Themes and message

The main themes explored in the essay “The United States of BOO!” by Michael Moore are terrorism and fear. These themes are explored in the context of American society and politics and convey the author’s critical message towards American politicians and big business owners that he thinks they exploit people’s fears for the sake of their own interests.

Terrorism

By terrorism, we understand the illegal and politically, religiously, and ideologically aimed use of fear- and terror-inducing violence and intimidation, mainly against civilians.

The theme of terrorism is explored throughout the text in close connection with the theme of fear. The writer focuses on American attitudes towards terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11. He describes how seeing the tragedy of the attack has turned terrorism into America’s worst fear, but he is skeptical and sarcastic about the success of the War on Terror, and about the actual threat of terrorism for the American people: “They call it a war on ‘terror’. How exactly do you conduct war on a noun?” (p. 168, ll. 1-2);

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Fear

The theme of fear is explored in the essay in connection to terrorism. In the text, the writer differentiates between a healthy feeling of fear which helps people survive and irrational fear (or paranoia) in the context of terrorism: “Fear, the rational kind, is a critical part of our ability to survive. (p. 169, ll. 14-15); “But irrational fear is a killer. It throws off our survival compass. It makes us reach for a gun when we hear a noise in the middle of the night…” (p. 169, ll. 17-18)

The author is trying to argue that Americans’ fear of terrorism following 9/11 is an irrational one; it is not based on factual evidence but triggered by political manipulation and the sight of the horrors of 9/11.

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