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| Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter | 
 enlarge | Author: Rick Shenkman
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $13.94
You Save: $11.06 (44%)
New (37) Used (9) Collectible (1) from $13.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  43 reviews
Sales Rank: 12192
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0465077714
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.973
EAN: 9780465077717
ASIN: 0465077714
Publication Date: June 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081130225628T
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| Customer Reviews:
 Sophistry. Condescending ramblings with no supporting evidence October 17, 2008
1 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book is awful. Contempt oozes from it's pages about how stupid 'everyone' is. The author, an expert and author in politics, is amazed other citizens don't know as much about politics as him.
He's a specialist who uses his specialty to look down on others.
He pretends his cause is Democracy. But i didn't get that out of the book. I just got an expert with contempt of those who don't specialize in his field.
I follow politics closely. I'm one of the people who do in fact think citizens don't take our democracy seriously, and put little effort into it. But i don't need to communicate that opinion in 186 pages. I just gave it to you in one sentence.
Much better books on how stupid 'we'[voters] are:
"What's the matter with Kansas"
"Moral Politics"
"Republican Noise Machine".
 Important material, frankly undeniable. October 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In 2008, it is no longer credible to deny the stupidty of the "average" voter (and despite what one reviewer wrote, it is entirely possible to be both average and stupid, unless your ONLY definition of stupid is "less intelligent than half the people), not after Bush was given a second term. So what to do? This book spends a good deal of time making a weighty case that the electorate is in fact toxically stupid, and adds a coda of hope at the end--but it's a faint glimmer at best. The situation is dire, and we see it surrounding us every day, more and more. From the financial crisis to health care, Social Security and the national debt to energy and climate, the politicans dare not promote actual potential solutions, because the voters--the CONSUMERS who vote on occasion--are entirely too misinformed and uninterested to learn the truth. I would love to say that such a book could be a tankard of espresso, a cold slap in the face, but the truth is, the only people who will read are people who won't much benefit from it. Shenkman, while a smart and entertaining writer covering a vital topic, is ultimately just one more prophet in the wilderness crying out to the wind.
 We are really stupid October 16, 2008
This was a very enlightening book. I hate to say it but this election cycle we are in right now is more of the same. Politicians spinning their views still and credit THE PEOPLE for their woes and wins.
Worth Reading October 2, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a book worth reading. I even took some notes when the author mentioned 5 'defining characteristics' of stupidity. It belongs to a number of books written recently by some of our species' most intelligent ones: Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas? Richard Dawkins' God Delusion, Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation, and
perhaps, David Livingston Smith's The most dangerous animal: human nature and the origins of war, etc..
If we try to recall, we can easily find numerous such books perhaps in every period of history. It seems now a well-established fact that majority of human beings are stupid, delusional, dangerous, or any combination of these.
But an equally amazing and arguable fact is that human beings are making great progresses in many fronts at an increasingly faster pace in most nations in the world. It is possible that this ability of scrutinizing one's own weaknesses makes human race truly great.
I wish somebody could follow up on this topic and write a book
entitled Just Why Are We So Stupid.
 Disappointed September 28, 2008
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
Perhaps reading this book would help someone who is very young and hasn't been interested in politics. Unfortunately it taught me nothing I didn't already know. I thought or hoped that it would go much deeper in how the drama of politics affects people's thoughts and reasoning. Which is where I find much stupidly, but unfortunately this topic wasn't well covered. I believe that people are so divided because of the severe propaganda that's out there and is what's dismantling what's left of our democracy! And they actually believe they are being patriotic!
I wish people would educate themselves - pro's and con's about each issue before voting or don't vote.
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