey.
Moore doesn't waste any time pointing fingers, using the first
chapter to detail how George W. Bush and the Republicans stole
the 2000 presidential election.
Well, maybe Bush himself didn't steal the election, as he
was too busy napping, but the Republicans definitely did the
stealing. But maybe steal is too harsh a word. Let's just
say they pilfered, appropriated, filched and purloined the
election.
Reports of shenanigans in the election have been around for
a while, but are usually dismissed as libertarian pipe dreams.
For documentation, Moore relies on such left-wing fringe publications
as the BBC, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.
Moore also addresses the United States economy, noting that
we never really had a recession. Well, the rich never had
a recession; the poor and middle class got the shaft yet again.
One of the ironies of this format (as opposed to his other
formats, films and TV) is that Moore laments the state of
literacy in America.
Not only are we a nation of illiterates, "we revel in
state of our illiteracy." He points out that Americans,
on average, spend 100 hours reading books annually, compared
to the 1,460 hours annually spent watching TV.
Since Moore uses a few big words, "Stupid" will
likely eat up a good chunk of that 100.
Not one to take a nearsighted look at the trouble our white
men cause, Moore also spends a chapter discussing the havoc
they've wreaked around the world, what with all the wars started
and unsigned environmental treaties.
But the best thing about Moore is just how darn funny he is.
We're laughing as we crigne when he points out how screwed
up we've allowed our world to become.
He's Jim Hightower without the Texas drawl.
He's Ralph Nader with a better sense of humor. OK, he is Nader
with a sense of humor.
Though "Stupid" has spent some time at the top of
the best seller lists, we can only hope that people who have
read it take its lessons to heart.
The "Stupid White Men" who are running the country
aren't doing anything but making things better for themselves.
It's up to the rest of us to fight for ourselves.
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Harper
Collins Publishers, Inc.
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