Downsize This!: Random Threats from an Unarmed American

By Michael Moore

Book Overview

A scathing rebuttal to the "Newtification" of America, and hilarious proof of why Michael Moore is the unofficial champion of the largest political force in the nation--the 60 percent of voters who elect not to vote--Downsize This! gets under the skin of the corporations, politicians, and media moralists who have made life miserable for millions of Americans. Line drawings & photos. Map. NPR sponsorship.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 051770739X
• ISBN13: 9780517707395
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Hit 'em hard, then kick them when they are down....

I was ill in bed and my wife bought Downsize this to cheer me up. I read it in less than a day. The book is hilarious, and Michael Moore has his facts right. His thesis throughout the book, and indeed throughout his early production, is that big corporations must stop accept government money and then fire most of their workforceto increase their already immense profits. He connects corporate greed to racism and corrupt politicians. His piece on congressman Robert Dornan is just superb! For me as a European this open corruption and greed in politicians in the USA is strange. Of course our politicians also lie and are corrupt, but they are a bit more discrete about it. And many of them are caught and forced to resign. We do not have this worship of Big Business. At times the book becomes a bit rambling, but I can forgive that. I hope more people will read and understand this book, and then go out and vote.

Well written and well researched

Micahel Moore's book Downsize This! shows the aspects of stupidity in American society. In the political spectrum, he is a liberal, but he is not quick to judge like other documents written by liberals and conservatives alike. Instead, he obviously does a ton of research and observes the patterns of politics and big business. He manages to pojnt out the shocking similarities between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, and denounces both of them as alike, and givespretty good reasons on why half the population doesn't take part in presidential elections. His views on abortion, though comical in some sense, surprisingly make a lot of sense Along with a satirical sense of honesty, Moore also throws in some very humorous commentary, like new and improved ways to vote for the President, and several jabs at certain politicians and corporations, especially a certain corporation he attacked in his documentary Roger and Me. To read this book, an open mind is recommended. Moore's sharp wit and sense of being accurate, in most cases, may be too much for some to handle. This is obviously not a book for everyone, though I know many detractors and admirers on all sides of the political spectrum.

Doing his part to [upset] the wingnuts

This book is hilarious. I particularly like the chapter where he tries to get Bob Dornan commited, a riot. This book is a bit dated by now, but most of it still applies, unfortunately. His writing on corporate welfare and the way our government gives out 'payoffs for layoffs' to rich corporations is on point. Nothing has changed.Moore sticks it to democrats and republicans in this book, (he opts for the term "republicrats") but his brand of humor and truth really seems to get on conservatives' last nerve. ...which is all the better.You can see some of their silly reactionary replies here. Like Ryan Setliff from Lynchburg, VA who titles his review "For those who think a Job is a Right." He says: "They hold to a Marxist view that a job and economic security is an inherent right." Well, what's so humorous about this is not only the idea that Ryan would seemingly rather live in a country where the people can't get jobs and are economically insecure, but that it turns out that a job and economic security *ARE* actually basic and fundamental human rights. Under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt, The "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" was adopted by the United Nations in 1948 and ratified by the United States. This document is basically the standard on which basic human rights are measured throughout the world, and it declares what we as individuals, and our governments, shall strive for in the modern world. Let's take a look at Article 23 of the UDHR shall we?:(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.Well, it seems that "Everyone has the right to work". :-DRyan is obviously full of [it]. The right to a job and economic security *ARE* in fact basic human rights, as is the right to organize in unions.Now, let's look at Article 25...:(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.Man, Ryan's probably boiling while reading this. ...but I bet he'd kill or mame to protect this one:Article 17:(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.Y

Michael Moore is as American as you can get!

pa·tri·ot·ic (ptr-tk) adj. --- Feeling, expressing, or inspired by love for one's country.source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition - Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Look it up in any dictionary and you will get a similar definition. Notice it doesn't say anything about staying silent and never openly showing dissent towards your government. That's because our country was founded on the belief that we have the freedom of expression along with other freedoms...Anyway, for those who actually want to READ the book, here are some of my thoughts on it.Michael Moore, for those unfamiliar, is a one of todays most outspoken mainstream progressives. A die-hard supporter of Nader and the Green party, Moore is most well known for TV Nation and the indie movie "Roger and Me." In "Downsize This," Moore takes on the both Democrats and Republicans in hilarious essays that will make you laugh while you growing angry. He also takes on that bane of Democracy: Large, rich corporations. The best essay in the book is "Would Pat Buchanan Take a Check From Satan?" In it, Moore takes an old political trick from Buchanan's days with Nixon and uses it against Mr. Buchanan. According to Moore, Buchanan cashed checks from "The John Wayne Gacy Fan Club," (famous serial killer) and "Abortionists for Buchanan." Pat still hasn't cashed the Satan one yet.Look for Moore's new book - "Stupid White Men...." It was nearly banned and destroyed because he dared criticize the President.

Yipee!

Read this book! You probably won't agree with everything that Moore says - I didn't - but that's because it is at times (as many other one-star reviewers seemed to have missed) as satire as much as it is social criticism. Reasons to read: 1. Moore lives to upset the apple cart - gaurenteed to make you think 2. I love a man who admits to lusting after Mrs. Clinton 3. Damn funny 4. Educational. Moore the documentarian goes to work explaining how corporate welfare works, how what the average multimillionare celebrity spends his day, and in the most amazing chapter how political bigwig Bob Dornan is absolutely freakin' nuts (yes, Dornan is the guy who rallied against abortion but took his own wife to get one - and that isn't even the tip of the iceburg on this guy's irrationality and egotism and, well, nuttiness.) 5. Damn funny. Or did I already say that one? I had so much fun with this that I rented "Roger and Me" - which, like this book, is hilarious and real. 6. Moore is one of the few working authors today not absolutely brainwashed by wealthy and powerful. Keep fightin' for the people, Mike!