Our Nation

In “Idiot Nation,” Michael Moore tries to collapse the education system of United States. The social critic shares historical views of the Political, social, financial, physical and Complexities of the twenty-first century, from the explosion of the tech-stock bubble to Bush's scorched-earth Environmental Policies. He focuses on the failures of the education system and tries to portray a clearer image of the decline of the system. He also tries to portray the where the funding of the education system goes. He gives examples of research and findings to prove his point. Moore attempts the use of humor to entertain his listeners while he presents his view points on the deteriorating educational system in America (Moore, 126). The most effective way for a reader to approach his piece is with an open mind. After reading the piece, I figured that the writer completely feeds on controversies and is loyal to their biases.

At first, after reading the initial part of Moore's essay, I was extremely furious with him just like many other people. I could not believe someone can taunt the whole of America like this. However, after I read the entire essay, despite all the biases, the piece got me thinking, are we such an intelligent human being as we believe we are? Do we have the knowledge which holds some importance? Do I know when and why did the World War II happen? What is currently going on between American and other countries? What if we are the two million idiots that Moore is referring?

He believes in the capability of Americans to be smart, but what is idiotic is where we are focusing all of our capabilities, like memorizing obscene amounts of random sports facts or “all thirty obscure trivia questions in less than 120 seconds (Moore, 411).” It was not until I read this article that I realized how impressive it was that, me and my friends could give you any sport stat on any team at the drop of a hat but, none of us probably have not a clue about the amount of money we owe China or our unemployment rate. They have the brain capacity and the capability but, it is aiming in the wrong direction. What Moore is saying is that our own decisions are what are making us Americans idiots; he is not questioning our capabilities.

Answering his question, “Do you feel like you live in a nation of idiots?” I would without a doubt say no. There are a number of brilliant and intelligent people living in America, like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Franklin Chang Diaz and many more. However, Moore focuses more on the educational systems in US, he presents his points with various studies to which the readers has no option but to believe him. One must agree that he has some intriguing concepts and ideas, though I do not like the way he portrayed his ideas and the question he asked, I believe what he was trying to portray was ...