Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America in Daily Show / Colbert Report / Nightly Show / The Opposition

Jul 12, 2021 Linda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, ohio-e-book-project, nonfiction, history, sociology, 2021

Wow! WOw! WOW!
I'll read or listen to anything this young woman has to say. She hits the mark.
Her clear thinking, well constituted discussion about white male privilege. I've been turned down for a job because I wasn't a man (and the interviewer told me this). I've been refused credit - after I struggled to come up with 3 credit references - because "I had too much credit." I used to run around and say,, "I'm not a feminist, I'm a peoplist." Now I am one.
I'm going to read her other book, So You W ...more

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Dec 31, 2021 Letitia rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2021-to-read, audiobook

If I could make every person on the planet read this introduction and epilogue, I would. I'll share some choice quotes below, but basically Ijeoma Oluo nails society's default to white male supremacy on the head, and eviscerates a narrative that thinks we can't phase out of it TOO quickly because that will somehow "destabilize"...something.

She does veer away from her thesis at times, writing material that seems more adjacent to her first book than to the specific topic she has set up here, but t If I could make every person on the planet read this introduction and epilogue, I would. I'll share some choice quotes below, but basically Ijeoma Oluo nails society's default to white male supremacy on the head, and eviscerates a narrative that thinks we can't phase out of it TOO quickly because that will somehow "destabilize"...something.

She does veer away from her thesis at times, writing material that seems more adjacent to her first book than to the specific topic she has set up here, but then she gets back to it with her essays on oppression of Black laborers who migrated North after abolition, and a wonderful take on the Dolly Parton movie "9 to 5", which highlights the problematic REACTIONS to the movie to illustrate how important the content of the movie itself was.

Still, had she stuck 100% to her initial topic and the seering material in her intro, this would have been a stronger book. I think she really could have lost some sections in favor of essays on white women who prop up white patriarchy in order to receive social benefit from it, or of the false narrative of the immigrant who steals jobs when in reality the woman who comes to the US as a migrant laborer is doing jobs white men would never. The other thing she could have done is cover stats and studies that illustrate how men who are extraordinary only for their lack of exceptionalism continue to hold the most power, make the most money, own the most companies. How DOES someone as unimpressive as George W or D. Trump or even Biden get elected to the most prestigious office in the world? Why? How does someone of at best average intellect and below average competency hold that kind of position? The book has a lack of data overall, which I know is not the point, but it leaves me realizing that I know Oluo's arguments are true because I know her arguments are true, not because I have received a research-based analysis that illustrates that they are true. I'm sure the studies are out there and I'd love her to dive into them. I think Mediocre lacked these very pertinent topics but that should not discourage anyone from diving into this. It was still an excellent read. And now...my favorite quotes:

“How often have you heard the argument that we have to slowly implement gender and racial equality in order to not “shock” society? Who is the “society” that people are talking about? I can guarantee that women would be able to handle equal pay or a harassment-free work environment right now, with no ramp-up. I’m certain that people of color would be able to deal with equal political representation and economic opportunity if they were made available today. So for whose benefit do we need to go so slowly? How can white men be our born leaders and at the same time so fragile that they cannot handle social progress?”

“When I talk about mediocrity, I talk about how we somehow agreed that wealthy white men are the best group to bring the rest of us prosperity, when their wealth was stolen from our labor.”

“We must start asking what we want white manhood to be, and what we will no longer accept. We must stop rewarding violence and oppression. We must stop confusing bullies with leaders. We must stop telling women and people of color that the only path to success lies in emulating white male dominance.”

“It's the expectations that many white men have that they shouldn't have to climb, shouldn't have to struggle, as others do. It's the idea not only that they think they have less than others, but that they were supposed to have so much more. When you are denied the power, the success, or even the relationships that you think are your right, you either believe that you are broken or you believe that you have been stolen from.” ...more

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