Review of Stupid White Men
Steve
A review of Stupid White Men, by Michael Moore
by Max Power
Had Michael Moore not tainted his otherwise moderately enjoyable book with
its unfortunately-titled fourth chapter, "Kill Whitey," I probably would
have retained some admiration for his stature as a neo-Marxist folk hero. My
admiration for Moore stems from his award-winning "documentary" "Roger and
Me," which he financed by heroically selling virtually all of his
belongings, including his house. The film memorably portrayed the aftermath
of the closure of a GM auto-plant in his hometown of Flint, Michigan.
Additionally, Moore has been vocal in his opposition to unfettered
free-trade, which sends high-paying manufacturing jobs to the third-world
where they turn into unregulated sweat shops, staffed by workers making a
fraction of U.S. wages. Nevertheless, for all his venerable traits, Moore
suscribes to a loathsome brand of left-wing victimology, and in this book,
he takes it to new heights.
The book is standard Moore fair, replete with his signature rants against
multinationals, global capitalism and America's political duopoly. There is
even a mildly humorous "open letter" to George Bush, wherein Moore
criticizes the president for cutting federal spending and chosing cabinet
members with voting records Moore finds disagreeable. Tolerable stuff, even
though I strongly oppose the statism Moore embraces. However, it was the
pious tone of the fourth chapter that nearly caused me to toss this thing
out the nearest window.
Moore begins "Kill Whitey" by noting, erroneously, that whites invented
slavery. As anyone with a rudimentary grasp of history knows, slavery was
practiced by the Persians and Egyptians thousands of years before the
Europeans practiced it. Moore also goes on to complain that whites invented
nuclear weapons and were behind the most destructive wars in world history.
Although this may answer Moore's question of why so few blacks occupy
skilled professions (IQ), a more subtle point can be brought to bear.
By demeaning his own race, Moore is inadvertently conceding the moral
superiority of whites over other races by his standards of moral goodness.
That is to say, Moore obviously feels this is the correct moral position to
adopt; and by doing so, he's espousing a morality that is shared only by
whites. Other groups have been responsible for atrocities equally as
reprehensible as those of whites. Mao Tse Tung killed an estimated 60
million of his countrymen -- more than double the amount of deaths
attributed to Hitler and Stalin combined -- yet the Chinese people aren't
holding daily sermons denouncing their race. The history of Japan is marked
by brutal warfare with neighboring countries and Japan's Korean minority is
treated openly with disdain, yet the Japanese think they're faultless. So,
to reiterate, by Moore's own standards of moral goodness, whites are morally
superior to other racial groups in this sense.
Without a shred of dignity or good sense, Moore continues: "It's odd that,
despite the fact that most crimes are committed by whites, black faces are
usually attached to what we think of as 'crime.'" (pg. 60) This begs the
question of what crime "we" think of and why it often conjures up images of
"black faces." Assuming it's violent crime, whites, at 74 percent of the
U.S. population, commit more violent crimes in absolute numbers than do
blacks. Blacks, however, at 12 percent of the U.S. population, commit
violent crimes with a far greater frequency than do whites. Moore knows
this, but with his dishonest liberal conscience constantly whispering in his
ear, the chances of him telling the truth about black crime is about as
likely as waking up on Inaugural Day to the sight of Ralph Nader taking the
presidential oath. Additionally, Moore reasons that since "most crimes are
committed by whites," that whites should be frightened of whites and that he
himself is. Following Moore's tortured logic, the safest places for him to
live are those places containing the least amount of whites. (How I'd love
to see Moore put his money where his mouth is by moving to Gary, Indiana or
East St Louis.)
Moore continues: "I wonder how long we'll have to live with the legacy of
slavery." My answer: as long as bottom-kissers like you keep trotting out a
"legacy" most whites weren't a part of, so your favorite victims have a
convenient excuse for rioting after basketball games. Moore further states:
"Well, I'm sorry, but the roots of most of our social ills can be traced
back to this sick chapter of our history." Why, because you say so? If by
"social ills" you mean the alarming propensity of blacks to fill up
inner-city morgues with bullet-riddled bodies and basically decay anything
they touch, then I've got news for you Mike -- they do that everywhere! Just
look at Interpol statistics some time. The criminality of blacks is
universal, from the Afro-Caribbeans of Brixton, London, to the Haitians of
Montreal. Montreal's Haitians are unconnected to the oft-cited "legacy of
slavery," yet they shoot and loot just as often as our blacks do. Moore then
goes off into the deep recesses of outer space when he claims that, as a
result of slavery, blacks had their "language and culture and religion"
taken away from them. Newsflash Mike -- spear-chucking, cannibalism,
witchcraft and "ooga-booga" hardly qualify as "language and culture and
religion."
I used to think Michael Moore was a decent guy who stood up for the economic
interests of middle-Americans. Thankfully, this book set me straight.
MAX POWER