Moore, unlike novelist Gore Vidal, who has many political views similar to his own (other than an admiration for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, which Moore wisely doesn’t share), isn’t satisfied with proselytizing about the despicability of corporations from a podium or from academic papers. Rather, in true 1960s fashion, he “takes it to the streets.”

Moore may have authored some books, but the weapons he usually wields aren’t pens or computers, but a bullhorn and a camera. Thus he produces the humorously satirical news-show, “Awful Truth.”

On this program, when Moore decides someone has done something immoral, he goes around following him with cameramen and yelling at him through a bullhorn to annoy him. That was the gimmick of Moore’s career-starting feature-length documentary “Roger & Me.”

Upset by General Motors’ decision to downsize its workforce in Flint, Michigan, and replace it with cheaper labor in Mexico, Moore filmed himself hounding G.M.’s CEO at the time, Roger Smith. Whether it was a result from the bad publicity from this picture or not, Smith was fired soon after its release.

If Moore wishes to peacefully ridicule others, the first amendment allows him to do so. But sometimes Moore’s behavior crosses the line from civil disobedience to mean-spirited, unconstitutional harassment.

For instance, back when the current secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Tommy Thompson, was the governor of Wisconsin, Moore used the nastiest means to make a specious argument against his cutting welfare benefits.

Moore actually invaded the governor’s mansion’s interior, along with angry former welfare recipients. They trampled all over the place.

When they were asked to leave, Moore replied that they simply wanted to clean up the house in exchange for money, and that, since Thompson opposed welfare, it was hypocritical of him to say no to their offer and to object to them barging into his home.

Moore wondered why Thompson didn’t want to pay these people to clean his house if he wanted them to work. This glossed over the fact that legitimate employment involves the mutual consent of the worker and employer -- clearly absent in this case.

Another such incident was when Michael Moore learned that the woman who first suggested to Linda Trippe that she tape-record her conversations with Monica Lewinsky was none other than Lucianne Goldberg -- the mother of “National Review” editor Jonah Goldberg.

Moore saw this as an invasion of privacy on Mrs. Goldberg’s part, and chose to “give her a taste of her own medicine.” To do this, he set up a camera across her house, videotaping it 24 hours/day and asking her neighbors to spy on her for him.

This punishment doesn’t fit the alleged crime, considering that perpetual surveillance is far more severe than a few recorded words. This is not peaceful, satirical protest, but just plain cruelty.

At least Mrs. Goldberg made the best of this, joking that she’d sell advertising space on her window, since it was on Internet-TV broadcast, after all.

But, in the end, it wasn’t Goldberg who “got a taste of her own medicine,” but Moore himself -- and his reaction was surprising. Acting much like the villainous G.M., Moore himself fired many employees to cut costs in the year 1998, including “Awful Truth” producer Alan Edelstein after he only worked there for seven weeks.

Edelstein, in an attempt at revenge, decided to make his own “Roger & Me”-like documentary about the “profiteering” Moore “downsizing” his company and thereby “oppressing” his employees.

In the Moore-ish tradition, Edelstein would then videotape himself chasing after Moore incessantly with a bullhorn and rudely interrupting his public speeches. Basically, Edelstein was making a direct parody of Moore, but with Moore cast in CEO Smith’s place this time around.

Eventually, Moore called the police on Edelstein and had him arrested. I’m pleased that Moore solved this problem, but why is it OK for him to stalk other people but not OK for them to stalk him?

Michael Moore wants people to look down upon executives like Bill Gates and Nike cofounder Phil Knight for their supposed “lack of social responsibility.” But if “social responsibility” is so important that people should boycott corporate-manufactured products over it, they can start by no longer buying Moore’s new book.

Stuart K. Hayashi is the president of the Reason Club of Honolulu and an undergraduate in Entrepreneurial Studies at Hawaii Pacific University, though his opinions do not necessarily reflect that of either institution. He can be reached at radical_individualist@hotmail.com

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