Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free

by Charles P. Pierce

Book Overview

In his legendary career, Pierce has interviewed all manner of charlatans, politicians, demagogues and fanatics and is revered by journalists for his brilliant and ferocious Esquire articles exposing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767926153
• ISBN13: 9780767926157
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Dated, Leftist Agitprop.

(yawn) Not worth elaborating. Currently ensconced in the recycling bin.

Dumb

This was not at all about the title. It should have been called "History Of The Masons". That's all it is about.

It's True: We See This Everyday

"Idiot America" is great, informative book about concepts we see everyday. Also, many of the 1-star reviews are likely biased because of some of the political and religious topics noted. I think this book is definitely a full, 5-star book. The Following comments aren't meant to be particularly negative towards the United States and the concepts in this book aren't exclusive to the USA. The concepts in "idiot America" exist all over the entire world. "Idiot America" is a superbly covered account of something that's very prevalent in the US. Charles Pierce provides the history of "cranks" (con artists and showmen) from the founding of the nation to current examples today in contemporary America. I focused on TV and Radio because of it's widespread impact on the populace today (even in the age of the growing Internet, which is becoming dominant). Much of TV and Talk Radio promote misinformation based on emotion, histrionics, shock, being loud, and over-the-top attempts to get ratings. The author notes "The 3 Great Premises: and applies them to many instances in this book: 1. Any theory is valid if it moves units (rating, and making money). 2. Anything can be true if it is said loudly enough. 3. Fact is what enough people believe (the Truth is what you believe). There are many examples in this book. Here are just a few: The NAFTA Superhighway, that never was: Even in the year 2003, a completely false rumor can end up being debated by Congressman, and end up on Lou Dobb's TV show. In 2003, the Texas legislature approved the the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) to improve road and rail lines to facilitate the movement of good within the state of Texas. Due to modern day mass communication (mostly the Internet) the TTC very quickly turned into a fictitious NAFTA Superhighway. The Superhighway was to be 400 yards wide and stretch from El Paso, TX to Saskatoon, Canada. North to South, East to West. The NAFTA superhighway would be the trade corridor for the newly united states of Canada, US, and Mexico. Congressman were asked their position on the highway by reporters in DC, and many cited their opposition to it and the erosion of America's Sovereignty. Lou Dobbs ran the story on his show on a major American news network. Viewers were "outraged." Silly as this may seem, it reinforces the point that we cannot automatically trust nor believe the mainstream media. Intelligent Design: Religion and politics have merged, and both use the characteristic tactics of brand marketing in the modern marketplace. Church consultant George Barna in 1988 stated that the church has failed "to embrace a marketing orientation in what has become a market-driven environment" (page 131). After failing to sneak religion into classrooms to get Creationism taught in biology classes, in addition to nation-wide prayer in schools, a new brand was carefully and methodically invented: intelligent design. ID was funded among many, including the owner of D

Irk, Guaranteed

Make no mistake about it. "Idiot America" is really going to irk some people, and irk them very badly. Charles Pierce leaves no "right winger" behind in his polemic about how stupidity is reigning and raining hard in America, mostly due to the foible of rabid conservative thought. Covering topics as varied as crank author Ignatius Donnelly's "fictional" non-fiction book on Atlantis that made him an author celebrity, to Oklahoma senator James Inhofe, who claims that global warming is a "hoax". Pierce's narrative bounces all over the place, from topic to topic, skewering right wingers with every slash of his lexigraphic sword, often to funny results. His case: America has become the land of idiocy, where senators diagnose patients over a television set, radio buffoons suggest that autism is caused by bad parenting, and evolution should be banished from the schools. He builds his case with three interesting premises: 1) Any theory is valid if it sells books, soak up ratings, or otherwise move units. (Ann Coulter, right) 2) Anything can be true if someone says it loud enough. (Hello Rush!) 3) Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it. (Right wing, helllooo?) Thus, what Pierce calls "the Gut", people just know something is right and wrong, because their "gut" tells them. Unfortunately, as Pierce explores through this book, people are experiencing serious gastronomical issues; more aptly, the right wing of this country needs to seriously look at taking a colonic, for what they actually perpetuate and pander to is absurd, if not laughable. Pierce starts each chapter with an scene or two from the life of President James Madison, funnily labeled "the Charlie Brown of the Founding Fathers", whose words illuminate the concept that Pierce explores. One of the most powerful chapters comes in his journey through the world of Terri Schiavo's hospice experience. Pierce speaks with the people most effected by Terri (not the Congress passing legislation, which Bush "interrupted" one of his many vacations to sign), the brave souls who worked at the hospice and endured the brunt of hostilities when the media besieged the location. Another powerful chapter centers on the "Intelligent Design" battle in Dover, Pennsylvania and the Republican judged irked at the people trying to inject national politics into their little hamlet. "Idiot America" works to expose cranks in our society, in order to restore something that we once had in the United States, but increasingly, is disappearing, which is the ability to engage in thoughtful, meaningful dialogue. When one side puts up such a wall of idiocy, blares it loudly without listening, dialogue, honest debate simply cannot happen. This book is not for everyone. Those on the right of issues in this country won't find any of the exposed hypocrisy remotely believable or interesting. Those on the left, and the center, would do well to read this book, and learn from Pi

RWers who haven't read this book are gaming the system

Charles Pierce has long been a target of the same conservative spammers and sockpuppets that make reading the comments sections of most blogs and news websites such a display of witlessess. These same persons are on a drive to wreck sales for his book by downrating it even though they have never read it and never will. The reason for their enmity is obvious: Much as the late David Postman did with his book Amused to Death, Mr. Pierce draws accurate and deadly aim at the forces that have led to the devaluing of intelligence and learning in America. The main difference is that while Postman didn't explicitly ascribe an ideological cause or specific ideological actors for this general dumbing-down, Pierce does. He lays the blame at the feet of various ideology-driven entities, with special attention given to the same corporate-media war cheerleaders who happily passed on Bush's lies about Iraqi weaponry to a somnolent public, and who, in the name of putting "balance" over reality, treat specious creationist nonsense and hard scientific fact as if both had equal validity. Highly recommended!

Superb! "A Simple Desultory Philipic"

A truly vital contribution to the history of anti-intellectualism in American. Charlie Pierce is not afraid to a call a Hannity a Hannity or an idiot an idiot. Pierce has successfully isolated The Three Great Premises of Idiot America: 1. Any theory is valid if it moves product or units; 2. Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough; 3. Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it. From the Creation Museum, to the Dover Intelligent Design Case, to the tragedy of Terri Schiavo, to the canonization of St. Jack Bauer, Pierce has traced the transformation from the traditional American crank to the modern American idiot. This is a book to be savored and enjoyed. Bravo!