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January 18, 2004
Review: When Moore isn’t less
MICHAEL Moore is a man on a mission. And it’s a formidable task that he has undertaken. But he believes it is achievable. Moore wants to overthrow the government of the United States of America. He has no desire to implement regime change via the methods his nation used in Iraq or Afghanistan — or, before that, in Chile and so many other countries. His Oscar-winning documentary, “Bowling for Columbine”, suggests that Moore hates violence and detests the way American gun culture feeds into its foreign policy.
His ambitions are restricted to the ballot box. But Moore doesn’t merely sit around hoping that George W. Bush and his cronies will be swept out of power in 2004. He is bent upon doing everything in his power to undermine the dangerous men who have hijacked his country. His foremost weapons are humour, wit, and a penchant for digging out intriguing facts that are either wilfully ignored or relegated by the mainstream media.
He is even willing to put his money where his mouth is: Moore has pledged to use his share of the Bush regime’s exclusive tax cut for well-heeled Americans towards ensuring that his benefactors aren’t rewarded with re-election.
And there are indications that he isn’t hankering after a quixotic ideal. Foremost among them is the fact that over the past couple of years he has been the most widely read non-fiction author in the US.
Moore shot to international fame with Stupid White Men. That pointed — and on occasion hilarious — critique of corporate America and its unelected government was scheduled to hit the bookstalls on September 12, 2001. The preceding day’s events prompted the publishers to halt distribution. They wanted the author to rewrite at least 50 per cent of the book, because they felt the climate wasn’t right for such a sharp attack on the commander-in-chief.
Moore refused. The arguments continued for about six months. When the unaltered book was finally published, it immediately hit the bestseller lists, rising to the number one spot on at least four separate occasions. For all that, it took a year for Stupid White Men to sell a million copies. Its recent sequel, Dude, Where’s My Country? achieved that feat in three weeks.
The latter is an even more potent call to arms than its predecessor, imbued (for obvious reasons) with greater urgency. In Stupid White Men, Moore was scathing about the Democratic Party (he supported Green candidate Ralph Nader in 2000, dismissing Al Gore and Bush as Tweedledum and Tweedledumber), suggesting that it should merge with the Republicans to make room on the Left for a genuine working-class alternative.
He’s changed his mind. Tweedledum, he says, at least wouldn’t be reinforcing America’s police-statehood. The Greens haven’t got a hope in hell of winning. Not in 2004. The trouble is, the Democrats are too adept at losing elections — even when they gain the plurality (as in 2000). Therefore, they need an exceptional candidate: one who would leave Bush floundering.
Moore’s choice? Oprah Winfrey.
Is he serious? Well, half-serious at least. Oprah, he says, is compassionate, politically astute, and would have no problem in making mincemeat of the exceptionally inarticulate Bush in any debate. She could be the first president to advise Americans on which books they should be reading. She’s not white. And she’s not male...
Come to think of it, if Arnold Schwarzenegger can be governor of California, there’s no reason Oprah can’t run for president. Except that, despite Moore’s best efforts, she has offered no indication that she intends to. Taking into consideration his inability to convince her, Moore offers a bonafide candidate: Wesley Clark, the general who in the author’s view offers the strongest and most coherent alternative to the Bushies from among the available field.
Other parts of the book are devoted to a number of related topics. Among the most interesting sections are the one in which tricky questions are about the Bush regime’s post-9/11 behaviour. How deep, asks Moore, is the Bush family’s relationship with the bin Laden clan? And with the House of Saud? Had 15 of the 9/11 hijackers been Iraqis, Iranians or Cubans, for instance, would not the media have announced: America under attack by Iraq/Iran/Cuba? Why is there a different rule for Saudi Arabia — on which the Taliban modelled their absolutism? Why did the Bush administration excise 28 pages relating to the Saudis from a comprehensive intelligence report on September 11?
Moore goes further. Is it possible, that an ailing man on dialysis, holed up in a remote Afghan cave, could have coordinated the well-planned and highly efficient operation that caused so much devastation on 9/11? The tricky Pentagon hit could only have been achieved by an experienced pilot. Did any of those manning the controls have air force training? Specifically, Saudi air force training? Moore offers no proof, but leaves the plausible question hanging in the air. On other matters, he’s considerably less ambivalent. He cites opinion polls indicating that the majority of Americans are supportive of liberal causes, such as abortion. Equally valid polls could be dredged up, on the other, to suggest the opposite as well. Moore doesn’t, however, dispute the fact that a very large number of Americans are (deliberate) victims of ignorance and fear. They are constantly being bombarded with the sort of propaganda that led them to the conclusion that Saddam Hussein was somehow associated with 9/11.
The antidote, clearly, is counter-propaganda. Except that it isn’t untrue.
Michael Moore appears, on the surface, to be an unlikely left-wing pin-up boy. Detractors have described him as Noam Chomsky for kids. He probably wouldn’t take that as an insult. Nor should Chomsky, whose well-founded appeal is largely restricted to the intelligentsia. Moore, on the other hand, can get through to Mr and Mrs Average. He can make them think without unduly taxing their imagination. In other words, he’s effective.
That’s why the American right-wing hates him and has desperately been trying’ to discredit him. And that is why, if Bush is indeed unseated next year, thanks will decidedly be due to Moore.
Moore’s rare ability to amuse, entertain and, at the same time, instruct ought to widely be cherished. If you enjoyed Stupid White Men, then you can’t afford to ignore Dude. If you haven’t read the first book, remember that it’s validity has barely diminished since it was published. But the sequel is indispensable even as a stand-alone. Wait, if necessary, for the paperback. But don’t, on any account, miss it.
Dude, Where’s My Country
By Michael Moore
Allen Lane/Penguin Books. Available with Paramount Books, 152/O, Block 2, PECH Society, Karachi-75400.
Tel: 021-4310030
Email: paramount@cyber.net.pk
ISBN 0-713-99761-3
252pp. Rs695
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