100 People Who Are Screwing Up America

[Adam's Apple]

Has anyone read this book yet?

See Who Makes The List of Cultural Villains
By Dean George, The Indianapolis Star
September 3, 2005

Americans and jihadists may never agree on democracy for Iraq, women's fashions or the benefits of indoor plumbing, but they probably share one opinion: Much of American culture is a cesspool of crassness, incivility and immorality.

In his third New York Times best-selling book, eight-time Emmy winner and former CBS News senior correspondent Bernard Goldberg decries the decomposition of American culture.

"A slow poison is running through the veins of this great country, and our tolerance of crap is just a small part of it," Goldberg notes. "This is a book about those people, a whole bunch of different people who are screwing things up in a whole bunch of different ways."

Prior to revealing "The List", Goldberg tees off on the different types of cultural villains in concise, no-holds-barred chapters, including: America Bashers, Schlockmeisters, the Pinstripe Crooks, Intellectual Thugs, Hollywood Loudmouths and the American Jackals.

Quick to note that no two people will agree on "The List", Goldberg confesses there are a lot of liberals on it, "not so much because of their left-of-center politics, as because of their willingness -- make that their eagerness -- to live up to the most embarrassing stereotypes many of us hold about today's cultural elites."

• Laurie David, an eco-chic Hollywood environmentalist and the wife of "Seinfeld" creator Larry David, is one example. She likes to pull alongside SUV drivers, harassing and reviling them as "terrorist enablers," even though David doesn't like flying commercial and prefers using Gulfstream jets that carry about 2,100 gallons of fuel.

• Novelist and social critic Barbara Kingsolver wrote in an op-ed piece right after 9/11, "Patriotism threatens free speech with death. In other words, the American flag stands for intimidation, censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism, homophobia and shoving the Constitution through a paper shredder. Who are we calling terrorists?"

• Abortion rights activist Amy Richards, after getting pregnant by her boyfriend and learning that she was carrying three fetuses, asked her obstetrician, "Is it possible to get rid of one of them? Or two of them?" After learning that two of the fetuses were identical twins, Richards found her choice psychologically comforting. "The twins go, the stand alone stays, 'a shot of potassium chloride to the heart' takes care of the whole thing."

for full article:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050903/OPINION/509030422/10...

 

[Abbey Normal]

I am happy to report that I have been on the waiting list at my local library for this book for about a month now, and I am still nowhere near the top of the list. Obviously, lots of people are reading it. The last example listed in your post, of the abortion activist, made me want to puke.

I consider Bernard Goldberg a personal hero after reading his book, Bias. No one can read that book and look at the MSM the same again. How satisfying when the CBS/National Guard scandal reinforced how right Mr. Goldberg was all along.

 

[Abbey Normal]

Folks, you have to read this book. I loved it. It is insightful (of course- Goldberg is always insightful), but also unexpectedly funny.

Here is an excerpt from the flap:

"Bernard Goldberg takes dead aim at the America Bashers (the cultural elites who look down their noses at "ordinary" Americans)... the Hollywood Blowhards (incredibly ditzy celebrities who think they're smart just because they are famous)... the TV Schlockmeisters... the Intellectual Thugs ( bigwigs at some of our best colleges whose views run the gamut from left wing to far left wing)...

 

[Adam's Apple]

I have read this book as well and agree that it is well worth reading. I especially liked Goldberg’s commentary in the chapters preceding the listing of his “100”. I thought he did a fine job selecting people for his list to illustrate all the ills that have “dumbed down” and vulgarized our society since the '60s generation came of age. One thing I couldn’t understand, though, was why he left the Clintons and the 9th Circuit judges off his list. In my opinion, they have been big contributors.