Men Are Better Than Women

by Dick Masterson

Through a process of exhaustive man research he calls "keeping his eyes open," Dick Masterson has compiled a Magnum-size list of the ways men are better than women. It is an infallible compendium of man's greatness, filled with the most egregiously fallacious arguments ever put to words, but with some kind of miraculous, rock-solid man logic dripping like motor oil from every sentence. It is a manifesto more memorable than bullshit like High Fidelity or which Axe baby powder Maxim thinks you should slap on your nuts before clubbing, more chock-full of devastating man quotes than Oscar Wilde with two wangs. Most important, it is the only one of its kind. In Men Are Better Than Women , Dick Masterson dispenses logic from his man mouth into the eyes of his male readers like some kind of mighty mother man eagle with nutrient-rich word vomit. It's a book that makes you feel like driving a train into a dynamite factory and then tearing a telephone book apart with your bare hands, just because that's the way men have always done it.

Masterson's chapters are simple and self-contained, demand no commitments from readers, and have an immediate payoff. Men Are Better Than Women is a dangerous work of satire -- not dangerous in a revolutionary sense, but dangerous in that it walks the razor-thin line between cruelty and absurdity. That line is called hilarious.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Comedy

253 pages, Paperback

First published April 8, 2008

About the author

Self proclaimed chauvinist became famous after a appearance on the Dr. Phil show.

Currently he is raising money for a "men are better than women" billboard

Reviews

[emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

written by a man named dick thus one star

[✨sofia✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

lmao ur name might be dick but you obviously have nothing to show for it

(no I actually didn’t read this…women can’t read right?)

[khadeja · Rating 1 out of 5]

TW‼️ pedophilia and beastiality

"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘳."

………… 🧍‍♀️

𝟰 𝗠𝗲𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴-𝗥𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗱, 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗿𝗱 - vice.com

𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝟱𝟴 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝘆𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗢𝗳 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗼 𝟯𝟱 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 - cbs news

𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 '𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗱' 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗜 𝗷𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 - bbc news

𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝘅 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝘁𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺 - southwestfarmer.co.uk

“𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝗱’𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗸𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘄𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘆’𝘀 𝘃𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮.” - peta.org

𝗣𝘂𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 - usatoday.com

𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗥𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝗜𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗵𝗶, 𝗔𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 - ndtv.com

"𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘐 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘴."

and i mean, dont be so quick to say that all men hate cats. you never know ;)

“𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙏𝙪𝙗𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙬𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝘿𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙎𝙚𝙭𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝘼𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝘾𝙖𝙩.”

FULL FULL REVIEW TO COME

[niyya نية · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of course his name is Dick. Short for Dickhead, I assume?

[Danielle]

I wasn't able to actually read this book due to my tiny lady-brain, but I enjoyed staring at the words with the hopes of gleaning even the smallest amount of man-spiration. Plus, carrying around this book sent a clear message to those around me and infused me with a sense of superiority over others of my kind. Thanks, Dick!

[em ✧ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t read this book, I just felt like giving it 1 star for funsies 😍 have a terrible day Dick 🙂

[soph ☆ (completely ia) 🍉 · Rating 1 out of 5]

boo, hiss, bleh, kill-it-with-fire, do-not-pass-go type shit 💔

rtc once i'm done bleaching my eyeballs because wtaf 🥀 i'm really trying to remember this is satire and view it as such, but i'm having a hard time sticking my head that far up my ass. would not recommend reading unless your doctor is urging you to increase your blood pressure, full review to come <3

[Sha · Rating 1 out of 5]

//has a headache because the term "satire" has been abused to hell and back

THIS IS NOT SATIRE.

This is another one of those godawful "hey I can use humor to say anything I want without considering the long-term effects this in the minds of a population eager to take my words literally" things.

The author is either deliberately trolling his supposedly intended audience or has no earthly idea how counterproductive a 'parody' like this can be. Either way, I have that fucking headache.

Edit: 17 Jan 2022

1. I had the misfortune of coming across this book again and glancing through it again because I remembered being really irritated and wondered if I was overreacting. I am pleased (or is it displeased?) to report that no, I was not overreacting. It really is that bad. Arguably worse, since dog whistle politics have been on the rise and this is somehow even more aggressively infuriating than it was the last time I saw it.

2. I will admit that the sheer ridiculousness is sometimes funny, but it's nowhere near funny enough to counter the genuinely harmful implications. Neither is he deft enough to punch up while seeming to punch down- what you see is what you get.

3. What you get is also many slimy creatures coming out of the woodwork going "this is all true, but most people are just too wimpy to admit it" in the reviews. Which just goes to show that Mr. Dick has failed as a satirist but succeeded as an asshole. I hope for his sake that the assholery was the aim, but I'm honestly beyond caring at this point.

[sofi&#x1f380;&#x1f9f8; cortis’ version~off hiatus!&#x1f9f8; · Rating 1 out of 5]

women are better because we manage to survive and not go insane in a world where there are books like this published and it doesnt have super low ratings.

how does gender affect superiority? i think it would make women better since we make children but what do i know im just a “stupid girl with a tiny brain”.

[vaishnavi ☆ﾟ⁠.⁠* · Rating 1 out of 5]

his name is dick-master-son 😐 need I say more?

[sofi⋆ [look at my life] · Rating 1 out of 5]

if you look at the 5-star reviews for this book, you might notice that - as far as i'm aware - they're all written by men !! wow, i wonder why...?

the thing is, the girls here aren't angry because we "can't understand humour" . we're angry because women and girls have been told that they are "less than" men for CENTURIES. so when you say that men are better than women, even as a "joke", it's not funny. it's insensitive and incredibly disrespectful.

think about it - it's like if i said that christians are better than jews, or that white people are better than black people, then framed it as satire when it's clearly not. that seems wrong, doesn't it? the same applies for this.

the cambridge dictionary says that satire is 'a way of criticizing people or ideas in a humorous way, especially in order to make a political point'. from what i've seen in reviews, the author does no critisising of misogynistic people or ideas! so, in what way is it satire? you cannot say horrible things and then claim it's 'satire' so people won't get angry at you for it. that's quite frankly a shitty thing to do and almost laughable if it wasn't so concerning.

at worst, this book and its high reviews are evidence of the misogyny and sexism against women still going on in the world today, and the reason for my rapidly decreasing faith in humanity. at best, it's a pathetic attempt at satire and something to show your kids to teach them how not to behave, and the actual definition of satire.

thank you for listening to my ted talk, have a good day.

[angelinabvby ۶ৎ (semi-ia) · Rating 1 out of 5]

smut for incels

[⭑&#x13083; mia [semi-hiatus] · Rating 1 out of 5]

so i read through most of the reviews. what a shitty place this world has become. and men still wonder why we choose the bear?

[hads :] {semi ia} · Rating 1 out of 5]

okay what the fuck is this? why would someone want to read this you are absolutely disgusting burn in hell dick

[Saranya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay.
So I am never going to read this book. EVER!

Just look at the title of the book. And then look at the author's name!- D***

I have no clue how could anyone write a book titled this and how could anyone publish this!
MISOGYNISTIC DUMBO!

(-infinity/10)

[audrey (completely gone rn) · Rating 1 out of 5]

"exhaustive man research" like what, staring at yourself and your dick (pun intended) in the mirror and thinking about how manly you are?

[Sophia · Rating 1 out of 5]

id give this -infinity stars if i could.

let me just explain to those who do not understand. this is not satire. the moment this book was published, even written it stooped being satire. probably never was.

for 260 pages, dick, the author, just rants about why men are better than woman etc etc for no other reason except 'I said so'. a very dick move. pun intended.

i am angry, for very obvious reasons. ok so people can think what they want. you can't just publish a book about those thoughts if it discriminates basically half the population.

once again, before i go back to screaming in rage, THIS IS NOT SATIRE.

thank you.

[Brittany · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a book I've read. Regrettably. It's one of two books that made me question my dedication to finishing every book I've started.

Apparently this book is satirical. Satire of what, I'm not exactly sure.

There's that saying - "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." So even supposing this book is satirical, when looking for a pdf of this book, the top post was to a MGTOW post with a comment that "Any book that goes against gynocentrism and feminism with the purpose of empowering men qualifies [as MGTOW material]" and upon reading the profiles of some people here who gave the book five stars, I found one individual who liked some quotes from Anders Breivik, which tells me everything I need to know about whom this type of book appeals to, while simultaneously highlighting the dangers of saying hateful shit and cowering behind the idea of "It's just a joke".

But props to the one chapter titled "WOMEN: ARE THEY SMARTER THAN HORSES?" because I legitimately could not come up with something as asinine as that if I tried.

[Dreamcatcher (HIATUS) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Given that the author name is Dick Masterson, this is clearly meant to be satire. The thing is, this is a rather pathetic attempt at satire.

I don't think the author knows what satire actually means. This was pointless, did not provide any social commentary, did not criticise anything, and it sure as hell wasn't humorous. You can't write whatever you want and hide behind the label of satire hoping that people don't call you out. Satire when written well is golden, but it is the easiest genre to mess up.

200 pages of pure misogyny and writing devoid of any substance. That's all this is. It's not even bad satire, it's just incoherent ramblings. Can't believe I suffered overnight just to read it and see what's so witty inside that is worth the five stars reviews.

[sohaaa · Rating 1 out of 5]

didn't read it. don't have to. the premise tells me everything i need to know. it says more about the author's perspective that it ever does about women. but sure, whatever makes u feel superior and helps u sleep at night <3

[&#x1f3b8;Churro &#x1f30a; · Rating 1 out of 5]

What would your mom say? Because you wouldn’t be here without her so…

[Sadie E · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5: Alright, who let Eric Cartman write a book??

This book's satire. It's very obvious satire. It's funny in a slightly edgy, over the top way. The 'arguments' are so absurd that they collapse under their own weight and no one in their right mind would believe something this dumb.

But once a piece of satire leaves your hands, you don't get to choose who picks it up. And unfortunately there are people who'll read a joke and miss the joke entirely, then treat it as validation for their worst beliefs. So this book's doing a lot of harm (my findings from digging through Reddit are further down).

The intro states that "men are like Smurfs. When we get together in large numbers, we can fuck up Gargamels hundreds of times our size. Gargamels like the Hoover Dam."

What does this mean??? Are men planning to destroy the Hoover Dam? Are they planning to get together by the dozens and FIGHT the Hoover Dam? Will they paint themselves blue beforehand? Who is leading the assault?

The book never answers these questions. Of which I have many. It basically hurls the sentence through your window like a brick and speeds away. And that really sums up the entire reading experience.

This book's operating on pure 14 year old boy humour. Which is unfortunate for my credibility because my sense of humour's also 14 year old boy 🤦🏼‍♀️

The author uses words like "bumblefucked" and "catastrofuck." And I know. I KNOW. They're stupid. They're objectively stupid.

But every time I encountered the author's unhinged language choices it absolutely sent me.

Then we get a section where the author gives us a list of what are supposedly the greatest movies ever made because they have no female leads.

Titanic. Star Wars. Shrek 2. E.T.

This is all presented as evidence.

I don't actually know if E.T. had a female lead because I was terrified of E.T. as a child. I watched part of it when I was about 3, had an emotional breakdown, and have avoided it ever since. So I'm not really qualified to comment on the gender politics of E.T.

I AM qualified to comment on the fact that the argument's obviously ridiculous. And that's the entire experience with this book.

It's so obviously satire. Not subtle satire. Not nuanced satire. Not 'wait, maybe he's serious?' satire.

A man literally compares male solidarity to Smurfs attacking the Hoover Dam and then starts explaining why Titanic's proof of male superiority because it contains no women.

The joke's not exactly hiding and the satire never lets up.

Even the author himself is satirical. Dick Masterson isn't a real person. He's the pseudonym of comedian Dax Herrera. He also operates both menarebetterthanwomen.com and womenarebetterthanmen.com. They're the same site.

Also, for a man who repeatedly claims "I don't go to Star Wars conventions, and I never will" he sure knows a lot about Star Wars and what goes on at conventions. I see you Dick/Dax/whoever you are.

Look at this and tell me it’s not satire: “Men also use drinking to pioneer. When sober, even a man might not think something like shaving a cat is funny... When properly inebriated, a man will discover that not only is shaving a cat funny, but it is so fucking funny he will probably have to buy more cats.”

How do you read that and conclude it’s anything other than deliberate absurdity? It’s the kind of writing that escalates so quickly that your brain just gives up and starts laughing out of self-defence. The mental image alone is so over the top it loops back around into obvious parody. If someone reads that and thinks, 'yes, this is a serious sociological claim about masculinity,' then I fear no book could ever be safe in their hands.

It does get a bit boring after a while. There's an initial phase where every page produces a fresh WHAT? reaction. Then there's a second phase where you realise you've been reading variations of the same joke for 100 pages and the shock value and novelty fade.

It's not a binge read. It's a 'read 10 pages, laugh at something idiotic, put it down, come back tomorrow' kind of book. Consume responsibly. Like a very stupid beer.

One section informs us that all men wear "business suits and smart-looking blazers" while also informing us that "even fat dudes will wear fat fuck Hawaiian shirts and other ingenious pieces of flair, thereby keeping it classy at all times."

And I became fixated on the logistics. Are men and fat men different species? Because they can't simultaneously be wearing business suits and Hawaiian shirts all the time. Or are these Hawaiian shirts being incorporated into everyday business attire?

Are there board meetings taking place in Honolulu-core formalwear? Because if that's what he's suggesting, I'm fully on board.

Meanwhile, we learn almost nothing about what women wear except that they carry books "with a shirtless dude on the cover." How dare you call me out like that!

One of my favourite arguments as to why men are superior is that men know never to overuse satire and sarcasm because it "makes one look like a teenager who hasn't gotten a hand job yet and all his friends have. That's no way to look." I guess the author's telling on himself then.

You have to approach this book the same way you approach Cartman from South Park. Cartman's funny. It's impossible not to laugh at some of the absurd stuff that comes out of his mouth. But he's also a piece of shit. The fact that he's funny isn’t proof that he's right. And if someone watched South Park and came away thinking Cartman was the moral centre of the show, I'd have concerns. These are probably the same people who think The Boys' Homelander's the good guy, and again, major concerns.

Likewise, if someone reads Men Are Better Than Women and comes away believing that Shrek 2 is scientific proof of male superiority, I also have concerns.

Unfortunately, those concerns aren't entirely unfounded.

It genuinely terrifies me how many people seem to have read this book or skimmed through it and gone 'yeah he's absolutely right.'

After finishing the book I made the mistake of googling the author and wandering into Reddit.

There I found people citing this book as evidence that society's broken because we made the stupid decision to give women rights, dating's hopeless because women are shallow, lesser evolved beings, modern feminism has destroyed civilisation, and various other catastrophes (sorry, catastrofucks). It's also been used as justification by online communities built around misogyny, incel ideology, and normalising and glorifying violence against women.

And I was sitting there reading these posts like 😟🤨🙄😠🤢 because while I'd just spent several hours reading a long form shitpost, some of these people acted like they were reading sacred scripture.

Maybe I missed some huge layer of irony. Maybe dozens of subreddits are all participating in an elaborate meta-joke that sailed over my head.
But I... don't think so.

And that's where my feelings on the book become genuinely conflicted. I ended up in this weird place where I laughed constantly while reading it, yet also found myself thinking, 'oof the wrong person is going to take this very, very literally.'

3 stars for making me laugh. Half a star for the crazed language choices. Minus 2 stars for the absolute gremlins who've read this and built their ideals around it. 0 stars for failing to explain why hydroelectric infrastructure's the final boss of masculinity.

[gia (hiatus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

── 0 stars ✶

⋆. ̊ i know what you are
every man enjoying this book is most definitely homosexual. not that thats a bad thing, but they are only finding joy in this book as it makes them feel superior to the women who have deprived them of attention and love, and have therefore, turned to men for the affection they lack. 'you are what you love' so i guess dick is really living up to his name. i think we are throwing the term 'satire' around too much and it has lost its meaning. its like saying 'i have dark humor its just a joke!' that literally tells me you like to make racist, sexist, misogynistic and/or homophobic jokes and not get in trouble 💔 it isnt satire when it becomes genuinely offensive what is wrong with yall. keep rating this 1 star so the rating goes down! i may also just be a hater 😼 in the wise words of sandra bullock, his ego is THIS BIG and his package is this big #staywoke


(please let this gif work 🙏)

[Lenabelle {Tewksbury my love} · Rating 1 out of 5]

Screw you.

I hate this book.

Like I don’t even have words.

AND THEY HAVE TAKEN MY REVIEWS OF THIS BOOK DOWN SO MANY TIMES OMGGG

[Aashvi (lizzie's ver.) · Rating 1 out of 5]

why the fuck does this fucking book exist?!?! i never have nor want to read this book EVER. PERIOD.

[makenzie ⊹ ₊ (gone atm) · Rating 1 out of 5]

i didn't try to read this book, nor will i ever. please someone get me all the drugs this dick (haha get it) was on when he decided it was a good idea to write this AND all the alcohol this publisher was drinking when they decided it was a good idea to publish this. i hope both of them know that they fucked themselves over with this one. for anyone to think it's okay to make a 253 page book about why men are supposedly better than women is actual insanity. not only is it hurting people, it is also misinforming people. because anyone with three brain cells would know that there is a whole huge laundry list of ways that women are much better than men, and the fact that anyone thinks otherwise proves the stupidity of people *cough men* in this day and age. also i guess doctor phil is losing his touch because apparently this guy was on the show however it clearly did nothing to fix all the things wrong with him. now if you'll excuse me, i am now going to start a fundraiser to hire a neurosurgeon to fix this little boy's brain

[McKenzie (writing hiatus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Haven’t read it but ummm… no

[Kayla lou ♡ [fif's doppelganger] · Rating 1 out of 5]

i have never read this book but i honestly never will!

[~.•stella•.~ {take me to camp half blood} (Zombie Girl ver.) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never read but I wanna help bring the rating down to the pits of hell

[JHHK JHHK · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've exchanged quite a few emails with Dick (our books share the same demo and sell together) and I can tell you he's a stand up guy. There's a huge difference between the man and the author/character he role-plays. That said, M>W is not for everyone, and reads best if you keep your frame of reference in check. But if you like brutal satire, give it a chance...