April 01, 2003
GERARD HENDERSON on Michael Moore:
GERARD HENDERSON on Michael Moore:
He deserved an Oscar for alienation - a phenomenon best explained as dislike for, or hatred of, an individual's society and its leaders. Alienated types tend to be relatively well-off and well-educated men and women who enjoy the freedoms and riches provided by Western societies and use their status to dump on politicians and, by implication, those who elected them.
Some members of the intelligentsia - and the super rich (like Moore) - enjoy wallowing in such self-hatred. Stupid White Men includes a chapter called "Kill Whitey". This is from an author who expresses understandable concern at the high homicide rates in the US. Sounds bizarre. But not so to the American heartland, as the Oscars demonstrated. Moore's alienated rage was applauded by a few members of the Hollywood tinsel town audience, although not by Oscar nominees and their guests who chose to remain silent. Not so those of lesser means, and status, who occupied what are termed the "cheap seats" who exhibited their disgust at such alienation - at a time when US forces are at war - by booing loudly. Bravo.
Henderson also dices Noam Chomsky. Go read.
Posted by Tim Blair at April 1, 2003 01:59 AM