I had been waiting for this book's release since the beginning of summer, and it was everything I imagined it would be. Candace Owens is as amazing a writer as she is a speaker. What I love about her is that she says what most of us can only dare think; she says it in such a way that it's difficult to disagree with her because you can SEE it all around you, even if the culture doesn't allow one to say it out loud. As a Hispanic American, I feel that a lot of what she says applies to us too, and until we get our version of her, she is all we have to tell our community their truths!
Where can I even begin? She unapologetically addresses the problem of welfare and why it hurts the Black community rather than help. It keeps people down and dependent on what little the government provides, taking away the incentive to work hard as people used to before FDR's New Deal. Back then, after the abolition of slavery and before the New Deal, African Americans were actually thriving in business and getting married. The New Deal and the hippie movement of the 60s which preached drugs and free love was the ruin of the community (see page 203 for more). Now women are not as picky about who they choose to procreate with because they know they have the welfare system to fall back on. The men now have no incentive to do better either, and no community has suffered more from this than the Black community, according to Owens; I would add the Hispanic community to that as well, but perhaps not as bad.
"Emboldened by the appeal of free government money... and as some black women discovered that the government could act as provider for their families, they often neglected to hold black men accountable to their children, which over time can lead to choosing less suitable partners for marriage and fatherhood. Government assistance also provides no incentive to black men to step up. This was the first major indentation that the government made upon black culture. Today, hearing black hip hip artists rap and sing about their various 'baby-mamas' is considered culturally normative" (50).
Owens offers up a different ideology than the one taught by the Left by issuing a challenge: It's time for a major black exodus from victimhood, dependency, misinformation, and from the Democrat Party, which perpetuates all three. "For black Americans voting Democrat has come to be viewed not only as an expectation nut as a condition of blackness. Left-wing candidates feel so certain that there is no variety of thought or experience among blacks that they are comfortable publicly stripping us of our identity, should we offer any objection to the status quo" (225). Owens knows better than anyone the social consequences of going against the status quo, and she talks about the unfortunate times when she's been attacked and accused of "acting white" for speaking the language right. I can relate to her because I experienced similar accusations from the locals when I decided to major in classic literature and similar hate when I would speak out against illegal immigration. She also talks about how illegal immigration is hurting the black community, but the Democrats continue to support it because they need to "save" more victims to vote for them. Not really saving them, of course, but merely giving them a bandaid in the form of help that doesn't really help them THRIVE. There is simply no substitute for hard work and getting out of our own holes.
"Based on our history, we should be on the front lines of the fight against socialism, and yet the Left's promise for more charity continues to prove irresistible. Our internal conflict is understandable-- why shouldn't the government, after years of slavery, not eliminate black debt by subsidizing black housing, and otherwise funding black lives? The answer is simple: because a painkiller cannot eliminate cancer. No short-term fix, no Band-Aid over the deeply infected wound, will ever fix the underlying problems that plague our community. Handouts absent hard work make men weak, and with a depleted self esteem; they stifle the entrepreneurial spirit, by removing our innate senses of drive and aspiration. Poverty and despair become the life of the man who is given a fish but never learns to cast his own line" (124).
In summary, Blackout is intelligently argued and well-researched. This book destroys the myth that all black should vote Democrat and demonstrates why turning to the right will leave more successful, happier and more self-sufficient.
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Popular Highlights in this book
Leftism is defined as any political philosophy that seeks to infringe upon individual liberties in its demand for a higher moral good.Highlighted by 2,118 Kindle readers- Conservatism then is about sense and survival. Leftism is the plaything of a society with too much time on its hands.Highlighted by 1,879 Kindle readers
- Reparations are the extraction of money from people who were never slave owners to be given to people who were never slaves. It is revenge for something that was done to ancestors at the expense of people who had nothing to do with it.Highlighted by 1,577 Kindle readers
- The number one problem in the black community, as Owens told Congress, is a lack of fathers in the home.Highlighted by 1,427 Kindle readers
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Reviews with images
My subjective review.
First of all I found this book to be quite delightful. The book starts out with a brief history of Candace’s family under upbringing. She was setting the stage for letting people know who she is and where she came from. From our account she came from a modest upbringing, with great family values, and great work ethics.She took the time in the early part of the book to share some of her early mistakes and some of the trials and tribulations she has been through particularly in high school.The work then dive into various concepts starting with conservatism then move into the importance of family, and without missing a beat she jumps into some of the most controversial topics today.She took the time to talk about feminism and what she believe the earlier feminist who started the movement would’ve felt about the feminism today. She talk about this notion of “overcivilization” I am not sure if she coin the term, but from her explanation it is the fact that we have gotten so far in what we wanted to achieve and when there’s nothing else (Hardships). We seem to manufacture hardships so we could have something to fight. This concept itself was quite profound to me and I find it quite enlightening. Unfortunately she did not spend too much time on this idea.The author then touched on education, the media and then close the book with; Excuses - meaning how we make excuses for not succeeding in life. Faith - the importance of which is vital to our continuing society. Culture. Slavery - However slavery from the viewpoint not of victimhood, but a more thoughtful and introspective viewpoint that is more beneficial than victimhood.It is important to know that this book was written before the 2020 election where Donald Trump was not re-elected. A large part of the work is trying to show that based on the choice of political parties the one that is beneficial to Black Americans is actually the republican party. She spent quite a deal of time on this point. Which at one point I was led to believe that this was maybe an important push for the republican party. However, she vindicated herself by saying that it is not about the party you serve is a party that serve you, in essence. Therefore, making it clear that black Americans should not be wedded to anyone party, in the end.In sum, I find this book to be quite refreshing and delightful as I’ve said before. And while she’s a Republican it is clear that a lot of her work comes from libertarian values. I would classify her as a Libertarian Republican. I can see the work of Thomas soul and other great libertarian writers, to include Larry Elder, in the way she thinks that came through her writing here.The book is a highly recommended read for anyone looking to gain greater insights into where the American political parties are coming from and a nice journey Through time of not only the struggles of black Americans, but also their triumphs. Most importantly, it is a well laid out argument for why the path that black Americans are on is a ruined us one for them, and that they should make a switch today. This is embodied in her hashtag, #Blexit.
Top reviews from other countries
Sorbo Candid
insight into the growing trend within the industrious black communities.
Reviewed in Canada on May 30, 2023
