Friday, November 5, 2010

Stupid White Men-A Book Review

I went to our public library looking for something by Michael Moore.
He's quite interesting to read and listen to, a bit to the left of most politically, but that's genius in my book. Every once in awhile we need to hear something outrageously challenging to wake up.
"If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space. "Not sure where I read that, but its one of my favorite quotes.
Back to Michael. Stupid White Men was published in 2001, before our disaster on 9-11-01. Its about the Presidential Election of 2000 and how it was manipulated so that we ended up with George Bush Jr. in office. I kept looking to be sure it was written Before these last eight years of mismanagement were endured by our country. Almost prophetical, Michael makes one mistake: he was sure we'd kick Bush to the curb in 2004.
Not so. The list of stupid white men include those in the cabinet, the advisors and various other "cronies". Now that the eight, second generation, Bush years are over, I'm inclined to be philosophical. Not that things are good, and merit such detachment. Our economy is still in the toilet, there are no real jobs (unless you're willing to travel), and serious desperation is leading to more crime.
Michael Moore makes me laugh, he's talented, and has many more books and documentaries under his belt. If you haven't, check out his stuff. His work will challenge the way you view corporations and our role as middle and lower class Americans.
We've gone through some rough times as a nation. As I read this book, I keep reminding myself that we are on the other side, have passed through the eight years, and are on the way to recovery, one way or another. Americans are known for creativity and resourcefulness. Creating green lifestyles and living spaces, providing education, health and services, and achieving national energy independence are all areas our nation can grow jobs that are not subject to outsourcing.
I've read that we humans don't actually make the enormous impact upon the earth as we credit ourselves with. We actually are just destroying ourselves: the planet will fight back. Like a bad cold, the planet will recover, and we the "parasites" the bad virus, will die off.
Hopefully we have a brighter future than that. We'll start living with rather than trying to conquer the planet.
I'm not even half way through this book. Its the type of thing a person can put down and digest for awhile. We can wonder what direction our country would be in had Al Gore been in office 2000-2008, but that is only conjecture.
Time to pick up the pieces, thank god we still have resources and brilliant Americans who will work on these issues.

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