Favor, favor? Please, please, please?!?!
So for government, we're reading two books - one has to be liberal and the other has to be conservative. I picked Stupid White Men by Michael Moore as my liberal book and I wrote my book report. Can you please, please, please read it and tell me honestly if it sucks?? I'll love ya forever. :)
Michael Moore’s Stupid White Men is a written slap in the face to George W. Bush and his entire administration. He calls the President the Thief-in-Chief and, throughout the book, gives many reasons for his distrust toward the Bush administration. Moore throws many low blows not only by stating his own opinion - which is quite one-sided - but also by using quotes and facts he dug up about Bush and his political comrades. In my opinion, it seems that Moore was aiming to inform his audience of the wrongdoings of our government - and to persuade the readers to be “Bush haters” just like himself.
Stupid White Men was written in the months before September 11, 2001. The book was actually supposed to have been shipped to the stores on that day. However, the publisher insisted that Michael Moore rewrite it, removing passages that could be considered offensive in post-9/11 America. Moore refused to change his book and it was written in its original form. Michael Moore is a very liberal author who is not a huge fan of the Bush administration (to say the very least). His major point is that Bush was not, in fact, elected as President of the United States in the year 2000. Al Gore should be the man in the White House; this is how Bush got his nickname as the “Thief-in-Chief.” Actually, Florida also got a nickname this year - The Recount State. Many were prohibited from voting and theirs were the votes that gave the election to Al Gore. However, votes were still being counted when it was announced that Florida went to George W. Bush. There was much debate even after the announcement of Bush’s victory.
The author’s main contentions were to inform the American people that George W. Bush should not be in the Oval Office now - Al Gore should have won that election in 2000. Moore then goes to talk about the problems that Bush has had and the mistakes he has made since being in office. He addresses the problem of the economy as well as the war in Iraq and the debt our country is in right now. All of these things can be blamed on “Dubya” and his administration.
A major strength of this book was Michael Moore’s use of satire and slapstick humor. Throughout the book, he maintained a very sarcastic tone, which helped hold my interest. Moore did not only explicitly state the problems the president was facing, but he used facts to back them up. A weakness, however, is the bias and one-sidedness of the book. The author spends virtually no time addressing the opposition and his book is completely partisan. Had Mr. Moore spent more time addressing what the conservatives would argue, I think the book would have been more balanced and able to be enjoyed by more readers.
Throughout the book, there were many different lists of information, quotes, cut-outs, and miscellaneous pockets of data placed both sporadically and strategically. Some of these additions were funny; others were more on the serious side. However, they all were placed in the area of the book they belonged in. I often stopped and looked at them. I asked my parents questions about them and showed friends and classmates the more humorous charts and graphs.
In my opinion this book was written quite well. However, I would not recommend this book to everyone. As I said before, Michael Moore’s views are rather biased. I would recommend this book to those who share the same viewpoints as Michael Moore. I think some could get offended by this read. The book is rather lengthy; however, the comedic relief makes it very bearable. I did not feel it was too long, nor did I feel anything was left out. Overall, I enjoyed the book. I found myself anticipated the next chapter to see what Bush did next.
****I know my spacing is weird at the end. It's not like this in what I wrote, though, so it doesn't really matter****