Michael Moore is cheerfully subversive.  He takes delight in making fun of some of the respected institutions of modern America: corporations, churches, unions, government, and political parties.  Most of them are easy targets for him.  Moore is known for his TV documentary series, "TV Nation."   He has written a book, "Downsize this!"  

As Moore commented, the documentary "Roger & Me" had to be funny, because otherwise it would be too sad.  The film is about the decline of Flint, MI, Moore's hometown, after GM closed its factories and laid off 30,000 workers while the company was making record profits.  Moore spent most of the film trying to talk to Roger Smith, then CEO of GM, to convince Smith to go to Flint.  Meanwhile, the Flint city council funded an expensive hotel and a tourist attraction to rejuvenate the city, but both closed in six months.  A sheriff's deputy of Flint had a steady job of evicting families who couldn't pay their mortgages.

Moore is unapologetically liberal and pro-union.  He called the 1996 presidential candidates indistinguishable, "Billy Bob Dolton."  He challenged liberals to follow the example of the Christian Coalition to organize at the local level and retake the Democratic Party.  He thought that a group of twenty people attending the local party meetings would be enough to set the agenda, given the current apathy.  

He proposed that workers should be more active in joining unions to challenge the political and economic power of large businesses.  As his book title suggests, he is particularly outraged by the rash of downsizing and the fact that stock prices rise as a result of it.  Corporations are forcing hardships on their workers solely in the name of increased profits.  The government, bought by campaign contributions, turns a blind eye to them.

Every humanist may not agree with these views, but Moore presents them with uncommon enthusiasm, humor, and energy.  He is an activist and a populist who listens to the personal problems of people who lack a political voice.  His documentary and book are worth a look by anyone who wants an unvarnished critique of some social problems that are being ignored by the media conglomerates.