"A lot of what I believe, Ian Gurvitz haw silver-tongued into a most readable, cathartic, and funny book -- congratulations, Ian Gurvitz, whoever you are!" Bill Maher This book is an unapologetic liberal screed about the deteriorating state of our national dialogue. We assume Orwell's 1984 dystopian nightmare can't happen here, yet we've been narcotized into a more ominous Orwellian somnambulism. We're inebriated on our own mythology, priapic at our military supremacy, and malleable via our iconic imagery, whether it's Jesus or the flag. Jacked up on Adderall, Red, Bull and patriotism, we only unite in war, tragedy and the Super Bowl. We've become style over substance, image over reality, propaganda over truth, and symbol over meaning. Perhaps evolution is a myth, in that we seem to be devolving. The Roman Empire collapsed due to over-expansion and corruption. The British Empire dissolved due to cultural arrogance and imperialistic hubris. Sadly, as well devolve from Democracy to Idiocracy, America may become the first world power to crumble under the weight of its own stupidity.
If you have ever yelled at the tv news or newspapers like The Post , then Gurvitz's new rant is a must read. He tackles issues: health care, freedoms, American culture, politics, religion, and even cigarette addiction.
Gurvitz is not shy or delicate as he scolds the Dumbfuckistans for falling for Conservative rhetoric. He uses facts and figures (which are not footnoted, but are fact-checked) to colorfully prove that Civilization Is barbaric, uninformed and DUMB. If his audience buys his premise they will cheer his breadth of knowledge and irreverence . If the reader is a Dumbfuckistan, before burning this book, he/she will have an apoplectic fit. The red neck, Bible toting reader who carries his/her gun and pack of unfiltered cigarettes to the PTA meeting and demands that Creationism is just as true Evolution and that Earth Science and Biology are just tools of the Devil will want this book banned from stores or at least libraries and Walmarts.
He sees the world as divided: dumb and smart, like him. As a writer, his voice is strident and righteous. Though Gurvitz studied Buddhism and lived in Japan, his New York swagger and Hollywood schmooze are much more evident in his vibrant and profane prose than any zen politeness. If you're like me, you will have underlined some of his arguments to warm up or possibly incense a dinner party.
I swear I went through the whole gamut of human emotions while reading this book. I wanted to stand up and cheer in solidarity one minute and curl into the fetal position and cry in shame the next. Most people won't appreciate Gurvitz's approach to have a candid and uncensored conversation about religion but I found his unapologetic skepticism incredible cathartic. I still find myself confused about my own beliefs and didn't expect to find all my answers at the end of a book, but I did find a comforting feeling, as if I finally realized that questioning all this is good!
Whats not to love about this book? It warns the fate of 'Murica... "The Roman Empire collapsed due to war, over expansion and rampant corruption. The British empire dissolved due to cultural arrogance and imperialistic hubris. Sadly, as we devolve from Democracy to Idiocracy, America may become the first world power to crumble under the weight of its own stupidity."
mocks our gross misunderstanding of religion and god in general.. "Yet, despite all this nasty science, we still think the Earth was deliberately and lovingly placed here by a benevolent sky daddy who is personally concerned with the lives and afterlives of each and every one of us. That would be like you focusing on the hopes and dreams of a single cell in your body"
slams our cultures obsession with anything and everything that will absolutely kill us... "Despite the warning on cigarettes packs that smoking will kill you, 41 million Americans still smoke, Why? Because we're a bunch of dumb, stubborn dumbfucks."
and best of all, Trump... "Trump may be clever. He may be shrewd. But he's not smart. In fact, he's dumb. The guys a mook, a dope, a dunsky, a doofus. The Fredo Corleone of the Republican Party." ... "and Republicans played on that [fear] for 7 years, insidiously tormenting anger, mistrust, and outright hatred. Now, they bemoan the loss of their party. Well, tough shit. You cynically picked the scab of racism until the wound opened and the pus call Trump oozed out. You birthed the monstrous idiot. You deal with him"
Oh how I wish I could force my Republican/Libertarian friends and family to read this book. Sadly, they never will. And our country will suffer as a result.
Definitely worth your time. Those who are left leaning politically will get a real kick out of it and those who tilt to the right will probably hate it but should read it anyway.