How the Other Half Lives
By Michael Moore
Illustrated 278pp. New York:
Crown Publishers. $21
Michael Moore is a very funny guy, but I could swear he's condoning the murder of German tourists in Florida, calling for the burning of Beverly Hills by residents of South-Central Los Angeles and declaring O.J. Simpson despicable but innocent.
O.K., maybe he is not completely serious (on the first two points, anyway), since he also suggests renaming the United States either USAWorld or Americapalooza, moving the national capital to Tijuana to save money and alerting authorities that Steve Forbes is a space alien because he never blinks. But isn't it a little dangerous to literally draw a map (including the instructions "loot" and "burn") for would-be arsonists and to publish the sentences "What were you Jerries thinking?" and "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, KLAUS!"?
If the collection of tirades is here to stay as a
publishing genre, Mr. Moore's first book "Downsize
This!" is at least an entertaining example. The
author, who first became famous for stalking the chairman
of General Motors in "Roger and Me," the highly
praised 1989 documentary film, is so outspoken he can't
even go on book publicity tour without stirring up
trouble. Last month, there was some fuss about his urging
the employees of one book store chain to unionize when he
was supposed to be just signing autographs and posing for
pictures with the managers.
Mr. Moore may not be able to maintain his image
(pro-union, plain folks, blue collar, never went to
college) much longer. Once a man has negotiated, among
other things, a $4 million deal with Warner Brothers
(involving "Roger and Me"), there's no going
back to Flint, Mich. But he still seems fighting mad at
corporations and governments on behalf of women, blacks,
Holocaust survivors and the working class.
Mr. Moore has a real talent for
cutting through the garbage, digging out the important
points and serving them up in delightful, outrageous,
sometimes irrefutable ways. He is at his absolute best
when confronting his enemies head on, asking the
questions everyone else would love to put directly to the
people in charge. He has his staff telephone the Secret
Service about Senator Jesse Helms threats against the
President's life and the National Right to Life Committee
about the possibly criminal nature of masturbation. His
arguments are almost always convincing (if you're white
and you think black people have "got it made"
these days, he asks, then would you willingly trade
places, tomorrow?). He's still irreverent, referring to
Ross Perot as a "certified fruitcake." He's
still pointing out realities that belong in Bizarro
World. Did everyone else know, for instance, that
prisoners don't just work in the laundry anymore? They
book flights on T.W.A., telemarket AT&T's services
and make outdoor wear for Eddie Bauer.
But Mr. Moore's wit is no match for the thorough dullness
of corporate crime, even when he puts some of his least
favorite chief executive officers on the equivalent of
baseball trading cards. And at least once he appears
guilty of playing with statistics the same way the bad
guys do, comparing what "breaks down to only $1.14 a
day from each of us" (for "all of our social
programs combined") with "$1,388 from each of
us going to provide welfare for the rich!" There is
a fast acknowledgement that the $1,388 is an annual
figure, but many readers will zip right by it, not
realizing that he should be comparing that $1.14 a day
with $3.80 a day. Which is bad enough.
If Mr. Moore were to criticize his own book, he might say: Yeah, yeah, things are bad. The rich get richer, blah, blah, blah. So what else is new and what good is getting all worked up about it? And he would have a point. But maybe "Downsize This!" can provoke people into some rethinking, especially about corporate responsibility as a marriage between company and community. "If a corporation packs up and leaves," he writes, "it should have some serious alimony to pay." Meanwhile, there is his proposed immigration policy to ponder: Henceforth, who gets in and who doesn't will be decided not by people with the surnames on the Mayflower's 1620 passenger list. If Mr. Moore's plan ever goes into effect, the Aldens, Standishes and Winslows will be working with, among others, Grant Tinker, John Goodman, Diane English, Marcia Clark, and Mr. Rogers.
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