Moore had grown up in the union town of Flint, Michigan, and in many respects his book was an excoriation of the new administration for its cruel indifference to blue-collar Americans. But his title also reflected, as the anti-corporate global justice movement with which he’d been associated disintegrated, the new hegemony of what we might call “smug politics”. [...]
Moore’s book drew a simple conclusion. “[I]f you live in a country,” he wrote, “where 44 million can’t read – and perhaps close to another 200 million can read but usually don’t – well, friends, you and I are living in one very scary place.” The moron president remained in power because the American people were themselves moronic. Stupid White Men described Bush as the “idiot leader of an idiot nation”, and explained that “it comes as no surprise to foreigners that Americans, who love to revel in their stupidity, would ‘elect’ a president who rarely reads anything – including his own briefing papers”. [...]
Yet Moore’s argument that the people themselves were responsible for Bush’s antics implicitly reinforced the Republican case. The right equated the president with the American electorate, and distinguished them both from sneering elitists. Moore did exactly the same – except with the polarities reversed. Conservatives insisted the people and their leaders were wise; Moore judged them both moronic. [...]
The smug politics of the Bush era depended on the progressive embrace of savviness. The Daily Show–style gags only worked for a savvy crowd. Such jokes weren’t intended to convince anyone. In fact, almost by their nature, they couldn’t convince anyone. To get the sketch – which often consisted of little more than a clip of a conservative saying something stupid, followed by the liberal host mugging to the camera in mock amazement – the audience needed to already know and already accept the correct position.
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