Product Description

Michael Moore has established himself as someone who just won't shut up, go away, or otherwise do what political and corporate fat cats would like him to do. He lifts the veil on the people who set themselves up as role models and exposes their vulnerable underbellies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #350176 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Who says the left wing doesn't have a sense of humour? Maybe it doesn't, but in Downsize This! documentarian Michael Moore certainly does. Moore's politics are rabidly liberal, populist and anti-big business--about what you'd expect from the former editor of Mother Jones. While this restricts his audience to those on the left side of the aisle, Downsize This! will be a chance to point and laugh hysterically (if ruefully) at the clique of rich white guys who run everything.

Moore is at his best as a prankster, whether it's trying to see if Pat Buchanan will take a campaign donation from the John Wayne Gacy Fan Club (yes) or whether he can have Bob Dornan committed to an insane asylum because of his bizarre behaviour (no, but it was close). Moore is one of America's sharpest satirists, and Downsize This! makes one wish he would write a "Sorry State of the Union" every year. But only if it doesn't cut into his moviemaking--that's too big a price to pay. --Michael Gerber, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

It would be even funnier if it weren't so tragic
You might think this book is funny. Yes, Michael Moore does his best, but the subject is too serious, the stories too unbelievable to make you laugh.

Here's an example. There are two pictures on the first page. The first is the federal building in Oklahoma City destroyed by Timothy McVeigh's bomb in 1995. The second is an extremely similar picture, in fact it could be the same building a few moments later, what used to be a General Motors office building in Flint, Michigan. A single question above the pictures: "What is terrorism?".

Many of us have been asking ourselves this question lately. As Moore points out, terrorism can be of a corporate nature. When corporations across the US were making record profits they were downsizing millions of people, effectively moving their jobs elsewhere, usually to either Mexico (courtesy of NAFTA) or the Far East, where labour is much cheaper. However, this policy causes many problems to the society, much more than 'simple' unemployment.

These days corporations merrily take all public subsidies they are offered and don't give a flying rat about giving anything back to the community. In fact, many make a point of not minding that at all. Moore names many companies that keep the money and still leave the place where they had promised to stay. Others get so much money that the overall cost of each direct job is a small fortune. That's the case of the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, where each job was subsidised by about US$175,000. I could understand such a level of subsidies to a company making small and environmentally friendly cars, for poorer people. What I can't understand is how such a poor state (in comparison with others) is paying for people to have their luxury cars, that pollute like there's no tomorrow. This smells bad - literally.

Another example. In the following two pages Moore compiled a list of 17 steps of an "Etiquette of Downsizing". "Have kleenex ready" and "remain calm and try not to display any emotion" are only two of the most hypocritical ones.

The rest of the book follows only too easily. From making you feel like you wanna blow up something (I resisted!), to exposing how stupid some obscure congressmen are, to direct attacks on Orange County (yes, all of the Republican voters there), Pat Buchanan, Bob Dole, the US two-party (two twins) political system, bigots (read Pat Buchanan and Newt Gringrich), zealots, you name it.

Two low points on this book. First, Michael Moore said it was great having Madeleine Albright, a citizen from former Czechoslovakia, in the US. She was the same person who said 500.000 dead Iraqi children were 'worth it'. Beast of a woman, she would have made a wonderful toilet attendant, if her colleagues could tolerate her. Second, Mikhail Gorbachev did NOT pull down the Berlin wall. If anything, he was overtaken by events.

Still, this book is a breath of fresh air, mixing humour and american politics. It's only a shame he is not as mainstream as he deserves.

Not as good as made out
I'm a big fan of Michael Moore, especially his television work. But, and this might sound stupid - THIS IS A VERY AMERICAN BOOK. The references etc are really directed to an American audience. It's a hit and miss affair for British readers. Furthemore some of this stuff is what you'll hear in the pub on a Friday. If you want real political satire, try Francis Wheens "Ho-haas and passing Fancies" which is basically the best bits of his Guardian articles. That book is much more informative without ever being snobby and it covers many of the same issues but only better.

Excellent, but lets itself down in places
I too read this after stupid white men and found the same level of biting satire I had come to expect. If you look at this as one mans opinion piece it is a very good read. However, there is alot to disagree with - his use of statistics is tenuous at times. The chapter on Germans paying their dues sums up the faults - 1) he goes on about gun toting nuts and then encourages people to go after some geriatric germans, 2)He criticises people for wanting to restrict immigration to the US, and then has a problem with any German wanting to emigrate there, 3)He falls into the generalisation trap - all Germans of WW2 age are not and were not Nazis, and 4) He looks at history in the same naive way that he criticises others for eg overlooking the fact that Germanys boom was created by Americas cold war one upmanship. My advice if you read this book - gloss over the bits that aren't relevantand concentrate on those that relate directly to the American economy.