The Review / Books / Politics : Stupid White Men - Michael Moore

by Alex J Allen

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Michael Moore is a name that has become synonymous with a crusade of morality, a beacon of integrity, and for striking home a succession of uncomfortable home truths in his homeland. He offers an American social critique, but his target demographic is not academia, it is Middle America. He is very much, as Amazon.com describes, 'rabidly liberal, populist and anti big-business'. For a book as forthright, contentious and confrontational as Stupid White Men to top the New York Times' bestseller list, particularly during the aftermath of the September 11th attacks when the Bush administration was its strongest having galvanised a fuming country behind near blind patriotism, is an impressive accomplishment. To stubbornly discard the reservations of publisher Harper Collins, that the dedication of the entirety of the first chapter to the analysis of the alleged 'stolen election' would appear dated and as little more than sour grapes, not to mention the criticism of George W. Bush himself, who following the attacks had approval ratings to the tune of 90%, is another.

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He is able to effectively sugar coat his liberal politics by virtue of a master class in the execution of literary devices, and a biting and unrivalled ability to satirise. For example, Moore regularly asks rhetorical questions such as, 'Do you ever feel like you're living in a nation of idiots?' In this way he is able to connect with his target audience on a more personal level. He uses an informal register throughout, which relates the issues he discusses to the reader. His self cultivated image us that of a friend, a colleague, a lone voice of reason. He uses tri colons, 'Who cares if 70 percent of those who graduate from America's universities are not required to learn a foreign language...GET WITH THE PROGRAMME!' The use of capitals in this example is unorthodox, but this is Moore's appeal. He writes as he directs, bluntly, a device which, as best he can, demonstrates his confrontational streak in print. If one analyses the book as a whole, then what is instantly evident is its unusual structure. Rather than write in solid prose, Moore breaks up chapters with open letters, diagrams and features. Moore complains about what he perceives to be America's poor education system. He satirises Bush by including a 'Presidential Clip & Carry', a two page cutout of a list of the leaders of the 50 largest countries. In this way he is able to keep his book light, fresh, humorous and successfully breaks up large blocks of prose in to smaller segments. As a general theme Moore blames stupid white men for America's predicament, but the book has no particular chronological order, each of the chapters are, by and large, comprehensible in their own right.

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Yet criticisms have been levelled at Moore, as to whether his frequent Bush bashing serves only to galvanise support in his defence. Damian Thompson of the Daily Telegraph goes as far as to say, 'Indeed, the more vigorously Moore attacks the President, the better Bush's approval ratings. Funny, that. And Moore's lifestyle has been awfully lavish of late. One doesn't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it makes you think, doesn't it?'

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Looking beyond the fact that Stupid White Men has sold over three million copies, and was a mainstay in the New York Times' bestseller list for three years, one has to question whether Moore's populist and unconventional style of interrogation in to current affairs is genuinely effective. Yes, it brings politics in to the common domain, and invites Middle America in to a discussion which academic had previously excluded it from, but has Moore actually gone so far as to make tangible inroads in to damaging the reputation and approval of the Bush administration, as he obviously intended? I'm not convinced.
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Whilst never shy of generating criticism of anything from the handle of Israel and Palestine, to the failings of the male gender as a whole, rarely is he able to counter these criticisms with plausible solutions. Veering from the humorous, tongue in cheek instances such as his Presidential Clip & Carry, and the proposal that the Northern Ireland question be answered by converting Irish Protestants to Catholicism, to an open letter to President Arafat calling for 'mass non violent civil disobedience'. One could certainly argue that Moore often leaves himself open to criticism of over simplifying the issues, and his persistent satirical humour, whilst perhaps necessary to hold the interest of his target audience, at time makes the fluctuation between it and the more serious and poignant issues Moore wishes to raise a little implausible.

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He has also faced fervent criticism from critics, over claims of alleged misuse and manipulation of statistics and chronology of events to increase dramatic effect. Ben Fritz argues 'Consider, for instance, his claim that 'two thirds of [the over $190 million President Bush raised during the Presidential campaign] came from just over seven hundred individuals'. Given the $2,000 federal limit on individual donations, this claim is obviously false'.

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In an ambitious endeavour to fuse fact and observation with humour, satire, and dramatic effect, Moore all to often leaves accuracy by the way side in the pursuit of presenting his target demographic with a more plausible, literarily stimulating product. As a result of his self-cultivated image as 'the lone voice of reason', Moore's opinions and ideas inevitably lack the validation of other sources and authors, which again, detracts a certain amount of integrity from his arguments and accusations. Nor, clearly, does he at any point attempt to offer and objective view of any of the issues he writes about, writing with clear, unabashed liberal bias, which as a consequence gives reasoning a lack of balance and rationality.

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Inevitably, to be presumptuous, a considerably number of those reading Stupid White Men will accept Moore's statistics and evidence at face value. To include inaccurate information, either through carelessness or with intent to deceive, is huge irresponsible. Whilst Moore must be commended for producing a largely emotive, and often well reasoned book which gets Middle America talking about politics and current affairs, the extent of his credibility, his overall success, and his motives are certainly questionable.