The Hero Takes a Fall: A Refutation of Michael Moore

Let me start by saying that I’m a fan of Michael Moore’s work. I admire his fearlessness in confronting the hypocrites and liars of the world, and as such I have a difficult time refuting his essay Idiot Nation. But after carefully studying this article, I need to look at possible inaccuracies and flaws in logic.

He begins by slinging a lot of statistics at the reader without providing any citations of where he got his information. Who says 44 million Americans are functionally illiterate? Who did the study that found that we spend over 1000 hours a year watching TV? Michael, don’t bemoan the fact that we’re intellectually lazy and then skip out on backing up your information.

And when you call our President the “Idiot-In-Chief” who only got the presidency because of his father, his brother and Dad’s cronies on the Supreme Court I can only say…well…ok, fair enough. Bush’s comment to his fellow “C” students at Yale, “You too can be President of the United States.” gives me the same vague nausea as hearing his wife smugly describe herself as a “Desperate Housewife.”

But I digress

Seriously, there is an excessive amount of personal attacks such as name-calling and emotional diatribe at the expense of logic and solid, provable facts. For instance, Moore presents us with a brief quiz to be administered to the “Yammering Pundits” and “So-called political leaders and states “Chances are the genius representing you in the legislature won’t score 50% on the above test. The good news is you get to flunk him in a year or two.” And when he calls George W. “The idiot leader of an idiot nation,” I won’t argue the point of Bush’s intelligence but I take exception to the sweeping generalization that we as a nation “[Go] our of [our] way to remain ignorant and stupid, especially by a guy who dropped out of college because he couldn’t find a parking space. The fact is, given the opportunity and motivation, I think most Americans would more than welcome the chance to be educated and well-informed. I agree with Noam Chomsky, whom Moore cites, that “The American Mind is alive and well. It just isn’t challenged with anything interesting or exciting.”

Ay, there’s the rub!

I also agree that it’s tough for students to stay motivated in an atmosphere of “Degrading comments, physical abuse and the belief that you’re the only one not having sex.” Aside from that there are budget cuts, sub-standard equipment and a shortage of materials. (Helllloooo? I thought the California State Lottery was created to take care of that.) Of course when he calls High school a “Sick, sadistic punishment of adults seeking vengeance…” I feel that he’s showing remarkable restraint. (My own memories of high school bring up vague images of the Ninth Circle of Hell.) Still, as an adult, I work in high schools and the following quite from Moore doesn’t quite ring true for me.

“I visited a school recently, and some students asked me if I noticed that they and the other students in the school were all wearing white or some neutral color. Nobody dares wear black or anything else wild or distinct. That’s a sure ticket to the Principal’s office[…] so the kids learn to submerge any personal expression. The learn that to rock the boat could get you rocked right out of school. Don’t question authority, Do as you’re told, Don’t think, just do as I say.

Unless Moore visited Guantanamo Bay High I think he might be overstating just a tad. Personally I’ve never found that the kids were afraid to express themselves, either verbally or in the way they dress.

Moore complains at length about corporate sponsoring of schools, trading school supplies, computers, scholastic events and team sponsorship in return for advertising of their products. Yes, it’s crass commercialism. Yes, it’s a cheap marketing ploy. But if it puts badly needed money into the school coffers or provides a few “FREE” computers or if the promise of a free personal pan pizza encourages a kid to read, is that such a bad thing?

In conclusion: Michael, I love ya babe, Keep skewering the puffed-up hypocrites and barbequing the sacred cows. But in your zeal to cut through the bullshit, don’t turn into a bullshit artist yourself.