Warning: This blog contains political thoughts that you may disagree with. That’s your right, but that doesn’t mean you’re right. J
This past week I read Michael Moore’s Dude Where’s My Country? I have to say upfront that I don’t really follow Michael Moore that much. I know the basics, and I saw the Oscar speech (who didn’t?), but I’ve never seen any of his movies or read any of his other books. Dude Where’s My Country? is only 217 pages of fairly big print, and it’s a quick read. I went into it with a fairly open mind. I was interested in what he had to say, being a person who is interested in politics but who is still sometimes confused about exactly where I stand or what I’m supposed to believe. To be fair, I was probably a bit biased toward supporting Moore, because I too consider myself a liberal who is opposed to Bush, his war, and the direction he is taking my country.
The first 100 pages, however, seemed to me to be nothing but soapbox ranting. He begins by presenting 7 questions to W and then making a big issue out of 10 “whoppers” that Bush is feeding us. Some of his issues had some worth, but I don’t feel like they were presented in a rational manner at all. It seemed that he felt his argument was valid if he could simply cite some other source that deals with the same issue. Hell if that’s all it takes to substantiate an argument, there’s no invalid thoughts in the world. If one nutcase writes something somewhere, and then another nutcase presents the same argument, referring to the other nutcase’s argument as proof, that doesn’t make a nutty argument any less nutty. It just means that the nuttiness is spreading.
The second 100 pages were a lot better though. Moore finally quit preaching and got to actual thinking. He quit being the liberal that causes people to hate liberals and actually made a number of excellent and thought-provoking points. I especially liked Chapter 5 and Chapters 9-11. Chapter 5, which is titled “How to Stop Terrorism? Stop Being Terrorists!” really cut to the heart of what I consider some of the US’s greatest shortcomings in terms of how we treat the rest of the world. Among these shortcomings in serious need of redress are: the way we prop up dictators in countries that are of use to us, our energy consumption, the way we take companies overseas and pay the workers next to nothing to create products that are then sold for big bucks, our fondness for condemning weapons of mass destruction while stockpiling them for ourselves, and our policy of preemptive war. Mainly our problem is that we sometimes forget that we’re not the only people in the world. While moral grounds alone should be enough for us to start assuring that the rest of the world has a bearable quality of life, we should also remember that although we have hegemonic power right now, history has repeatedly shown that no country can maintain that. It wouldn’t hurt if we started basing more of our policy on the Golden Rule than on “we’re bigger than you and can thus do whatever we please.”
Chapters 9, 10, and 11 are titled “A Liberal Paradise,” How to Talk to Your Conservative Brother-in-Law,” and “Bush Removal and Other Spring Cleaning Chores”. Chapter 9 does an excellent job of pointing out the fact that most people have very liberal beliefs if they stop to think about each issue individually. As a country, we believe in equal rights for women, that gay couples should get the same benefits as straight couples, and that diversity where we work, live, and go to school is positive. We support gun laws, labor unions, and freedom of speech and religion. We want everyone to have health insurance, and we are all for protecting the environment. We are a liberal people, who have somehow become scared of the term “liberal”. We think liberally, but vote conservatively. Chapter 10 is interesting not only for the way that it points out mistaken reasoning as to why to vote conservative, but it also talks about the mistakes that the left has made. One thing that I dislike about liberals, even though I claim to be one myself, is their arrogant way of thinking that they are always right and everyone else is Satan. The right has some good points. So does the left. We don’t live in a black and white world. And no one is perfect. Chapter 10 kind of continues on this line by talking about what needs to be done to get a liberal victory come November. The Chapter addresses the shortcomings of liberal candidates and makes useful suggestions about how to take action to help elect a liberal candidate this election year. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that any of the candidates that Moore supports have a snowball’s chance in hell. Clark and Dean have already dropped out of the race. Kucinich is still taking a stand, but he doesn’t have the support he needs. And Oprah refuses to be on the ballot. It’s a rough world for us liberals. But, in my opinion, anyone left of Bush is a step in the right direction. So once I come back, you better watch out. I’m going to do whatever I can to help get Bush’s opponent elected. You might not like that, but it’s my right. Thank goodness the PATRIOT Act hasn’t gotten rid of that one.
Anyhow, as a final thought, I suggest you read the book no matter what side of the fence you’re standing on or whether you’re still straddling it. It’s not wonderfully written. It’s not the constitution of liberals everywhere. It’s one man’s thoughts. Some of them are ridiculous. Some of them are interesting. Regardless, I found it thought provoking. And if nothing else, his sarcasm can be laugh-out-loud funny at points.
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