"Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore tops bestseller lists.

Here is an e-mail I received. I have heard about the book, but had no idea it was a bestseller.

"Stupid" Stays at #1 on NY Times List, 4 Weeks in a Row
> Dear Friends,
4/15/02
>> I woke up in Tampa, Florida, yesterday, picked up the Sunday newspaper,
>> and there it was: the New York Times today had declared that, for the
>> fourth week in a row, "Stupid White Men" is the #1 book in the country.
>> I am out of explanations at this point as to how this thing has stayed
>> atop on the Times bestseller list for a month. I've been informed that
>> the book is now in its 19th printing. Also, it remains #1 in Canada, and
>> it has gone to #1 this week in Britain and Ireland, according to the
>> Sunday Times of London.
>>All this has occurred in spite of a virtual press blackout on the book.
>> Or maybe because of it. The more the book is ignored by the media, the
>> better it does. So, if you are a newspaper editor or a TV producer,
>> PLEASE do NOT pay any attention to this book! Just because more
>> Americans are reading it than any other book in the country for the past
>> month should NOT persuade you to ask crazy questions of yourselves like,
>> "How can this be happening when the 'President' has the highest approval
>> ratings ever?" Just concern yourselves with repeating your mantra of the
>> past 7 months - "America Loves Bush! America Loves Bush!" It's a
>> comforting mantra, one that seems to bring you solace at a time of
>> journalistic confusion. It's also simple and easy to repeat - and it
>> means that you don't have to go out and do the work you are supposed to
>> do (like rooting out the Enron-backed criminals in the White House or
>> finding out what really happened before and after September 11th ).
>>
>> The front page of the Tampa Tribune yesterday was all ablaze with the
>> news about the convention of Florida's Democrats on Saturday in Orlando.
>> There was a color photo of a smiling, waving Al Gore. Lieberman was
>> there and so was Kerry and a host of other stars of the Democratic
>> Party. About 2,500 Floridians were in attendance.
>>
>> But in Tampa, on that same night, I was looking out from the stage at
>> the Sun Dome at a crowd of nearly 7,000 people who had come to the
>> "Democracy Rising" rally organized by Ralph Nader. Tampa has now
>> produced the largest crowd of the book tour (I signed the 2000th book of
>> the evening somewhere around 2am). This is 3 times the
crowd that the Democrats got and, again, there is virtually no coverage.
>>
>> But remember - it NO LONGER MATTERS that most of the media ignores the
>> real news. It no longer matters because much of the media has chosen to
>> make itself irrelevant through its lazy reporting, sleazy presentation,
>> its obedience to the corporate agenda, and all the blowhard pundits who
>> scream out their useless opinions. A political shift has occurred in the
>> country and the media has completely missed it. We have become a nation
>> where the majority of citizens are very liberal and progressive on the
>> issues. The majority of Americans now call themselves pro-environment,
>> pro-choice, pro-labor, and anti-Big Business. 154 million out of the 200
>> million voters in this country did NOT cast a vote for George W. Bush.
>> That is the America in which we now live. Liberal, progressive, and sick
>>
of the stupid white men who run the country.
>>
>> Hey, here's something that you haven't seen on the Fox Nuisance Channel
>> - there are now over 140 college campuses in the U.S. with an active
>> student Green organization. The Green kids in Florida are everywhere and
>> their numbers are among the largest. You wouldn't think so, not after
>> the blame that was heaped on the Greens for causing Gore to "lose"
>> Florida. But they are building a mass movement, and the turnout I saw in
>> Tampa was proof to me that there is a ruckus afoot in America, and if
>> it's rockin' in a place like central Florida, then it's happening just
>> down the street from where you live.
>>
>> The Democrats could have stopped this. They could have spent the past
>> two years fighting to raise the minimum wage or to lower the amount of
>> pollutants spewed into the air or to call for a Special Prosecutor to
>&g
t; investigate Bush and Enron.
>>
>> But, no. The Democrats have spent their time trying to act like
>> Republicans, thinking that's how they will win back the House this
>> November. Note to Democrats: You will not win the House by being your
>> usual weak, lame-o selves. The Greens will deny you the chance you have
>> had to take charge. Until you get a clue, the Greens will thrive and
>> grow. You want to avoid a repeat of 2000? Fight for the working people
>> of this country! You want to stop the Greens? Act like a real Democrat!
>> Stand up for something! Do the math: A couple of thousand in Orlando
>> come to see the stars of the Democratic Party, while, at the same exact
>> moment, nearly three times that number is in Tampa to cheer on a
>> progressive agenda - which is greater? If the Democrats can't add 2+2,
>> then they are doomed.
>>
>> I should also mention that Tampa is the
command headquarters for the war
>> on Afghanistan. It's all done via remote control from the comfort of
>> Florida's beautiful Gulf coast. How many civilians have we killed now? I
>> believe the last number I read, it was more than the civilians who died
>> on September 11th. Oh, I know the Bush boys over at Macdill Air Force
>> Base have their rationalization as to why, in wartime, sometimes
>> civilians have to die. The terrorists of 9-11 had their
>> rationalizations, too. Everybody's got their rationalizations. Well,
>> here's mine - there is NO rationalization for the killing of other human
>> beings except in the rare and extreme cases of true self-defense.
>>
>> Today is the beginning of National Library Week. As many of you know by
>> now, it was a single librarian who saved my book from the corporate
>> shredder. In the next day or so, I will send you another letter telling
>> you ab
out what she did and what you can do to support the libraries of
>> this country.
>>
>> Thanks again to everyone for your support. I'm in Oklahoma City and
>> Norman, Oklahoma, tonight (4/15). I head to Canada to the University of
>> Toronto tomorrow night (Tuesday), and I'll be in the Northwest later in
>> the week. Hope to see many of you there.
>>
>> Yours,
>>
>> Michael Moore
>> Author
>> Filmmaker
>> Detroit Tigers fan

 

To get the flavor of the book.

Stupid White Men