<![CDATA[Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium]]>

false <![CDATA[Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium]]> 3730730 3 Americans are as safe, well fed, securely sheltered, long-lived, free, and healthy as any human beings who have ever lived on the planet. But we are down on America. So why do we hate us? According to Dick Meyer, the following items on this (much abbreviated) list are some of the contributors to our deep disenchantment with our own culture: Cell-phone talkers broadcasting the intimate details of their lives in public spaces Worship of self-awareness, self-realization, and self-fulfillment T-shirts that read, “Eat Me” Facebook, MySpace, and kids being taught to market themselves High-level cheating in business and sports Reality television and the cosmetic surgery boom Multinational corporations that claim, “We care about you.” The decline of organic communities A line of cosmetics called “S.L.U.T.” The phony red state–blue state divide The penetration of OmniMarketing into OmniMedia and the insinuation of both into every facet of our lives You undoubtedly could add to the list with hardly a moment’s thought. In Why We Hate Us, Meyer absolutely nails America’s early-twenty-first-century mood disorder. He points out the most widespread carriers of the why-we-hate-us germs, including the belligerence of partisan politics that perverts our democracy, the decline of once common manners, the vulgarity of Hollywood entertainment, the superficiality and untrustworthiness of the news media, the cult of celebrity, and the disappearance of authentic neighborhoods and voluntary organizations (the kind that have actual meetings where one can hobnob instead of just clicking in an online contribution). Meyer argues—with biting wit and observations that make you want to shout, “Yes! I hate that too!”—that when the social, spiritual, and political turmoil that followed the sixties collided with the technological and media revolution at the turn of the century, something inside us hit overload. American culture no longer reflects our own values. As a result, we are now morally and existentially tired, disoriented, anchorless, and defensive. We hate us and we wonder why. Why We Hate Us reveals why we do and also offers a thoughtful and uplifting prescription for breaking out of our current morass and learning how to hate us less. It is a penetrating but always accessible Culture of Narcissism for a new generation, and it carries forward ideas that resounded with readers in bestsellers such as On Bullshit and Bowling Alone. 3774503 5 8 2008 Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium total:87|5:14|4:22|3:28|2:19|1:4| 87 284 296 34 1 3 false false Sun Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 11:40:35 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 12:58:15 -0700 2008
Grumble grumble....kids today and their blogging and the road rage and the short attention spans and the no religion and the sex and the drugs and who turned off Matlock blahdeblahzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

There is a book that...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 28 00:03:32 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 28 00:18:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 28 06:45:33 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 16:12:13 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sun Oct 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 07 10:20:38 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 28 08:37:38 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 13:47:30 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 08:44:17 -0700 2009
A cousin to Derb's We Are Doomed, less pessimistic but just as sobering about the modern world. Explains why "Real Simple" magazine isn't, why Bowling Alone is a real problem, and why David Byrne was prescient when he asked, "...more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 13 14:55:13 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 22 05:44:46 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 1 false false Wed Aug 13 21:54:04 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 21:55:22 -0700 2008 5 1 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 11:19:48 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 11:22:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 10:03:26 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 18 20:48:20 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Fri Aug 08 14:53:34 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 15:01:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Nov 09 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 21 13:23:19 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 21 13:31:48 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Tue Feb 03 19:31:57 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 19:34:26 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Sep 05 18:59:35 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 09 17:20:14 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Feb 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 16:42:17 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 16:48:20 -0800 2009 What a great eye-catching title! Dutifully I slogged my way through the book hoping to find some answer. Mostly I agree with a lot of the answers Mr. Meyer offered. He just took a long winding road to get there. ]]> 5 1 false false Mon Aug 03 12:30:02 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 12:30:49 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 05 09:38:23 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 16:38:07 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Thu Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 05:35:27 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 05:35:27 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Thu Dec 18 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 03 16:52:00 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 17:28:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Oct 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 15 15:32:12 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 15 15:37:44 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 true false Fri Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 20:28:32 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 20:39:25 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3730730