Customer Reviews

Live from Middle America: Rants from a Red-State Comedian

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've been a huge fan of Brad Stine since attending a Promise Keeper event in 2003. His CLEAN humor (can't say I've EVER heard CLEAN humor before Brad Stine...it's been somewhat of an oxymoron...like 'running behind'). Brad shines a light on topics that some of us might me more concerned with if we actually thought about them.
In a time when the moral fabric of our nation is shredding, we need someone who will insite a bit of an uprising, if you will, of our moral judgements. I think Brad does just that. His material will not only make you laugh, but it will also make you think. Think for yourself as well. While he expresses his opinions well, he does not force you to feel the same way, as many in this day and age do.
As far as his comments on air bags and seatbelts...ITS SUPPOSED TO BE HUMOROUS!!!! Look, I didn't have airbags in the car as a kid, I turned out fine. I would sit in the middle seat of dad's pickup, which happened to have a metal dash, and I turned out fine, I didn't have anti-bacterial wipes, and I turned out fine. I think in this aspect, Brad is trying to say, with all these new inventions to 'protect' our kids, we are...maybe..babying them, like a severly overprotective mother.
Stewardess and secretary - These job descriptions have been around for YEARS and all of a sudden people are offended when you call them by their job title. Oh my goodness, that's horrible that a job title would offend someone, let's change the job title. I'm sorry flight attendants and administrative assistants, but you will always be a stewardess and a secretary.
Allowing phonetic spelling with grade-school kids- Let's not let them feel inferior because they can't spell a word the way it's been spelled since the inception of our language, let's let them spell it how they think it sounds. Let's not use a red marker to grade a paper, it might hurt their feelings. OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD...PUT A HELMET ON!!!! I liked having my papers graded with red ink...well, mostly because there wasn't that much of it on my papers, but that's not my point....red ink stands out, it tells you without any doubt what answers you got WRONG. That way, you knew what area to study harder on.
I read a review that indicated the right wing controlled the Supreme Court. I have to disagree. If this were the way it were, then there would not have been a ruling that the display of the 10 commandments is 'unconstitutional because of the seperation of church and state doctrine'. Why, you ask? Because the 'right wing' knows that seperation of church and state was an idea written in a letter by Thomas Jefferson. It's not in the Constitution. The only thing the Constitution says about religion is that we have the right to worship as we please and that Congress can't establish a religion. 'Right Wing' justices wouldn't look to other countries to decide on how to rule on cases. I'm not saying that justices should use their faith based standards to rule on cases, that isn't their job. They are selected to rule cases FIRST based on the Consitution. Oh, yeah...that's OUR Constitution. Then if they need a little help in that area, they look at how they've ruled cases in the past.
This being said in support of Brad Stine, I have to mark on the only thing I've found I disagree with him on. Wal-Mart. Enough said.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants some insite and laughs. Also check out "Being a Christian without being an idiot".

Great book from a hysterical comedian. This guy is always high energy and never politically correct (what ever that means). Somehow he captures this energy in print. I have seen him live, own his CD's, DVD, and love this book.

Brad is a very funny and talented comedian. In this politically fractured time in our country's history, it is no surprise that the reviews mainly fall into either extreme of 5 stars vs 1 or 2 stars. Mr Stine's humor is focused towards the Conservative Christian. He works clean and has a political tone. He is not above criticizing "his side". He is willing to point out the flaws af Christians and conservatives as well as those of liberals.

I tried to imagine reading Brads material, whatever it may be,books, watching his DVD's, and reading his blogs, as a liberal,it gave me a headache. And then I thought to myself. I'm not a liberal, and probably more conservative, even though I dont agree with some things on both sides of the political circus, filled with circus freaks. Not that there's anything wrong with being a circus freak. I am pretty sure if my mother-in-law was not a mother-in-law, she would be a great circus freak (love ya mom). And I thought to myself, how would I feel if I was not a christian. Now that is hard for me to imagine, so I thought real hard, and the conclusion for me was, The guys funny, occasionally makes mistakes, can laugh at himself as well as others, has offended people without even trying, always explaining what he meant, and is actually quite human, does not believe he evolved from a monkey, has chosen not to use profanity during his act, and is definitely a conservative with a capital C, has a heart for the hungry, likes to feed his family, is legally married,to a woman,and decided to follow God, not necessarily in that order. Bottom line, he's funny no matter who you are in politics, religion, or ethnicity. And, you can take your kids. People will attempt to find fault in everything he does, because he does not fit in to the world. And fortunately, he's not trying to. If I were you, and I had a sense of humor, I would buy his books and DVD's for one simple reason, he's funny, and you like to laugh. Try to see beyond the criticism, and realize just for a moment, the perfect comedian. When you find him, let me know. Great thing about being a conservative/christian comedian, is that people who dont agree with your politics or the God you follow, will buy your book, just to dispute it. Now thats funny....... jC

Stine comments on any number of popular culture items, including tobacco, abortion, God in public schools, baseball, Las Vegas, banning guns, bumper stickers and Wal-Mart. Each little rant comes in short chapters averaging around 4 pages each.

Now, my review:

I wanted to love this book but I could barely get myself to like it.

As I stated in the title, I am a Christian, a conservative and I am a proud resident of Indiana - a red state since LBJ in 1964.

First and foremost, I quickly grew tired of the publisher's decision to pull little tidbits out of the text and highlight them with a box right next to the text that contains the exact same sentence? What was the point of that?

Secondly, Stine blames everything in the world on liberals (even for bumps in the road). He assumes that liberal automatically means atheist (well, I guess my dad, the church elder is not going where he assumed when he dies) and assumes that conservative automatically means Christian (what about Milton Friedman?).

Thirdly, Stine seems to confuse "Red State" with "Redneck" at many points, saying things like Red State parents make their kids smoke and they eat animals they run over with their cars. I think I've heard all of this before and it the routine always ends like this, "...you might be a redneck."

I've never seen Stine in person, so perhaps knowing his act really would juice up a lot of this - I don't know. His funniest comments are about Trick-or-Treating on Halloween, "God is my co-pilot" bumber stickers, turn signals, gay marriage (he's remarkably middle-of-the-road on this) and abortion. The abortion commentary isn't particularly funny but it is a much more coherent argument than the rest of the book presents and really is the best piece in the book. On the other hand, his commentary on foreign-made goods is not terribly coherent nor is it conservative.

So, I give this one a grade of C+. It would have been worse except for the strong section on abortion.

I find it odd that Stine takes the slant from the first pages of his book that if you agree with him you're a conservative and if you disagree with him you're a liberal, and an "idiot" at that. For one, the world isn't quite so subjective because people of the same belief systems disagree with each other. Then there's the other matter that I disagree with Stine on most... the concept that we're supposed to heckle the other side of the fence.

Now I know Stine considers himself a comic and I did laugh the first time I heard his act five years ago... but the times since then that I've heard him it seems more like a bitter rant with pieces of the old act thrown in (Ever heard the one about Adam naming the animals? How about the tractor on the highway? Or the deer signs?). This book seems to reflect that cynical spirit, which I think does the harmful job of stealing the lumber from potential bridges by making the fences higher.

In short, I am a Christian and have a hard time rationalizing why we should belittle others for the sake of self-glorification, or a pointless attempt at humor.

Maybe that's a bit too conservative for such a liberal comic... but according to Stine's logic that makes me right and him wrong.

Right?

Saw this guy at my church and his stand up routine is very funny and it really makes you think the book is great just not for everyone

Courageous and frank. Brad engages real world issues in such a refreshingly honest manner that you must respect this work, even if you don't agree with him.

Not for the faint of heart....this book is in your face and your brain. If you don't like it...you didn't read it. There are some things that I disagree with but the way it is discussed makes me think about and that is what good writing is about. A must read.

Having read Brad Stine's latest book, Rants from a Red-State Comedian, I find it to be well done. Regardless of your political slant, the best thing about this book is that it will cause you to THINK about your views. Isn't that the point of any good piece of work?
Well done, Brad!