Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America in Books, Bubbles + Banter: A Book Club for the Intellectually Bad + Bougie

Aug 05, 2021 Destanye B. rated it it was amazing

This book was so amazing. I'm literally looking at life differently --- Literally, one of the best books I've read this year. Rarely do I give a book 5 stars but this book deserves every last one
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

PROS
- Talk about fucking me up when she said that even liberal leftist white men are not a part of the movements to be progressive but because it somehow benefits their own agendas (like the stories of the men who were "bet This book was so amazing. I'm literally looking at life differently --- Literally, one of the best books I've read this year. Rarely do I give a book 5 stars but this book deserves every last one
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

PROS
- Talk about fucking me up when she said that even liberal leftist white men are not a part of the movements to be progressive but because it somehow benefits their own agendas (like the stories of the men who were "better feminist" than the women. Crazy!!!

- Going through that first chapter of all these toxic white men in places of power just made me literally shake my head. The Bernie Bros, the back and forth with Biden (even the people I thought weren't so bad) I'm like naaahhhh... Having openly racist Presidents is really in the history of our country and it's so maddening. Evening reading about the Marshall guy in the NFL chapter.

- I can't even lie learning that the person who created the SATs was a Eugenics supporter and pretty much created the test (that kids are still taking today) to keep out people of color and Jewish people. The education system is soooo fucked up. She made an excellent point that the same conservatives that are saying that college just allows for your child to get a liberal education of how to make flower arrangements and learn how to protest and be a cog in the Democratic playing field would NEVER let any of their children forgo an elite education. They also received an elite education (so, I guess college isn't the enlightenment playing field that we all thought since mostly all Republicans are college-educated for elite institutions).

- As a person who is MIZZOU alumni, it embarrassed me to see my alma mater in this book. The racism that happened at MIZZOU was happening since I was in college 08'-12' . My sophomore year (2) white male students put a shiz ton of cotton balls in front of our Black Cultural Center (a place where black students felt safe) because they wanted to see us pick it up. A place that yelled they would kill us because we celebrated President Obama's historic win. A place that wrote "nigger" on statues in front of residence halls. A place where the KKK was openly recruiting new members in broad daylight. A school that canceled buses to play a football game with no concern for how every day students would get to and from class. A school where you can be the only black student in a lecture hall of 250 w/ a professor who is "teaching" diversity and tells everyone she lived a sheltered life. The incidents that lead up to #ConcernedStudent1950 were years in the making. I have a love for MIZZOU but BLACK MIZZOU.

- I enjoyed the backstory and history of football! It really makes me not want to watch the sport anymore (and I LOVE FOOTBALL).

- The whole chapter about firing all the women was excellent. Especially putting women in positions of power when there is no hope for them turning it around so they can blame the woman (so Fun with Dick & Jane) aka Falling off the Glass Cliff. I don't know why the world won't just let Black Women run it-- we would do such a good job (Michelle 2024)

- I never knew about Guiener and all that she had gone through. More things for Bill Clinton to feel ashamed of. I knew how important The Squad has been to those who aren't even in their jurisdictions but it was nice to see all the things they have advocated for and implanted in plain sight.

CONS

There are no cons. I wish there was a happier ending and there was redemption for the mediocre white man, but after all her threats of them killing themselves I feel as though all hope is lost. So I guess, the biggest con is the feeling of hopelessness after reading this book. I will not generalize that every white male is touting his toxic hyper-masculinity, misogyny, coupled with white supremacy undertones but after reading this I'm side-eyeing ALL OF EM'.

The book was amazing. Soo good! 5 stars, 2 thumbs up. All the things. GIVE HER, HER FLOWERS! ...more

Like · see review