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Stupid White Men by Michael Moore I read the book 'Stupid White Men' by the American writer and filmmaker Michael Moore right after I had seen his documentary film 'Bowling for Columbine'. Its intelligent mixture of facts and the writer's unique humour turns this book into a stinging satire on American politics. Its dense sequence of information and its balance between in-depth explanations and overviews make this book hard to put down. With the following few extracts from the book I am going to show you why 'Stupid White Men' is one of the most courageous and eye-opening, yet entertaining books I have read lately. Although I like the book very much, there is a certain aspect I find problematic or I do not like at all, which I am also going to mention. First of all, however, I will give you a brief overview of the book.
The book is subdivided into twelve chapters of which five deal with the government of the United States and its President George W. Bush. Chapter one 'A Very American Coup', for example, presents all of the members of Bush's administration, as well as their attitudes, election campaign budgets and interconnections with commerce. Chapter four and seven, 'Kill Whitey' and 'The End of Men', deal with social differences between black and white, men and women. In the remaining six chapters Moore discusses issues of the American society as well as global problems. As mentioned before I think 'Stupid White Men' is a very courageous book, not just because of its provocative title.
Michael Moore dares to speak openly of things that today, in a wave of patriotism that gained even more strength after September eleventh, are not popular being thought or spoken of in the United States. In chapter one 'A Very American Coup' for example, he shows, based on proven facts, that George W. Bush is today President of the United States of America not because he had been elected by the majority of the people but simply because of plain fraud or vote rigging. In 1999 Katherine Harris, who was both Bush's presidential campaign chairwoman and the Florida secretary of state in charge of elections paid, with the blessing of the governor of Florida, George's Brother Jeb Bush, four million dollars to Database Technologies to go trough Florida's voter rolls and remove anyone suspected of being a former felon. As the law states that ex-felons cannot vote in Florida, thirty-one percent of all black men (31 % = 173 000 people), of whom ninety percent are democrats and would have voted for Gore, were not allowed to vote. Moreover 'Stupid White Men' provides a huge amount of starting points for thought or discussion.
In chapter seven 'The End of Men', Moore states that women since 1920, the year they were first allowed to vote in the United States, had the chance to elect women into the government, but mostly they voted for men. He therefore concludes that women, who outnumber men fifty-two to forty-eight, would have the power to overthrow domination of men in politics, but they keep voting for 'all these stupid white men', to put it in Moore's words, that keep supporting laws which clearly discriminate against women. He adds the statement that it is unheard of any group of oppressed people that suddenly, by their sheer numbers, took charge, then votes in overwhelming numbers to keep their oppressors in power. As well as being provocative and up-churning, Stupid White Men is an enormously entertaining book.
Even tough most of the time the laughter gets stuck in one's throat, Michael Moore's unique and very intelligent humour makes this book a real page-turner. Chapter one, for example, begins with a message to the U. N. Forces in which Moore begs the United Nations to send troops to free the United States of America from the unlawful 'President' George W. Bush as he has not been elected by the majority of the people. Although the writer lists one disturbing fact after another, the sheer hilariousness of all the small remarks and comments Moore hangs onto these facts, made me laugh out loud while reading this part, despite its serious content.
Even though a political satire is meant to present serious issues in a funny kind of way, I do dislike the high percentage of humour in this book. Although Michael Moore's intelligent humour shows the writers great awareness and understanding of today's mechanisms in politics and society, he tends to be too cynical, in my opinion. Some parts of the book therefore appear to be more of a collection of jokes, than a chapter of a problem-based satire. All in all, I liked the book very much. 'Stupid White Men' is a very courageous satire on American politics, which made me think, laugh and fuelled many discussions about politics and society among my friends. Although some serious issues get lost because of Michael Moore's highly funny style of writing, the book criticises and informs in equal parts.
The book holds 281 pages and was published by Penguin Books in 2002.
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Research essay sample on Michael Moore Stupid White Men
