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Idiot Nation

Michael Moore's 'A Nation of Idiots' is a compilation of perspective. Moore provides an account of what his encounters with idiocy in the course of his life. Whether one wants to consider this fact is not necessarily personal opinion. Moore in a sense, does not offer fact, but he does use what perceivably are statistical facts as a means to support his claims.

The title is in fact, hard to prove. Indeed, one can assess the population on various metrics that are unscientific in nature. Although observation is the basis of scientific study, observation alone can generate an inference that is inherently biased. A thorough background in statistics is required to be capable of making far reaching generalizations that have any sense of credibility.

His statements are emotionally charged and are a form of 'poisoning the well'. Poisoning the well is a reference to his attack on socio types such as 'jocks' as supposedly being idiots for not having the knowledge of useless sports facts. This sweeping generalization was made after watching a sports trivia show on ESPN. Moore's evaluation of is highly critical and is isolated to one event to where there is a misunderstanding between an athlete's ability to play a sport and their knowledge of sports trivia.

Moore uses hyperbole in a unique manner which is often overlooked as it gets his point across. To the untrained mind, Moore's claims seem to be valid. Additionally, many have made the claim about the mental acclimation of the nation. Indeed, the claim may be valid but not sound as the facts provided nor the logic are sufficient to produce a valid and sound conclusion to the claim.

1. Moore claims the following, "I used to console myself about the state of stupidity in this country by repeating this to myself: Even if there are two hundred million stone-cold idiots in this country, that leaves at least eighty million who'll get what I'm saying -- and that's still more than the populations of the United Kingdom and Iceland combined!

2. Moore's attack on socio-types is characteristic of anger toward the group that appears to be irrational. Moore does not provide fact but instead states, "To look at these testosterone-loaded bruisers you would guess that they were a bunch of illiterates who would be lucky if they could read the label on a Bud."

3. "In fact, [they] are geniuses."

4. "Hordes of these jocks and lunkheads hang out in our hallway…."