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Title: Dumbing Down: Essays on the Strip Mining of American Culture by Katharine Washburn, John F. Thornton, John Simon ISBN: 0-393-31723-4 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: November, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (10 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: This book itself suffers from dumbing down
Comment: This book could have been so much more. While some of the essays include genuine insight into this serious problem, others suffer from the all too common temptation to catalog whatever the authors don't like. To conservatives, dumbing down is the fault of all those liberals; to liberals, it's all those conservatives; to humanities snobs, it's anything connected to science and technology.
Some of the examples of dumbing down are nothing short of fatuous. Is it really a sign of dumbing down that a newspaper publishes a science section? Is the art world truly waging war on heterosexuality?
Also, some authors tend to limit their evidence to what is happening in New York. Is the topic of the book the dumbing down of America or the dumbing down of New York?
Perhaps the worst offender is David Klinghoffer's essay on kitsch religion. Klinghoffer lectures us on the state of Judaism and Christianity, but he is clearly much more attuned to secular politics than to Jewish (let alone Christian) theology. He completely ignores the spectacular growth of the New Age movement, which is a glaring counter-example to his thesis. Moreover, while he calls for a return to thou-shalt-nots, he does not seem to care whether they come from Orthodox Judaism or Baptist fundamentalism; instead, it seems that any old set of thou-shalt-nots will do. That's what I call dumbing down.
Rating: 4
Summary: Never has the decline of civilization been so funny!
Comment: Most of the essays in the book are interesting. One of essays got bogged down with a lot of fuzzy technical and philosophical arguments. Some of the essays on language use and grammar will remind you of your spinster curmudgeon English teacher; they were a bit too hard-core reactionary for me, but not without their truths. A lot of the essays exude a lot of wit and I laughed out loud in a lot of places. Particularly I liked one essay by a self-proclaimed snob who said that college was a waste of time for a lot of people and why didn't we just have college for people who are actually interested in learning for its own sake? Before WWII, people could get good jobs without having to go to college. The businesses trained them at their own expense, which is what businesses should do.
Rating: 5
Summary: Goes against the grain of culture... and so it should!
Comment: This must be the most politically incorrect book that you could read. But that is its strongest point. You have to be incorrect today to think properly. Behind every great movement which overturned a declining society there has been incorrectness. This book bucks the tide. It is unashamedly non-conformist. For that reason, it is a wonderfully stimulating read. My guess is that it will only appeal to those who already think like the authors. But if it does enlighten a dyed in the wool follower of political correctness that will be a welcome marvel!
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Title: The Twilight of American Culture by Morris Berman ISBN: 039332169X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: June, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter ISBN: 0394703170 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 February, 1966 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: In Defense of Elitism by William A. Henry ISBN: 0385479433 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 August, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Bad Or, the Dumbing of America by Paul Fussell ISBN: 0671792288 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: October, 1992 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman ISBN: 0140094385 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: November, 1986 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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