| | |  | | Home » Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government | | | | | | | Description: | | FUNNY. FRIGHTENING. TRUE. The #1 New York Times bestseller that gives you the right answers when idiots leave you speechless! It happens to all of us: You’re minding your own business, when some idiot* informs you that guns are evil, the Prius will save the planet, or the rich have to finally start paying their fair share of taxes. Just go away! you think to yourself—but they only get more obnoxious. Your heart rate quickens. You start to sweat. But never fear, for Glenn Beck has stumbled upon the secret formula to winning arguments against people with big mouths and small minds: knowing the facts. And this book is full of them. The next time your Idiot Friends tell you how gun control prevents gun violence, you’ll tell them all about England’s handgun ban (see page 53). When they insist that we should copy the UK’s health-care system, you’ll recount the horrifying facts you read on page 244. And the next time you hear how produce prices will skyrocket without illegal workers, you’ll have the perfect rebuttal (from page 139). Armed with the ultimate weapon—the truth—you can now tolerate (and who knows, maybe even enjoy?) your encounters with idiots everywhere!
*Idiots can’t be identified through voting records; look instead for people who hide behind stereotypes, embrace partisanship, and believe that bumper sticker slogans are a substitute for common sense. | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9781416595014
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Glenn Beck | | Hardcover:
| 325 pages | | Publisher:
| Threshold Editions | | Publication Date:
| September 22, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1416595015 | | Product Length:
| 9.32 inches | | Product Width:
| 7.78 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.11 inches | | Product Weight:
| 2.35 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.3 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.5 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.2 inches | | Package Weight:
| 2.25 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 568 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Informative without being your typical Republican talking pointsDec 10, 2011
By MrQuincy
I first heard of Glenn Beck back in 2004, somehow stumbling across him on talk radio. I found his show to be quite hilarious(that moron calling segment was classic).
I didn't get to listen to him often, but I remember being entertained.
So the other day I was shopping for Christmas presents and came across this audio book. What's another gift going to hurt? A gift to me, from me that is.
Pros:
+ I found it to be very informative. The historical events presented were factual in nature. You can feel confident that your fact checking will line up.
+ I found his opinions to be informative as well. The evidence he uses (to base his opinions on) is solid.
+ It's full of Glenn's humor. I definitely laughed a bit.
+ This book has a great "independent" feel to it. It doesn't sound like partisan rubbish.
Cons:
- I found a few portions of the book to be boring.
- There's a lot of information crammed into one book. Your brain might hurt a little.
- You probably won't enjoy it if you're a fan of big government.
The few portions I found to be boring were limited. In fact, I "read" this book in a record amount of time. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think you will too.
**Also, if you're one of those people who's only heard negative things about Glenn Beck then you should definitely get this book. Judge for yourself and don't let others judge for you.**
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
He's one of us.Dec 16, 2010
By King of Controversy
If you're conservative you know what it's like to go against the grain. I remember in school, a fellow classmate saying we were doomed if Ronald Wilson Reagan won the presidency - the letters of his name equal 666. When Reagan turned the economy around (much the way Obama is doing now - tho less decisively) I dealt with people every day who claimed Reagan trashed the economy. They either grew up after the miracle or weren't paying attention or more likely, didn't care - it was about being on the stronger side - about how much they could bully their beliefs into reality. And bullying/avoiding being bullied oneself was all that it was about? Whether Global Warming (while it gets colder every year), minorities living in fear of hate-crimes, or women's rights activists and scholarship, if you're conservative you know what it's like to be on the wrong side of 'bigotry'. At some age you'll likely reach the point where you don't care anymore. Glenn Beck doesn't care. He's one of us. It seems to make him a good writer. I even wonder if he'll run for office. On the back cover he quotes pundits calling him an, "idiot", "blowhard", "death lover". Their objections only serve to prove him right?
There's a danger in this attitude. Perhaps it is anti-knowledge (tho doesn't everyone only read what they agree with). It's certainly anti-status quo. Perhaps seeking out this kind of knowlege is an uphill climb, perhaps those of us on the right are just stupider. I mean bigger stupid. For me this attitude may be especially dangerous (I'm a conspiracy theorist, and Glenn Beck is sympathetic towards some of these theories). . . when you no longer believe that the news is slanted, but that events and personalities themselves are made up for the effect they will have on the public. . . I suppose the main theory out there is that 'jews' run hollywood and the media, and the publishing houses in NY, and if thats not bad enough are trying to build a one-world governemnt. In my opinion. . . anyone going on about that, with a platform, is likely part of the conspiracy. There's a conspiracy to want us to believe that. How devious can they get? How nefarious can some of us get anyway.
Glenn Beck does do a good job of presenting the world the way we see it. Beck makes some good and unusual points and is often very funny. I give Arguing With Idiots 4 stars because it does present a hidden side and because of the extreme high quality of the printing of the book. It's like a textbook, with graphs, charts, offset printing (i do wonder about some of the color). It's 299 pages, tho with all the charts and inserts there's really around 200 pages of material. I should admit somewhere here that I'm a social conservative. Let me just say, I don't think it's the right time for libertarians, the tea party, or anarchy. Would I vote for Beck? Depends which conservative he's running against.
Because many conservative talking points are dealt with here, in some ways to me it seemed like a rehash of 'Bias' by Bernard Goldberg. If you do want to know some of the latest ideas on the right this would be a good book to pick up (there may be a better one but I don't know what it is). This book is one-sided so it does give me some room to nitpick, below, and I disagree with Beck on a couple of issues. Because it's one-sided, it doesn't always go in depth, however, Beck does go into great and convincing detail on the chapter on gun control and the second amendment, showing that he can do a thorough job when he chooses to and has the room.
Because of the cover I was wondering if there would be irony here. The only point I noticed this, perhaps, is on the chapter about unions. He notes that "the fastest growing union in the country, fired 75 of it's 220 employees". If the fastest growing union in the country only has 145 members, unions must not be so powerful and dangerous.
I completely disagree with Beck on the chapter 'The Nanny State - saving you from yourself one right at a time'. Some of the chapter may have been intended to be 'irony', but because of my resistance to the material, perhaps, I didn't notice. He does perhaps go over the top using 'sarcasm' to note, "seat-belts laws save lives. So What? A 5 mph speed limit would save even more lives, as would staying locked in your house all day". Beck challenged me in this chapter. I found myself changing my beliefs to deal with Beck's arguments. If individual freedom is being championed, and people need not be required to 'wear seat belts' then it's up to the car makers to create safer cars, restaurants to prepare healthier foods, internet providers to create a wholesome web-environment. . . I found myself making a 'liberal' argument. I do feel the left has gone even farther away from protecting life and human dignity than what even the libertarians are proposing. People need protected, even if only from themselves. Fulfilling this most basic need is about more than just protecting peoples money, from corporations. And more than just protecting certain individuals from 'oppressors'. Perhaps you need to discover their humanity in the first place before you can begin protecting them? It might even explain 'Glenn Becks' sort of callous attitude.
Perhaps it's peer pressure that drives this - and I'll use Beck's own words - race toward idiocy, on the part of the new right. Perhaps it's not some kind of peer pressure, and they just want to smoke dope, watch violence on television, support homosexuals, surf porn or engage in any other perversion - that doesn't offend women, and play the numbers - it's not peer pressure at all, they are voting their vices? I will admit I at least had to 'argue' with Beck and it's an interesting topic. I believe there was a Sci Fi story titled, With Folded Hands, that explored how protecting humans could actually destroy their humanity. Glenn Beck himself points out that, "Nannies are truly a bipartisan, eclectic, cross-cultural group. . . Of course they do all have one thing in common: They're all idiots".
He follows 'The Nanny State' up with, perhaps, a bizarre chapter about how it's not so great owning a home, 'Owning a Home - Waking Up From the American Dream'. He really doesn't use statistics to show renting is better than buying. Tho he trashes home ownership he doesn't mention anything about it's alternative at all, renting. It's the shortest chapter in the book. Beck does wonder why liberals don't make an issue of the huge tax breaks home owners get by deducting their mortgage payments. It Is a way to 'tax' older Americans or those who've already finished paying off their houses. In a sense 'taxing' those most able to pay. Beck doesn't bring this up. Just to be a jerk and make a note of my own, since I call, giving a tax-break to home buyers a 'tax on every one else'. . . let me also say I do not consider reducing taxes on corporations 'corporate welfare'.
Negatives
Beck notes Amtrak is losing money yet charges only $133 for a Los Angeles to New Orleans train ticket when it would cost $350 to make the drive. I was just conservative enough to assume the price of the ticket was already adjusted to a point where it would generate Amtrak the greatest net profit. I'm completely ignorant on the issue (but to reveal my own thoughts) in an age of cars and buses train travels seems kind of backwards (as much as I like to ride them).
Beck rates all the US presidents and gives Franklin Delano Roosevelt a low rating. Perhaps (a very big perhaps) there's room to make this argument but it certainly puts Beck out of the mainstream. It invites the continuing revision of Ronald Reagan's legacy.
In the End
Beck reproduces excerpts from the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and makes comments about specific passages. I felt it would have been better if he had just printed the whole thing, it's what only 30 pages? Let me correct that, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights together are 8 pages long. Beck uses 33 pages of his book to present about 20 percent of the Constitution. At times Beck uses humor in a place where facts should be and then never bothers to put in the facts. I guess you can't always do both at the same time. I'll take Becks humor, he's pretty funny at times. I suppose. . . if I were a rabid liberal, or even tilted toward the left, I might find Beck's irreverance frustrating, or even think, 'Ah ha, he's avoiding the issue. He's a buffoon'. I didn't feel that way. To me it was a (funny) joke. It comes off though perhaps as if the joke is his argument. Perhaps in these modern times, it is.
I felt it was a good book all in all. Because it's a bit against the status quo, and because it's such a quality product, and probably a little bit because of peer pressure, it gets 4 stars from me.
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Funnest thing I've "read" in a long timeSep 17, 2011
By Page W. Brousseau
I just finished listening to the audio adaptation of this book, and it was absolutely hilarious. Beck seems to be one of those people that you either love or hate and this book won't make much of a difference, but I for one, do like his humor.
926 of 1356 found the following review helpful:
 TIME magazine's "Mad Man" speaks outSep 28, 2009
By Frank J. Konopka
During the Middle Ages, it was somewhat common for religious arguments to be presented in written form. This format usually involved two characters, each with a different point of view. There would be questions or statements by one character which were refuted by the other character, who was a stand-in for the author's belief. With this book, Glenn Beck has revived an old format for a new age.
The book is divided into ten chapters, each one covering a single topic, and there are questions which are responded to by Beck's character. In addition, there are also little side comments, sometimes called "A.D.D. Moments" and sometimes direct quotes by people Beck doesn't agree with, said quotes putting those people in the worst possilbe light.
Love him or hate him (there appears to be no middle ground) Beck wirtes cogently (if often humorously) and well. He states his point of view on one subject and then moves on to another. Beck claims that he is a Libertarian rather than either a Democrat or a Rebublican, but I'm sure liberal readers (if there are any who actually finish this book) will be coinvinced that Beck is just another member of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" to quote Hillary Clinton at the beginning of the Monica fiasco. I don't know what he is, because he takes almost as many shots at the GOP as he does at the Dems, so I'll take him at his word about his party leanings.
Beck is conservative in the sense that he opposes "big government" and what he calls the "Nanny State", which is one that hovers over just about every aspect of American life. He fears that we are going into that situation, and there are enough signs around (for those who want to recognise them) that he might (just might) be correct. I'm a big believer in the policy of "wait and see" so I don't make any judgments on his theories and opinions.
The book will infuriate some (liberals) and comfort others (conservatives and libertarians) but it certainly is not a boring read. For those who publish reviews on Amazon or elsewhere, please at least read the entire book before opining. It's the only fair way to do it!
270 of 401 found the following review helpful:
This Book is for True LiberalsOct 14, 2009
By K. Ako
I like this book only because it presents an alternate perspective that is extremely uncommon in media today. I consider myself a classical liberal that will listen to all perspectives and parse out the propaganda from the truth if possible. I LOVE THE LUXURY OF FREE SPEECH. Trashing others because they have a different opinion without proper debate exposes a narrow mind. Arguing with personal insults and slogans is NOT proper debate. I see this in previous reviews of this book. I'm especially irked by this because I am Chinese American & I've heard from my older relatives that this was what the Maoists did in the Cultural Revolution. This is a really dangerous way to go & I wish people would refrain from such barbaric behavior.
This book does coverage on political issues and does cite references that are difficult to find in the local newspapers or national magazines. In fact I've noticed that many of the news articles in my local newspaper (e.g. from AP, etc.) will omit key facts in news coverage. In my own independent spot checks on facts, this book is much more correct than it is incorrect! It's not because Glenn Beck is such a great journalist. Its because the news media is doing such a lousy job in journalism. Even amateurs are better than 'professional' journalists with an agenda to shape the political will of their readers. There is a difference between objective journalism & suave propaganda. Readers have to work to discern the difference.
It's unfortunate that books like Arguing With Idiots is needed just to get an alternate view for a balanced perspective. It takes a lot of discipline to be well informed today. Bottom line: Buy this book.
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