Customer Reviews

Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a rural American reading, "Why We Hate Us," I found myself asking time and again: Who are these people that Mr. Meyer is presenting? These aren't the people in my world, in my community. I argued point after point with him in my inner-dialogue. But as I continued to read, and follow his line of reasoning, which is cogent and tightly woven, I had to cede one point after another. I am sorry to say that in the end I had to conclude that the "They" he is writing about is "Us."

Mr. Meyer examines our culture from his point of view as a Washington insider. What surprised me was how closely it related to my rural point of view. He moves beyond the Beltway. I think anyone who looks around and is puzzled or shocked or worried by what is to be seen in our society will appreciate Mr. Meyer's thoughts. This is not a rant, it an examination. It is also bleak. Having said that, it is also a humorous and personal revelation of his own history. As much as anything it is a story of family and community. The significance of this book lies within the last chapter. Unlike so many books that tear-down, Mr. Meyer leaves us with something very surprising: hope. He shows us a way out. His parting thoughts are, to put it simply, uplifting. Not something I would have expected when I began the book. His next book might well be titled, "Why We Hate Us Less", if readers incorporate at least a portion of his intent into their lives.

Have you been wondering "what is wrong?" with our society, our local communities, our own homes? If you have struggled with the harsh reality of being iritated, if not infuriated, on a daily basis with items ranging from an obscene jingle to the war in Iraq, you need, nay you must, read Mr. Meyer's book. It is engaging, witty, well-researched and extremely well-written. But more importantly, it may provide answers to those questions that continue to nag us about the source of our collective dysfunction; and hopefully, also offer suggestions about how we can correct our deviant course, as a nation and as individuals.

Writing with thoughtful intelligence and keen insight, Dick Meyer, author of Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium, is sincerely haunted by several questions regarding our country's current malaise: Why are so many of us lonely? Why are so many of us depressed and angry? Why are so many of us defensive and paranoid? Why are so many of us distrustful of everyone? Why are we so willing to accept phoniness and ineptness from others, including our government? Why have so many of us surrendered to a condition of learned helplessness and apathy in which not only do we not know what questions we should be asking to solve our depression, we don't even have anyone to confide in should we know the questions we should be asking.

To answer these questions about our country's collective low-self-esteem and paralyzing depression, Meyer tells us a story about ourselves. The story is about a country that has lost common, shared values and virtues, a country that having lost community has replaced communal bonds with fierce tribes and clans that aggrandize themselves while demonizing their "opponents."

The beginning of this story is for Meyer, "Phase One," the Aquarian Promise of Free Love during the 1960s in which there were no boundaries to the freedom, the ego, the sense of self. This Unlimited freedom without a moral roadmap resulted in hedonism, egotism, and ultimately narcissism.

Instead of maturing into responsible adults who give and take from a healthy community and family, we become a bunch of whining, materialistic egotists, our inflated expectations of "selfhood" inevitably being dashed and resulting in greater and greater discontent, bitterness, and resentment.

The 1960s was the beginning of "The Great Me Project," which resulted in little islands competing against each other rather than a healthy community, which could provide the only source of our sanity--"social capital"--the sense of belonging, intimacy, and authenticity that healthy communities provide.

Absent this belonging, intimacy, and authenticity, we fear we are battling against forces by ourselves and we must also be on guard, living defensively against predators, market scams, phony politicians, and the slew of B.S. that has become so ubiquitous.

To compound our disaffected, isolated selves, our brains have become overwhelmed in the face of "Phase Two," the Technology Revolution that dizzies us with so many contraptions and messages that we have lost our grounding, our core, our focus. We don't know if we're coming or going and we feel we're about to explode.

His call for community, less materialism, and more courageous standards for moral absolutes might be too late, but at least he is still kicking and fighting.

While much of the material was familiar to me from other books, including the terse, more focused Shows About Nothing: Nihilism in Popular Culture from The Exorcist to Seinfeld by Thomas S. Hibbs and while he tries to cover too much ground as Meyer issues a diatribe about a "big menu of creepy irritations," Meyer succeeds at telling us a cohesive narrative about our popular culture to show us the trajectory leading to our current condition of learned helplessness, loneliness, partisan humbug, and mistrust.

The author makes clear that the modern social world is characterized by isolationism of its members and "meism." The fact that such a society does not function harmoniously or that many are upset by those developments is hardly surprising. The author, in a work that draws upon Putnam's "Bowling Alone," but more personally and anecdotally, recounts an entire litany of socially dysfunctional behaviors: boorishness, indifference, phoniness, etc. Face-to-face communities that once perpetuated shared values and some degree of tolerance have largely disappeared. The vast majority of us are ensconced in manicured suburbia surrounded by a plethora of personal electronic devices: computers, cell phones, iPods, PDAs, DVDs, etc. With the prevalence of these devices, few are inclined to interact with a neighbor, let alone a community. Even if there is the desire, town centers and the corner bar are constructions of the past. These developments have had profound consequences for our society.

According to the author, "OmniMedia" and "OmniMarketing" are all pervasive in our culture with relentless impact on our traditions. There are so many media options that viewers and users, using cable and online sources, can tailor their selection of information and concepts that they wish to be true. Truth has been transformed into self-selected "truthiness." In addition, the entertainment industry and media have completely undermined conventional mores with salacious and provocative content.

Advertising and marketing have been driving our consumption oriented economy for almost a century. Now, that shaping of minds has seeped its way down as a tool for individuals. Creating a marketable "you," replete with images and the right credentials, is part of what the author calls "selfism." The well-rounded citizen is a person of the past. The author notes that marketing and self-promotion often slip into phoniness and deliberate misinformation.

With the pervasiveness of truthiness and selfism, it's hardly surprising that American is depicted as being polarized. The news media is a large proponent of that notion, though the author insists that view is more superficial than real.

Much of the author's description of our culture is inarguable. Loutishness, indifference, phoniness, and political screamers are everywhere for the seeing. However, the author's claim that we hate our culture is quite vague. Does a political ideologue hate the fact that he or she is an ideologue or that others do not agree. Does a marketer hate his own slippery advertising as much as he does the next guy's? Does outrage at the depiction of women as fast and loose stop the purchasing of goods or buying tickets to entertainment? Should we be concerned with the hate of convenience?

The author's ideas for reclaiming our culture from its current state of affairs seem most inadequate. The notion that a few random individuals that choose to operate with integrity and the highest moral purpose will put in a dent in modern trends seems disingenuous. It is a fact that corporate values dominate our society. People are no longer primarily citizens; we've all become consumers and commodities. We operate according to self interest. We seek to buy cheap to the disadvantage of our fellow men if need be, but to sell ourselves high to the exclusion of others. Where is the concern for downsizing and off shoring and the devastation to families and communities, beyond those directly affected? Do we hate that?

Yes, much about our culture is dysfunctional. There may be vague dissatisfaction in some circles, but hate of our culture is doubtful. The ability of corporations to drive our culture and to subtly persuade us to like it is increasing every day. The citizens of the US are largely unequipped with either the tools or the knowledge to fully understand our culture, let alone repair it.

The book is a nice overview of our culture for those unable to understand what they see. Absolutely nothing new about our culture is presented; the observant person has seen all that the author has, and more. And the book is somewhat repetitious and tedious to read. One suspects that we are a lot further away from righting our culture than the author suggests. The forces of hate or discontent are hardly significant enough or rational enough to drive changes in a direction that would be beneficial to the society as a whole.

This book is definitely a screed, or a rant, or whatever you want to call it, but it is a very, very good one.

Yes, Meyer, doesn't introduce much new material, but the material he synthesizes (Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community, No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs, The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies, etc.) and the way he ties it all together is really something to behold. And he is a wonderful writer - there is at least one aphorism on every page. What Meyer is really good at is simply hitting the nail very squarely on the head.

Meyers takes on a number of different issues - consumerism, lack of community, vulgarity, polarization, etc. - that really get at what's wrong with our society. I was reminded a lot of books like The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics or Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots. No polemics, but more of a call to action to the decent people still out there. Call us conservativerals, or liberatives, or whatever you want - you know, the people who go to church but also belong to the ACLU, who are Scout leaders but also read the New Yorker, who coach Little League but are also against the war in Iraq.

One thing that I didn't like so much about this book has been touched on by other reviewers - it could definitely use some peeking behind the curtains, some real thought about what's behind all this. To me, it's pretty obvious it's really just unregulated capitalism. I believe that tends to make us very focused on self and material things almost by definition. For social animals like ourselves, this almost necessarily means emotional and spiritual impoverishment in the end - for the individual and the whole society.

Another thing that really didn't work for me was Meyer's constant searching for themes - the hate idea, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier story, "truthiness," the movie Network, the 60s - that might tie things together. None of them really seem to work and seemed awfully forced at times. He really doesn't need them, as when he just lets the words flow, his writing is at its best.

One thing I really did like though (and which a number of reviewers did not) was Meyer's solution. It's really just Voltaire's "we must cultivate our own gardens." He does a good job of explicating this though. And if you think about it, it was really the only way he could possibly end this book.

With clarity and wit, Dick Meyer has put his finger on all the factors that are contributing to the sorry state of our culture, politics and public discourse. Better still, he has a prescription for improving it all. Anyone who wants to understand the United States at the beginning of the new millenium should read this book.

I did not know where to begin with Why We Hate Us. My initial reaction was to anticipate a diatribe from an extremist with a hidden agenda. I found some things with which I could critique and disagree ... only to discover subsequent paragraphs revealed the author had a scorched-earth platform. No prisoners were being taken. For this reason, the book has my endorsement.

Why We Hate Us is intriguing, provocative, and unique. If you have been disappointed with any person, place, animal, or thing ... you will discover your misery has plenty of company. I am rating it four stars, not because it is poorly written, referenced, or any of the usual suspects. ... But because I am still internalizing the information learned...

One flaw in the book (for me) is that it comprises an interminable list of things that cause discomfort, disgust, and (in some cases) rage in daily life. A more accurate title for the book should have been: Why We are Frustrated with Many Fellow Citizens. It is understandable why the author chose Why We Hate Us (it is succinct and has immediate shock value).

Mr Meyer understands Americans are privileged. He also realizes why we are discontented. Some examples are on page twelve. Through the use of a Harris Poll, he lists these categories: Military, universities and colleges, medicine, Supreme Court, organized religion, executive branch of government, major companies, organized labor, The Press, and congress.

Not one of these groups has fifty percent approval from the American public. The lowest was congress (ten percent) and the highest was the military (forty six percent). Overall average was twenty five percent. At the end of the book I was happy, pleased, and relieved to read the author's ideas about how we can "hate ourselves, less". He states: "It is necessary to find and nurture authentic commitments in private and community life. This means constantly making thoughtful and unselfish choices about matters both essential and seemingly trivial." I could not agree more.
Reggie Johnson, Success-Tapes.Com

This is a good start. But I was disappointed that Dick Meyer doesn't dig deeper. A lot of his "answers" just beg the question if you ask me. I found he was good at diagnosing the problem--as are many pundits and observers these days--but short on understanding their true depth.

He gives us the laundry list of ills inflicting us right now--failed political systems, endemic rudeness, the death of civic responsibility, our vile popular culture--and does not see the thread that links it all. That thread is the complete dominance of unfettered capitalism. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, our sole purpose in America has been to make money, at a faster and faster rate. "Values," such that they are, are only taught when they're seen to further expedite the chase of the buck.

No, there's nothing wrong with capitalism, but there is something wrong when capitalism is our only national goal, and it is now, no matter what some apologists may claim. People who think about nothing except how to acquire more material things are not going to be civil-minded, learned, courteous, moral or ethical. There's no reason to be. In fact, those things are just impediments to the pursuit of happine$$.

This is happening everywhere, of course, but nowhere as much as the U.S. Europe is struggling to keep a lid on rampant, unchecked capitalism--their blend of "soft socialism" with regulated capitalism seems to be working better than any other model, so far at least. Countries that most eagerly follow the U.S. down the road to free market mania--Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and now China and India--are starting to have the same social ills of the United States.

Rather than chapter after chapter reciting ills we already know about and citing his columnist peers and their skin-deep "analyses," I would have like to have been a deeper social-economic analysis, as well as discussions from historians and yes, philosophers. For a deeper look at our nation's ills I guess we have to turn to the likes of Thomas Frank, whose unblinking look at our national soul can be depressing, but accurate.

Dick Meyer gives voice to my own thoughts. Personal when he needs to be he sees our culture flaws and in an amusing, historically accurate way shows whats wrong and ultimately how to correct it. I often had to put the book down to think about the material he presents -at other times feeling compelled to see whats next. I found his ideas about social capital expanded my understanding in a positive way. I look forward to hearing more from him-he should win a major prize..

Inconsistent little book here.

Dick Meyer starts out with what is basically a hundred or more pages of whining about American culture. He whines about peoples' attitudes and the press and politicians and what's on TV. It gets old quickly and it's ironic, because you're reading all of this whining in a book called "Why We Hate Us" and the temptation to say, "whining is why I hate us" and walk away from the book.

That would be too bad, because the book takes a turn somewhere about halfway through and Meyer starts making some really insightful points about American culture and how to lead your life in a way that will help you get beyond a lot of the nonsense of America's culture and to contribute to a better culture. I found myself dog-earring pages because of points that Meyer was making and finished the book thinking differently about my actions: That's a big deal from a book that also quotes Talking Heads lyrics as source material.

If you'd like some original and off-beat insights into modern American life, and you're willing to wade through a healthy dose of nonsense in order to get there, then you'll probably be happy with the decision to read this book.