MICHAEL MOORE

I like Michael Moore. As an American it must be difficult being what Europeans would consider to be a mild social democrat, but what Americans think is a rabid pinko liberal, communist even. It is also no fun being a pioneer. Moore has for years been urging the U.S. to provide health insurance for all, not least because he has seen at first hand the devastating effect it can have when people lose their jobs (which, in the U.S., usually means losing their health insurance as well). This is what Obamacare should now provide.

I have just read Moore's book Stupid White Men, and two things struck me. The first is that he is much, much better on film than in print. The films (eg Fahrenheit 9/11, Roger and Me) provide the forum to allow the people he is going after to skewer themselves, while Moore provides laconic commentary and judicious editing. In print, there is just Moore. And while some of the 260 pages have moments of humour, a lot of it is just rant. (I know that my blog is entitled "rant of the day", but I don't think I rant so much any more. Not as much as I did in my 20's, at any rate.)

The second is that although the book was published at the end of 2001, it all seems a very long time ago. The 2000 election fight between George W. Bush and Al Gore, and the subsequent Bush regime, already seem as far away as the 1980's. Why is that? Is it because Bush achieved nothing of significance, well, nothing positive? Or that we are very good at forgetting unpleasant times? Whatever the answer, it's troubling.

Walter Blotscher