The core of Michael

The core good thing about Michael, I just realized, is that - - - he is ALLOWED to speak the truth.

Michael is basically an innocent character that we know means no harm, so we accept whatever 'offensive' or 'rude' thing he says, because we know he is saying it out of innocence, best intentions and ignorance, not malevolence.

He tries hard to make everyone happy, basically.

So this is a character that can be used to tell 'uncomfortable' truths, because he doesn't realize it might not be appropriate in the more modern (let alone nowadays') politically-correct social 'culture' (such as it is) to blurt out truthful, but 'offensive' things so bluntly.

I think this is the core reason why I find him interesting - I am always expecting him to make another faux pas, or say something a 'normal individual' would never be allowed to say these days without being fired.

Michael could say that women are bad at math, but the real-life University professor that simply stated a similar fact-based observation (can't remember in detail, but perhaps something like 'there are not as many women interested in math'), he had to apologize, and I think he was fired.

In this kind of suffocatingly politically-correct fema-fascistic matriarchy, it's so refreshing to just see someone speak so FREELY. And I bet many viewers even here secretly love Michael because he says things we all think and want to say, but 'can't'..