You know you're pretty influential when people are calling you a "disingenuous danger" to America, a threat to patriotism, a menace to the peace. But when you've got a hate campaign on your tail, you're really in business. Michael Moore, anti-gun superactivist and the man behind Bowling for Columbine, has dozens.
Most celebrities, after winning an Academy Award, thank their families and producers for love and support. Michael Moore denounced President George W. Bush. After accepting an Oscar for Best Documentary in March, Moore lambasted Bush in front of millions of American citizens for leading a "reign of terror" from the White House while serving as a "fictitious president."
His newest book, Dude, Where's My Country?, is every bit as shock-and-awe as its author. Holding strong at the No. 1 position on the New York Times Bestseller List for three consecutive weeks, Dude, Where's My Country? teems with disturbing facts about a presidency Moore deems corrupt.
He rants about both "truth"--the three-way conspiracy of Bush, Saudi Arabian royalty and Osama bin Laden--and "lies"--the motives behind the Iraq War and the American public's naïve susceptibility to the "erosion of domestic civil liberties."
What sets this book apart from other half-baked attempts by self-proclaimed polemics is his signature sense of outrageous humor and his careful balance of negativity with optimism. Moore does concede a few victories to the Republican party, a move which establishes some objectivity.
His half-serious proposal for the Oprah Winfrey presidential campaign and his advice for readers who wish to convert annoying in-laws into die-hard liberals provide comic relief from his more somber arguments. But the best statements arrive in a more forthright manner, since Moore isn't always as funny as he thinks.
In the end, with impudent style and total disregard for the opinions he spurs, Michael Moore is the same as ever in Dude, Where's My Country?, which gives new meaning to the word "tactful."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.