The United States of Boo

Michael Moore is an famous American filmmaker and author. He is known for his criticism against the former president of United States George Bush and for his noticeable political point of view. He is also known as a fierce opponent of the war in Iraq. Moore has made many documentaries, among these is the controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 in which Michael Moore criticizes George Bush and the Bush administration. Michael Moore is very recognized for his work with documentaries, that are dealing with political issues in the United States. Michael Moore is very controversial because his arguments are very subjective but often rather convincing.

In the article ''The United States of BOO!'' Michael Moore who is writer of the text, deals with topics like fear of terrorism, the Bush administration and the consequences of the 9/11 episode. Michael Moore's intention with this article is definitely to provoke and to make the reader believe, that threats by terrorists are not a big issue, and on the other hand he tries to convince the ordinary American that the Bush administration is trying to scare him. Besides this, the article's receiver is obviously the American population. As a matter of fact Moore claims that the risk of being killed in a terrorist attack on American soil after the 9/11 episode actually equals zero. In order to prove his claims, Moore presents some statistics which show that the risk of dying from car-accidents, homicide, suicide or pneumonia is much higher than dying from a terrorist attack. The statistics have a rather convincing effect. Moore says that the Americans have been a victim of the Bush administrations scare campaign, and he feels that it has developed out of control. According to Moore the Bush administration has planted stories in the media that says that the terrorist are everywhere and it is just a matter of time before they strike again.

The language Michael Moore uses in his article is not formal, it is very ordinary. Matter of the fact there is a lot of colloquial language in the article. He also uses terms of abuse, for example he mentions the word ''bullshit''. Moore's dirty language is actually used to provoke and Moore tries to play on the readers emotions in order to engage the reader and he forces the reader to choose sides. Either you are for the Bush administration or you are against. Moore has very sharp arguments, which seem quite reliable because he supports them with drafted statistics. Michael Moore certainly also has a high status, because he is a very recognized man inside the film environment. Moore is the maker of the most sold documentary film in history, and therefore Moore has a lot of ethos and thereby seems as a very trustworthy man. Throughout the article Moore is very subjective and he keeps a hard tone of words against the Bush administration and he certainly points out that he does not care for Bush or his