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108 of 131 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Actual Book Review, August 6, 2004
I ordered this book from Amazon and just finished reading it a few days ago. I wanted to read the whole book before I posted a review. Along the way I have read other reviews, and I know without a doubt that some of these one-star reviewers haven't read this book. One reviewer stated this book is satire, and not very good satire. This book is NOT satirical. The men who wrote this book really did their homework and research, with pages of sources in the back that any of us can look up.
I agree with a couple other reviewers who have said the title of this book is very misleading as to the contents of the book. I understand why they named it "Michael Moore is a big, fat stupid white man." It is a combination of Al Franken's early 1990s book title about Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men". There is a bit of humor here and there. At the beginning of the book the authors give us a time line between 1989 through the present of Michael Moore words and actions, and how we can know what will happen by what Moore says. Whatever he says - the opposite will happen.
I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't know much about Moore and his background. I didn't, and I learned alot - from his first so-called documentary "Roger and Me," (GM president Roger Smith) up to his latest propaganda piece. "Fahrenheit 9/11" had not been released at the time this book went to press, but the authors accurately hit the nail on the head telling the reader what will be in it, just by knowing Moore's history and how predictable he is.
I found this book to be so informative I began to keep a pencil handy to underline and check certain passages so I could refer back to them later. One thing that really struck me is how often Moore contradicts himself, and how when anything doesn't go his way, he starts screaming about there being a conspiracy against him. Or, he will fabricate a conspiracy if it will help him make a few more bucks. Example: Moore publicly accused Disney and Miramax of censoring him by not distributing "Fahrenheit 9/11." But the authors state "later, Moore lets it slip on CNN that he'd been told nearly a year before that Miramax would not be his American distributor-which means that unless he'd somehow forgotten for all that time that he didn't have a distributor, all had been arranged in advance."
Don't let the title of this book fool you. It is not a light-weight, mindless attack on Michael Moore. These authors did pain-staking research on Moore. This is a serious book chocked full of statistics and facts, and unlike Moore, I bet they will let the chips fall where they may.
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102 of 125 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A shining example of the first amendment put to good use, June 29, 2004
By A Customer
As a librarian I believe very strongly in the value of the first amendment, which protects the right an individual american has to speak his or her mind. This book is a brave and important balance to the work of Michael Moore, who has openly denounced and threatened legal action against those who challenge his assertions. As Americans, we need to remember that free speech can be taken from us not only by our government but by individuals who would threaten, menace, and use the weight of their status as celebrities to silence dissent and exert influence. In this book - and in other works of film and print that are emerging - we are finally seeing a response, an intelligent response to unbalanced propaganda that is presented as fact. It is a brave and important work, and should be read by any who are concerned about the influence of propaganda in society. Propaganda is poison for democracy. Read this book and you will learn a great deal about America's preeminent propagandist. Read this book, and support free speech!
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59 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Solid evidence for the rest of the story, September 11, 2004
First I think it needs to be said that the title of this book is inappropriate and uncalled for. It is an obvious play on Moore's own attempts at degrading and insulting others in his book "Stupid White Men". That said, it is simply unfortunate the authors here chose to dig a hole down to Moore's level because the information and facts in this book are too important to be dismissed because of the insulting book title. I fear that the factual information will not be read by those who are turned off by the title. I have enjoyed some of Moore's work, and in fact gave "Downside This" a favorable review here, but Moore obviously has some issue with his tactics, which are exposed in this book.
In regards to the book content, it is excellent. I am sure by now that everyone knows Michael Moore is far from the "man of the people" he pretends to be. He is a very wealthy member of the celebrity circles, owns more than one million dollar home, and in fact is quite smug about his wealth. He charges up to 30k to speak out about the perils of wealthy, white men, which in a twist of irony he seems unaware of - he is. In fact several Moore quotes show a man who is overtly arrogant about his wealth and how he has become rich while other journalists are struggling by "playing by the rules".(page 120).
In regards to his films and books, it is unfortunate he falsifies information to the extent he does. I think that he makes some good points. In "Bowling for Columbine" I agreed with his stance on gun control, yet he wasn't content with facts, he had to lie and misrepresent the truth to get there. For example, in one sequence he makes the claim that the young men who murdered their classmates did so while local corporation Lockheed-Martin rolled weapons of mass destruction through the streets. Well, not quite. Lockheed makes satellite rockets for placing satellites in space. (Page 87). What is even more disturbing is that this information was known, and filmed at the time, yet edited out.
In "Roger and Me" Moore commits one of his favorite tactics. He goes with a film crew outside of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and a Yacht club in Michigan to try and film GM President Roger Smith. However, it was known to Moore that Smith had never stayed at the Waldorf and is not even a member of the Yacht Club, so obviously he wouldn't be filmed there. (Page 25) This tactic Moore uses often to try and paint a picture that is patently false and misrepresents the truth - deliberately. A bigger surprise for me is the quote from Moore that he doesn't even drive GM cars, preferring foreign cars! This is hardly the man of the people who took on a major corporation for laying off its workers at the GM plant in Flint Michigan, when the result of his own consumer choices places their jobs at risk.
In "Fahrenheit 911" he commits yet another series of misrepresentations. I even know some people who are otherwise quite smart and level headed who were taken in by Moore's tactics. He claims that the Bush family has ties to the Bin Laden family. (Page 129). I would hope so. The Bin Laden family is huge, something like 50 or so sons. They are one of the wealthiest and most influential in Saudi and lean heavily towards the west and America. Having long since disowned "Osama" (who considers them all to be traitors to Islam) they are allies to our cause in the Middle East. He claims that Bush invited the Taliban government to Texas. Well in fact it was President Clinton who authorized and endorsed the visit, and Clinton who was supporting a pipeline which would have benefited the Taliban, while Bush opposed it. (Page 177). There are too many other discrepancies to count.
Overall, the book is full of factual and well documented information, though often redundant, and mean-spirited in its presentation. There are hundreds of Moore's lies and mistruths uncovered and exposed. While this may align to Moore's own style itself, I expected better from them, therefore only three stars. The index itself is worth reviewing. If you are a fan of Moore's then continue to admire his talent in making fictional films to make his own self serving political points, but educate yourself on the truth behind his claims to better decide these issues for yourself.
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