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Why You're Wrong About the Right: Behind the Myths: The Surprising Truth About Conservatives
And on your right, ladies and gentlemen, please observe The Conservative (Conservitus Americanus). This fascinating species in-habits vast territories across middle America, but rarely reveals itself in coastal urban areas. It is commonly believed to be uptight, humorless, and devoid of compassion, and is often characterized as racist, homophobic, and highly eco-unfriendly. Primary behaviors include unnecessary warmongering, tax cutting, and gun collecting. For decades, conservatives have proven to be hopelessly un-hip, and their mating habits dull. They are highly feared and often despised, for so few know and understand their true nature.
Get ready to meet the conservative next door or in the office down the hall, the person you never thought in a million years was one of "them." Lively, witty, and thought-provoking, Why You're Wrong About the Right blows the lid off the stereotypes that have long been associated with the American Right, and reveals the face of today's an intellectually and philosophically diverse new breed of young, outgoing, smart, friendly professionals who live and work among liberals everywhere!
Themselves closet conservatives in Leftoid Land (aka Manhattan), S. E. Cupp and Brett Joshpe inject their own unique and colorful points of view into an honest dialogue on conservative ideas in American life and popular culture, and draw from interviews with a roster of renowned writers and political personalities, including Tony Stewart, Tucker Carlson, Brian C. Anderson, Laura Ingraham, Pat Toomey, David Horowitz, Ted Hayes, and many more.
Undercover conservatives, reveal your true colors with pride! Liberals, hug a conservative today! And whichever side you find yourself on, you'll be engaged, surprised, and happily re-educated when you discover Why You're Wrong About the Right.
Get ready to meet the conservative next door or in the office down the hall, the person you never thought in a million years was one of "them." Lively, witty, and thought-provoking, Why You're Wrong About the Right blows the lid off the stereotypes that have long been associated with the American Right, and reveals the face of today's an intellectually and philosophically diverse new breed of young, outgoing, smart, friendly professionals who live and work among liberals everywhere!
Themselves closet conservatives in Leftoid Land (aka Manhattan), S. E. Cupp and Brett Joshpe inject their own unique and colorful points of view into an honest dialogue on conservative ideas in American life and popular culture, and draw from interviews with a roster of renowned writers and political personalities, including Tony Stewart, Tucker Carlson, Brian C. Anderson, Laura Ingraham, Pat Toomey, David Horowitz, Ted Hayes, and many more.
Undercover conservatives, reveal your true colors with pride! Liberals, hug a conservative today! And whichever side you find yourself on, you'll be engaged, surprised, and happily re-educated when you discover Why You're Wrong About the Right.
- GenresPolitics
276 pages, Hardcover
First published May 20, 2008
3 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
S.E. Cupp
2 books14 followersSarah Elizabeth "S. E." Cupp is an American conservative political commentator and writer, co-author of the book Why You're Wrong About the Right with Brett Joshpe, and author of the book Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 4, 2021
The title of this book refers to the group suffering from unfairly applied myths as the “Right.” However, within the book, the group tends to be described by the terms “the Right”, “conservatives” and “Republicans” interchangeably.
The authors wrote the book together but it isn’t clear if each chapter was written together or if some chapters were written by S.E. Cupp while others were written by Brett Joshpe. It is similar to the mystery of which Lennon-McCartney songs were written by John and Paul together and which were written by each Beatle independently, although in recent decades, Paul has made some revelations about that. On the other hand, it is clearly noted that the Introduction was written by Cupp while the Conclusion was written by Joshpe.
In some chapters, such as Republicans Are Racist, there are references to history to disprove the myth.
“Racism is both a historical and a current fact, and a great many have contributed to its continuation over the centuries, including, in some cases, blacks and minorities themselves. But one thing is certain: history has been hijacked and rewritten to implicate Republicans as the most racist folk in the history of the world, despite a stellar and often forgotten record of civil rights success.”
However, the chapter making the observation that the racists of the nineteenth century were Democrats is not really a good repudiation of myths about Republican behavior today. The myths of today are based on the observations of today.
In other chapters, the authors note that the myths about conservatives are not only wrong but that there is a diversity of opinion within the group. In the chapter named Republicans Don't Care About The Education, there is this statement.
“So even among conservatives there is disagreement about what constitutes the right approach to education. Some prefer the Less Government model. Some prefer the Spend Money, But Impose Standards model. However, all Republicans believe that education is important and truly want “no child left behind.”
The last chapter also considers the question of whether or not all Republicans think alike by showing varying answers among interviewees to questions put to them by the authors.
In the chapter on Republicans and guns, there isn’t the total denial of a myth as there is in other chapters. It is noted that the issue is somewhat complicated.
“It may be inaccurate to call the Republican defense of gun ownership, whether from a Second Amendment perspective or not, a myth. But it's not the whole story.”
This chapter, Republicans Love Them Their Guns, is a typical presentation of gun rights advocates. In part, it seems to argue against gun restrictions because they don’t prevent crime. Neither do laws against bank robbery and murder, but they still have their place in society. This chapter ends with a discussion of Ted Nugent and his beliefs. I have never considered him to be a good spokesperson for anything.
In all, there are 20 chapters covering a wide variety of myths. The list includes chapters on religion, intelligence, humor, NASCAR, foreigners, war, greed, sexism, being cool, and whether or not Republicans are good in bed.
I think that the chapters that most readers would consider to be excessive in their attempt to disprove a myth are chapters 15, 16, and 18 —Republicans Are Greedy, Republicans Are Undemocratic, and Republicans Hate Foreigners respectively. It seems like the attitude expressed in this book about myths goes from annoyance to hostility — and weirdness. One of the responses to the myth of chapter 18 is the observation that Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria have the highest incidence of testicular cancer. On the other hand, Chapter 19, Republicans are Warmongers, is a step back on the anger scale. That chapter makes its point without being strident.
There is one particularly misleading statement in the conclusion. It states that “although George W. Bush grew up in the Northeast, he eventually made a home in Texas.” I believe that George W. Bush was two years old when his father moved the family to Texas to start a career in the oil industry. Like George Washington whose family moved from his birthplace when he was two years old, I doubt that young George remembers much from his first two years of life.
While you could say that the themes of the book are timeless, the book has been around for awhile. It was published in 2008 after being written in the years before that, starting in the summer of 2005. The Foreword was written by Tucker Carlson, who was S.E. Cupp’s favorite pundit at the time. From what I have heard her say more recently in her online Unfiltered monologues, I am guessing that his standing in her favorite pundit list has gone down considerably. However, his contribution to Why You’re Wrong About The Right does not diminish the book.
In some chapters of the book, I disagree with the authors’ position. In other chapters, I agree. I also agree that, as the authors note in multiple chapters, their attempts at disproving myths will not necessarily make them go away. Still, it is good that the book was written, and I am glad that I read it.
The authors wrote the book together but it isn’t clear if each chapter was written together or if some chapters were written by S.E. Cupp while others were written by Brett Joshpe. It is similar to the mystery of which Lennon-McCartney songs were written by John and Paul together and which were written by each Beatle independently, although in recent decades, Paul has made some revelations about that. On the other hand, it is clearly noted that the Introduction was written by Cupp while the Conclusion was written by Joshpe.
In some chapters, such as Republicans Are Racist, there are references to history to disprove the myth.
“Racism is both a historical and a current fact, and a great many have contributed to its continuation over the centuries, including, in some cases, blacks and minorities themselves. But one thing is certain: history has been hijacked and rewritten to implicate Republicans as the most racist folk in the history of the world, despite a stellar and often forgotten record of civil rights success.”
However, the chapter making the observation that the racists of the nineteenth century were Democrats is not really a good repudiation of myths about Republican behavior today. The myths of today are based on the observations of today.
In other chapters, the authors note that the myths about conservatives are not only wrong but that there is a diversity of opinion within the group. In the chapter named Republicans Don't Care About The Education, there is this statement.
“So even among conservatives there is disagreement about what constitutes the right approach to education. Some prefer the Less Government model. Some prefer the Spend Money, But Impose Standards model. However, all Republicans believe that education is important and truly want “no child left behind.”
The last chapter also considers the question of whether or not all Republicans think alike by showing varying answers among interviewees to questions put to them by the authors.
In the chapter on Republicans and guns, there isn’t the total denial of a myth as there is in other chapters. It is noted that the issue is somewhat complicated.
“It may be inaccurate to call the Republican defense of gun ownership, whether from a Second Amendment perspective or not, a myth. But it's not the whole story.”
This chapter, Republicans Love Them Their Guns, is a typical presentation of gun rights advocates. In part, it seems to argue against gun restrictions because they don’t prevent crime. Neither do laws against bank robbery and murder, but they still have their place in society. This chapter ends with a discussion of Ted Nugent and his beliefs. I have never considered him to be a good spokesperson for anything.
In all, there are 20 chapters covering a wide variety of myths. The list includes chapters on religion, intelligence, humor, NASCAR, foreigners, war, greed, sexism, being cool, and whether or not Republicans are good in bed.
I think that the chapters that most readers would consider to be excessive in their attempt to disprove a myth are chapters 15, 16, and 18 —Republicans Are Greedy, Republicans Are Undemocratic, and Republicans Hate Foreigners respectively. It seems like the attitude expressed in this book about myths goes from annoyance to hostility — and weirdness. One of the responses to the myth of chapter 18 is the observation that Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria have the highest incidence of testicular cancer. On the other hand, Chapter 19, Republicans are Warmongers, is a step back on the anger scale. That chapter makes its point without being strident.
There is one particularly misleading statement in the conclusion. It states that “although George W. Bush grew up in the Northeast, he eventually made a home in Texas.” I believe that George W. Bush was two years old when his father moved the family to Texas to start a career in the oil industry. Like George Washington whose family moved from his birthplace when he was two years old, I doubt that young George remembers much from his first two years of life.
While you could say that the themes of the book are timeless, the book has been around for awhile. It was published in 2008 after being written in the years before that, starting in the summer of 2005. The Foreword was written by Tucker Carlson, who was S.E. Cupp’s favorite pundit at the time. From what I have heard her say more recently in her online Unfiltered monologues, I am guessing that his standing in her favorite pundit list has gone down considerably. However, his contribution to Why You’re Wrong About The Right does not diminish the book.
In some chapters of the book, I disagree with the authors’ position. In other chapters, I agree. I also agree that, as the authors note in multiple chapters, their attempts at disproving myths will not necessarily make them go away. Still, it is good that the book was written, and I am glad that I read it.
August 18, 2008
A must read for Republican 'fascists' who are looking for affirmation...
August 29, 2010
humerous book providing smart examples - a good read for righties, lefties and everyone else in between!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews