The idiot lawyers at the publisher of Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men" are going after the excellent Soft Skull Press for producing a book called "How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office" — despite the fact the Moore himself is flattered by the reference. This is positively inexcusable in this era of "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them."
In November, HarperCollins wrote to the Brooklyn publisher, Soft Skull Press, demanding that the title be changed and stating that the similarities would cause "irreparable damage" to Mr. Moore and his book.
The ironies compound rather quickly at this point, even ignoring that a company built on free and unfettered expression appears to be, by implication, objecting when someone else engages in that. In sending the letter, HarperCollins was protecting a book it refused to publish for a time, defending an author it fought bitterly with, and, according to Mr. Moore, doing so without his knowledge.
