Customer Reviews

Dumbocracy: Adventures with the Loony Left, the Rabid Right, and Other American Idiots

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Edgy, interesting, funny. Dumbocracy is the perfect antidote to both the Democratic and Republican conventions. Read this book, then take the politicizing from both sides with a few grains of salt. I highly recommend it.

With the U.S. presidential elections looming large (did everyone register to vote?), the American public is currently being inundated with political advertisements, televised debates, candidate mud-slinging and other ugly nonsense that typically accompanies our election process. Good times, right?

For those of you who are tired of the endless empty campaign promises, finger-pointing, and soapbox platforms, author Marty Beckerman has provided some much-needed comic relief in the form of Dumbocracy: Adventures with the Loony Left, the Rabid Right, and Other American Idiots.

It has ever been my contention that if we picked ten random Republicans and ten random Democrats off the street and locked them in a room together, we'd find that we meet in the middle more often than not. The problem is - and has always been - that the important issues are not decided by the "average" American. Rather, it is people with extreme, inflexible platforms who do their best to polarize the American public and make compromise impossible.

In a quest to understand the fundamentalists at both sides of the political spectrum (you know, the ones who make compromise impossible), Beckerman spent four years in their world, interviewing, attending thier funcions and rallies, and just in general taking one for the team and saving the rest of us from their extremist vitriol. Covering incendiary topics such as abortion, women's rights, freedom of speech, and international relations (amongst many others), Beckerman pokes fun at the ridiculous lunatics who shape our laws and policy, making for many laugh-out-loud moments.

As the title of the book implies, Beckerman goes after the left and right ends of the political spectrum with equal zeal. But underneath the sarcasm and humor this book brimming with good research. And it has to be, because you wouldn't believe the idiocy of our leaders without documentation to back it up. With biting wit and commentary Beckerman reveals the root of voter apathy: what sane person even wants to wade through the lunacy surrounding politics?

A word of warning: Dumbocracy is not for the prudish. Like most of us, the subject of politics brings forth language that would make a sailor blush (with apologies to any sailors out there) and this author is no exception. Crossing the line into unnecessary crudeness in places, you might want to skip this if you have delicate sensibilities. Don't say I didn't warn you. But you will laugh till your sides hurt, so don't say I didn't warn you about that, either.

In short, this might be the best political humor book I've ever read. If I were teaching a high school or college course to which it was at all pertinent, I would prescribe "Dumbocracy" as required reading. Young people need to know this stuff, that they may not become prey for political pedophiles aiming to indoctrinate kids too young to know better with their ideologies. While I detected a slight liberal leaning, make no mistake, the far left are not given any slack for their post-communist nanny state nonsense. Whereas the far right are thoroughly lambasted as the hypocritical fascist theocrats they are. I highly recommend "Dumbocracy" to anyone who cares about politics or social issues.

Sarcasm without the wit, is, well Dumbocracy. i picked it up because i love satire and this book professed to make fun of the Left and Right--and make fun it did. Made fun like an 8 year old boy in elementary school. His idea of satire is to just call feminists [...] and christians "idiots". very boring. do yourself a favor and save your money and rent all the South PArk seasons-ultimately the best modern satire around.

I really enjoyed "Generation S.L.U.T" and felt so-so about "death to all cheerleaders", so I thought I would read this book. All I can really say is that the book is just plain boring, it was more of a rant that eventually gets to a point. And was indeed "sarcasm without the wit". If you want a well written humorous political book, read some of HST stuff. Beckerman does not hold a candle to HST. I know, Hunter does do his share of ranting, but it's incredibly entertaining and funny.

The author spent four years visiting with political extremists on both sides of the spectrum. These are people who believe in nothing less than total victory for their side. Most Americans are moderates on the issues, but, for instance, pro-life and anti-war activists still see things as very black and white.

Beckerman discovered a lot of interesting things in his travels. Betty Friedan, founder of the National Organization for Women, compared American housewives to "the millions who walked to their own death in the concentration camps." Those on the Right blame homosexuality for the destruction of American society, but just over half of Americans think of homosexuality as an acceptable life-style. Texas A&M University requires that all faculty members "celebrate and promote" homosexuality.

"It would be a much better country if women did not vote. That is simply a fact."--Ann Coulter. The American Institute for Philanthropy has ranked MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) as one of the most corrupt and least effective charities in the country. In 2006, the California Supreme Court allowed authorities to break into citizens' homes anytime--without a warrant--to check their blood alcohol levels. A legislator in Missouri compared biology teachers to terrorists, for teaching evolution. Environmental activists have demanded control over citizens' home thermostats, threatened to spy on those who do not recycle and suggested that governments should intelligently reduce human populations to one-sixth their present number.

In 2006, the Bush Administration joined with Iran to ban a gay-rights group from addressing the United Nations. In 2004, Canada officially banned criticism of homosexuality, which is now punishable by up to five years in prison. Also in 2006, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that forcing drug suspects to consume laxatives, in order to find drugs in their digestive tracts, is not an "unreasonable search." In the 1990's, a Republican member of Congress proposed mandating the death penalty for all drug dealers. When his son was convicted of growing thirty marijuana plants, he received community service, not a lethal injection. Neither side has a monopoly on hatred of free speech.

This is the sort of book that will be thrown across the room by True Believers on both sides (sometimes those are the best kind of books). For everyone else, it is an excellent, and eye opening, look at the state of politics in America. It is very much worth reading.

Sometimes it seems a functional brain isn't needed to become a politician. "Dumbocracy: Adventures with the Loony Left, the Rabid Right, and Other American Idiots" is Marty Beckerman's war on the idiocy that so infests the American political landscape. Pulling no punches, he attacks all the horrendous extremes and calls them out for what they are with the biting humor and satire that the rational reader will love. "Dumbocracy" is a must read for anyone who sees current politics as one elaborate joke.

"Dumbocracy" is a furious diatribe about all the nitwits, lackwits and halfwits that populate, well, heck, everything in the world. Not just politics, but special-interest groups, Israel, the GOP, the military, religion. It's a book that proves, if you needed it, that half the population is below the mean for intelligence, and that goes not only for our leaders, but the author, Marty Beckerman.

Because "Dumbocracy," subtitled "Adventures with the Loony Left, the Rabid Right and Other American Idiots," takes the easy way out. It's a critical, unthinking book, a collection of index-card factoids mixed with reportage and spiced with curses, obscenities and crudities attempting to pass for comedy.

Beckerman's usual tactic is to chain together statements, with nearly each sentence footnoted, followed by a brief, profane, often unfunny rant. Not that I have a problem with cursing. I love profanity. But the shock value has long worn off. You can't drop the f-bomb and expect it to explode into comedy, and a lot of Marty's bombs are duds.

While Marty likes to pretend he's giving it equally to both sides, it's clear he's the reverse of the "South Park" boys, who said that they didn't like conservatives, but they (expletive deleted) hate liberals. Marty especially hates President Bush, who is referred to throughout as "[King Retard]". And if you check the footnotes, you'll find that the sources for his Republican bashing sometimes come from unbiased sources such as "Mother Jones" magazine.

After battering Marty around like a Hitler pinata, I have to admit that "Dumbocracy" is useful. Once you wipe off the nonsense and ignore Marty's attempts at humor, you'll find an amazing collection of stupid statements, opinions and policies that really, really happened. Liberals want to force you to put down that cheeseburger and beer, and conservatives fear sex and planes being rammed into buildings. But after reading hundreds and hundreds of factoids -- there's over 800 footnotes; the Talmud isn't as heavily annotated -- it all starts to run together in one cosmic ball of idiocy.