|
Subscribe Today
Get free stuff!
Bean Soup Times Gear
Advertising
About Us
Subscriptions
Contact Us
Interns Needed
Send Page To a Friend
|
|
Dude, Where's My
Country?
by Michael Moore
Warner Books
253 pp.
by Kam Williams
“Taking advantage of our grief, and our fear that it may happen again, an
appointed President uses the dead of 9-11 as a convenient cover, a
justification, for permanently altering our American way of life. Is that
why they died, so that George W. Bush can turn the country into Texas?
We’ve already conducted two wars since 9-11, and an upcoming third or
fourth is not all that unlikely. If this is allowed to continue, then all
we will have accomplished is to dishonor those 3,000-plus dead.” --
Excerpted from the Introduction
Michael Moore was on top of his game a couple of years ago when he wrote
the No. 1 best-seller Stupid White Men and directed the Oscar-winning
documentary Bowling for Columbine. But he must have mellowed considerably
by the time he scribed Dude, Where’s My Country? For his fiery side seems
to have all but been supplanted by an inclination to go for the joke
instead of the jugular.
Even his previously unquestioned commitment to progressive causes comes
off as a little suspect, here, given some of the gratuitously reactionary,
boorish, and antediluvian attitudes which pop up periodically. This,
curiously, in a book based on the notion that the Bush regime must go. You
certainly can’t tell this book by its cover, which features Mr. Moore, in
his trademark baseball cap, tugging on a chain, toppling an effigy of the
President. The picture evokes an image of the statue of Saddam falling in
Baghdad’s central square back in April.
And though the chapters have clever titles like: “Home of the Whopper,” “7
Questions for George of Arabia,” and “Oil’s Well That Ends Well,” the
content is a relatively light indictment of the Administration. Some had
feared that Moore might capitulate to conservative corporate pressures
when it was announced that he’d signed a book and movie deal with the
Disney/ABC/Time Warner conglomerate.
Well, judging by this initial offering, he has certainly sold out. His
faithful followers ought to be scratching their heads and wondering,
“Dude, where’s Michael Moore?” A sampling of his alarming new positions
ought to give you a good idea of what I mean. Of political prisoner Mumia
Abu Jamal, he says, “Mumia probably killed that guy.” Of health foods,
“Granola is bad for you. Vegetarianism is bad for you.” On
environmentalism, “Getting back to nature is a dumb idea. Nature doesn’t
want you anywhere near it. That’s why nature created cities.”
He adds that, “Animals don’t have rights,” and organizations like PETA,
“make me wanna go kick my dog.” He also praises right-wing zealot Ann
Coulter for having, “more balls than the entire democratic leadership,”
credits conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly with making “a few good
points” and calls the recently announced plans for a liberal radio
network, “a stupid waste of time.”
Unless I’m misreading as serious, silly comments intended to be taken as
tongue-in-cheek, I guess all that Disney money has made it very easy for
Mr. Moore to alienate just about every corner of his core constituency.
And I don’t expect he’ll find many Republicans suddenly rushing in to
embrace him either. A most bizarre departure for a man who had set an
example as one of the most intrepid voices willing to challenge authority.
Send Page To a Friend
|
|
|
|
|
THE
KITCHEN
