Your Country Is Just Not That Into You: How the Media, Wall Street, and Both Political Parties Keep on Screwing You-Even After You’ve Moved On

by Jimmy Dore

Why is your brother-in-law concerned about the Estate Tax? Why do millionaire news reporters get everything wrong? Why are blood-sucking teachers bankrupting America?

Jimmy Dore, the comedy darling of America's Progressive Left, answers all these questions and more! In this laugh-out-loud collection of essays that are both street-smart and informed, Jimmy sets out to discover what's wrong. Crackling with caustic wit and insight, no aspect of American life is safe from Jimmy's hilarious scrutiny. He gets to the heart of the why Republicans should support gay marriage or why the President shouldn't have Secret Security until the country has gun control, bringing clarity and hilarity to the incoherent noise of our punditocracy.

This outrageously entertaining manifesto is an excellent resource for those who have survived long arguments during family dinners. And in a media environment dominated by corporate interests, Jimmy's take-no-prisoners approach is going after both political parties, and all corners of mainstream news. A David against an army of Goliaths.

Equal measures of silliness and spleen-venting, Your Country Is
Just Not That Into You is the most oddly uplifting political book of
the year.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Humor, The United States Of America

287 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2014

About the author

Jimmy Dore is an American stand-up comedian who has been performing for over 20 years.

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I jumped at the chance to read this book because I'm a huge fan of Jimmy Dore's comedy. I first encountered him while watching The Young Turks online news show and though I like all the hosts, Jimmy is in the top tier. For those unfamiliar with him, I'd describe him as The Daily Show's more opinionated, foul-mouthed cousin.

I'm always impressed how he can discuss super-serious issues while still being funny. It's hard to be righteous and avoid being a douche, but somehow Jimmy does it. He's always on the side of compassion and the little guy. He hates bullies, too. Obviously it helps me enjoy his jokes based on the fact that I agree with him 99% of the time.

That near full agreement may be why this book wasn't as thrilling for me as I had hoped, simply because having enjoyed his podcast and Young Turks appearances, I always knew what angle he was going to take. He still managed to turn a phrase or insult a powerful scumbag so artistically that I did literally laugh out loud a few times.

I wonder if someone who doesn't agree with Jimmy Dore's political views would enjoy this. It's hard for me to imagine that someone wouldn't agree with him at least morally, because his stances often to me seem to be just common sense. Then again, doesn't everyone think that?

There's a routine he does on his podcast where a celebrity or politician (not the real person, but an impersonator) will call in and Jimmy will lampoon that person's views simply by asking them questions. It's a great bit, repeated in the the book that works much better live than in print.

Jimmy does hit out at Republicans and also Democrats, but the chapter on Republicans is nearly twice the size, which makes sense, because while Democrats suck, Republicans suck worse.

I wonder about this book's broad appeal, but I hope it does well because Jimmy's views and his comedy deserve to be heard more.


Larry Nocella
Author of the novel, The Katrina Contract, available on Amazon

[Bookish Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet Jimmy Dore. He’s a Midwestern boy, born and raised in Chicago, a recovering Roman Catholic, a very funny guy, a writer with a gifted way with words, and a proud member of the progressive left. In other words, my kind of guy!

Dore makes his living as a stand-up comic. He’s appeared on Comedy Central in his one-man show “Citizen Jimmy,” Last Comic Standing, Live with Jimmy Kimmel and the Late, Late Show. He has his own podcast, The Jimmy Dore Show and brings the funny to the political talk show The Young Turks.

Since the death of the wonderful George Carlin, I’ve often wondered if there is comedian who can discuss our current political state that is both side-splitting funny and thought-provoking (I can only imagine what the late Mr. Carlin would think of the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, John “The Weeping Cheeto” Boehner, our corporate-bought politicians and our corporate-owned media). Well, I think I found this person in Jimmy Dore. And now Dore brings his sharply focused wit to his book Your Country Is Just Not That Into You: How the Media, Wall Street, and Both Political Parties Keep on Screwing You—Even After You’ve Moved On.

In this very funny book, Dore skewers the media, religion, Wall Street and corporate America, Republicans and Democrats.

In the introduction of Your Country Is Just Not Into You Dore asks, “Do You pay attention to your fucking life?!” This rather profane question was initially aimed at Dore’s friend Greg who had lost his job, was looking for work and was worrying about taking care of himself and his family. When Dore asked Greg whom he was voting for in the 2008 Presidential election, Greg answered, “Oh, I don’t pay attention to politics.” Hence, Dore’s potty-mouthed response.

In other words, the personal is political.

After the introduction, Dore takes a hard-hitting look at what’s wrong with our media, or as Sarah Palin likes to call it, “the lame stream media, you betcha.” A lot of people think the mainstream media is liberal. Yea, right. Dore comments how hard it is for the media to be liberal when so much of it is owned by corporate overlords like Disney, Time Warner, General Electric, and an Australian guy you may have heard of named Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch owns several newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Sun-Times, the New York Post, and get this…The Village Voice. The Village Voice?

And when it comes to the medium of TV and film, Murdoch owns Fox News, Direct TV, and Twentieth-Century Fox. He even owns the Dow Jones!!!! Dore envisions a scary moment when Murdoch decides to buy the alphabet, even that pesky letter Q.

Sure, it’s common knowledge that Fox News is very conservative, but Dore also convincingly mentions how CNN and MSNBC aren’t exactly as lefty as we may think.

Dore also doesn’t waste time skewering such media super stars like Bill O’Reilly, Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, and that member of the lucky sperm club, Luke Russert. Dore is also fearless when discussing David Gregory (recently let go from “Meet the Press”), various Fox News fembots, Sean Hannity and Chris Matthews.

After ripping apart the media, Dore rips up the current state of the Republican Party. When writing about the GOP in the 21st century, Dore doesn’t fail to call out the usual suspects—George W. Bush, John Boehner, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Sarah Palin, New Gingrich-and their policies, ideas and concepts on what’s wrong with this country and how they make things “right.” Many of these issues include race, women’s rights, the environment, the economy, the military, and big business. Dore isn’t also afraid to call out the Tea Party for their bigoted shit. And he wonders how so many people can vote for a party that doesn’t have their best interests at heart. I found myself both nodding my head and holding my sides in from all my giggling. His “phone call” from Rick Santorum’s sweater vest had me reeling.

However, despite being a commie pinko homo who probably eats babies, Dore isn’t afraid to take on his fellow Democrats, also known as, “Republican Lite.” Dore mentions his disappointment with President Barack Obama and laments how the liberal, populist candidate Obama got replaced by a more conservative, Wall Street-owned President Obama. Dore calls out other disappointing Democrats like Diane Feinstein, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. He gets us to admit the Democratic donkey looks oddly like an elephant these days. And let’s be honest; the Democrats are owned by big business as much as the Republicans.

Dore also shares this wonderful quote by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of the private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group.”

Can you imagine any modern day Democrat saying that in 2014? Well, maybe my girl crush, Elizabeth Warren.

Further along in Your Country Is Just Not That Into You, Dore targets Wall Street, religion and everything else under the sun, which includes the evisceration of the poor and the struggling, Occupy Wall Street, school teachers, unions, common sense gun control and Edward Snowden.

Dore is one very pissed off man, granted a very humorous pissed off man. But he proves that not is all lost in his final chapter “P.S. America, I Love You.” In this chapter, Dore proudly mentions what is right about the United States. We created the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We are a nation of immigrants who continue to shape this nation in so many positive ways. We gave the world rock and roll, jazz, the blues, and hip hop. Justin Bieber? Nope, you can blame our friends to the north, Canada, for that little punk ass.

And Dore proudly states it is right here in the USA where stand-up comedy was born. Thank goodness, or else Dore might be asking, “You want fries with that?” I kid, I kid.

Our country produced the likes of Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs, whose technological genius revolutionized the globe (and yes, sometimes bug us, but you’ll get my smart phone out of my cold, dead hands).

In two generations we went from bombing black churches to electing a black man as president. And my grandmothers were born in a time when women couldn’t vote and now our next president just might be a woman.

Dore proudly mentions our country is becoming more progressive all the time, and you know what? He’s right. Less than fifty years ago, homosexuality was seen as a psychiatric disorder and now several states have legalized same sex marriage. A few years ago I interviewed a young woman who formed a gay/straight alliance at her high school. There is no way we would have formed a gay/straight alliance at my high school back in the 1980s. Well, actually we did have a gay/straight alliance; it was called forensics.

America is a nation of people who are willing to stick their necks out and fight for what we believe in and will do whatever we can to make this a better place for everyone.

Your Country Is Just Not That Into You is a must-read for every liberal, and I think even some conservatives folks out there will find something valuable between its covers. I’m really glad I chanced upon Dore’s book and I recommend it to everyone who cares about this little patch on the planet call the United States of America.

Originally Published at The Book Self:
http://thebookselfblog.wordpress.com/...

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comedy reaches its highest potential when it is applied to serious issues; when the audience is brought to laugher, but also provoked to thought. This book deals with many of the problems facing America, the failures of the media and press, corruption, corporate greed, religious fundamentalism, never ending wars and the violations of the people's rights under the guise of "national security."

Parts were silly, others were quite serious, but you will walk away from this book not only having had a good many laughs, but having learned a lot, and you'll be left thinking about what America is, and how we can change for the better.

[Doug Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scathing political and religious commentary that demonstrates just how difficult it is for the common person nowadays, made all the more difficult when compounded by the fact that corporations and possibly our own government just really don't care. Not much of a stretch...
By the way, though this book really tackles religion and forces it to say "uncle", it does just as good of a job showing the hypocrisy and stupidity of those on both sides of the political spectrum.

[Laila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found out about Jimmy from watching Young Turks. He makes me laugh while being insightful in a way that matters, and that's something I greatly appreciate. This book was pretty much scathing and merciless throughout, and- even though my opinion doesn't always match up exactly- that was just what I was looking for.

[Emily Van Herik · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent compilation of all the things wrong with America, and why we shouldn't lose hope. Spoiler: it's because of everyday Americans. And, despite everything, a fed up American like Jimmy has the right to write a book criticizing all of the most powerful people in the country.

[MÉYO · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a dedicated fan to the Jimmy Dore podcast, this book contained nothing new. I would highly recommend this book to anybody not familiar with Jimmy Dore.

[Nikolay Krylovskiy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether you're familiar with Jimmy Dore from Youtube or not, the book will come across as an unconventionally structured read.

It is structured more like a show but Jimmy pulls it off and give enough factual meat to make the read worthwhile to anyone interested in American politics.

A quick read!

[Michael Zimmermann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay read

I think in this ever changing climate it would be great to see Jimmy write a second book, about the true one party/war machine. Help the reader understand who is behind this and why?

[Vince · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous read. Definitely puts things into perspective. Highly recommended.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jimmy Dore makes you mad and laugh all at the same time

[Alien Nirvana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jimmy is awesome, great book. :)

[James Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Jimmy Dore was still a political outsider, he was great. This book is the highlight of his career- a comedic take on the capitalization of information.

[Maximillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of the same thing if you're a fan of the Jimmy Dore show. Brave and independent commentary as always.

[sir fig newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jimmy Dore is absolutely hilarious. His style of in-your-face comedy mixed with political commentary is a breath of fresh air from the usual corporate approved nonsense aired on mainstream networks. Dore boasts the humor and political moxie that comedians like Trevor Noah and Bill Maher lack. He takes an unabashed point-of-view of fighting for the working class, championing progressive policies like Medicare For All, ending foreign invasion/occupation/wars, and legalization of marijuana and other illegal substances.

My least favorite parts of this book were Dore's made-up conversations with political stars. I found some funny, I found some boring; I guess I just enjoyed the political strategies and commentary in-between those passages more.

Overall, I recommend this book to anyone with an introductory level of political knowledge, a taste for political humor, and anyone who feels that the leaders who have represented us for the past (insert long time frame here) don't actually have our best interests at heart.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is funny. Jimmy Dore points out a lot of facts that, when you think about it, will either make you mad or laugh out loud, or both! Not for the thin skinned or sensitive. He attacks everybody on an equal basis. Satire at it's best! I liked this book so well that when I finished reading it I gave it to a friend. It's too funny to sit on the shelf. No book can be up to the minute but this one is pretty current and includes references to a lot of things that have occurred in the last couple of years. I bought it while on a trip and read part of it. Then somehow it got shoved out of the way for a few months. When I found it again I couldn't stop reading until I had finished it. It's like a book full of jabs on the level of Steven Colbert, Jon Stewart, or Jay Leno but in the author's own unique style. Really fun reading!

[Tim Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your Country Is Just Not That Into You is not a great book, but I still found it appealing due to its irreverent attitude toward the powers-that-be in the U.S. -- Republicans, Democrats, Wall Street, and the Media all come under withering criticism. Jimmy Dore attacks these institutions and the individuals in charge of them using every play in the comedian's playbook, including mockery, profanity, and sarcasm. Thus the book is a fresh take on the criticisms leveled by more sober analysts who hold their fire due to reasons of decorum.

[Stormcrow Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first heard about Jimmy Dore through comedian Eddie Pepitone's Facebook page and I've been a fan ever since. I was delighted to learn that Dore had written a book and jumped at the chance to get it. I'm glad I did.

While there is some satire, sarcasm, and opinion, so much of what he has in here are basic truths (such as the failing of the fourth estate), that only someone close minded could argue with him. And yet we see close minded pundits arguing against these points all the time. Fortunately, Dore sticks with the facts and speaks truth to power.

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jimmy Dore is unapologetic, scathing, and insightful with his breakdown of the breakdown of American politics and culture.
A fantastic read that utilizes various formats that make reading it fly by in a satirical blur. Also, it's great to see an author use typeface format for emphasis; bold, italics, parenthetical phrasing are all here in abundance; it's perfect for Jimmy's quote-and-analyze method!

[Ryan Busillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the greatest I ever read. It exposes the greed of corporate america and their allies. It shows the idiocy of the two parties and religious nuts in a fun and humorous way. Jimmy is well deserving of his comedy central specials and awards. In the book it goes through what is wrong with every group in america that rubs him and every liberal the wrong way. In conclusion, this book is, for me, the new bible.

[Into void · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome! I love Jimmy Dore. He is funny and bold. He is a truth teller. This book is a great read. Also check out his stand up comedy and his youtube show! He is an amazing voice for many important causes like the anti war cause. Jimmy Dore is the best. He is a great guy. :)

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of a disappointment if you've seen most of his work on the Jimmy Dore Show--this is basically his show scripts and stand-up acts stitched together into book form.

[Ben Hayward · Rating 1 out of 5]

Once masquerading as a leftist, Dore now only exists to disillusion others and draw them towards the right.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for this book because Jimmy Dore is just plain funny. Dore's political humor is better than any late night comic and political observations were spot on; his book did not let me down. Like other political books, the text is sometimes repetitious, but it's always informative and Dore's humor makes me laugh. He spears both Democrats and Republicans that have been taking corporate money and work for doners rather than people who voted for them. For anyone bothered by the recent election, this is a great book to open your eyes to how both political parties have been screwing working stiffs for decades.