I spent a long afternoon last week browsing around the big bookshops near Tottenham Court Road, something I haven’t done for a good while. In these places it is pretty hard to ignore the new Michael Moore book.
As with all anticipated bestsellers there are huge piles of “Dude Where’s My Country?” stocked on the floor and of course the rest of his collection is within easy reach (usually conveninently placed nearby the Chomsky, Pilger, Tariq Ali section).
Having read the criticisms of Moore from many American liberals and leftists in the blogosphere, especially our own Gene, and taken half an hour with a coffee in one of those conveninent bookshop cafes to get a taste of ‘Dude Where’s My Country?’, I decided against adding ‘Dude…” to the credit card bill.
The main reason – it’s not funny. The second reason, Moore is blatantly marketing himself to the prejudices of a political outlook which, as should be fairly obvious by now, I don’t have much time for.
David Aaronovitch takes a look at Moore mania in the Guardian today:
Someone has described it as “political comfort food”, where you get served up your own opinions and prejudices in a way that makes you feel better about yourself. It’s fine to hate Bush, to loathe Tony Blair and to feel yourself to be – uncomplicatedly – vindicated. Moore routinely uses the word “lie” to cover real lies, genuine mistakes, wrong predictions and – worst of all – straightforward disagreements. No need for thought.
