Fountaindale Public Library

Profiles in ignorance, how America's politicians got dumb and dumber, Andy Borowitz

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-293) and index

index present

non fiction

Profiles in ignorance

bibliography

1338678610

Andy Borowitz

how America's politicians got dumb and dumber

The winner of the first-ever National Press Club award for humor, Andy Borowitz has been called a "Swiftian satirist" and "one of the country's finest satirists." Millions of fans and The New Yorker readers enjoy his satirical news column The Borowitz Report. Now, in this book, he offers a witty, spot-on diagnosis of our country's political troubles by showing how ignorant leaders are degrading, embarrassing, and endangering our nation. Borowitz argues that over the past fifty years, American politicians have grown increasingly allergic to knowledge, and mass media have encouraged the election of ignoramuses by elevating candidates who are better at performing than thinking. Starting with Ronals Reagan's first campaign for governor of California in 1966 and culminating with the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, Borowitz shows how, during the age of twenty-four-hour news and social media, the United States has elected to positions of great power politicians whose lack of the most basic information is terrifying. In addition to Reagan, Quayle, Bush, Palin, and Trump, Borowitz covers a host of congresspersons, senators, and governors who have helped lower the bar over the past five decades. This book aims to make us both laugh and cry: laugh at the idiotic antics of public figures, and cry at the cataclysms these icons of ignorance have caused. But most important, the book delivers a call to action and a cause for optimism: History doesn't move in a straight line, and we can change course if we act now

Introduction : The three stages of ignorance -- The first stage : Ridicule -- The second stage : Acceptance -- The third stage : Celebration -- Conclusion : Democracy's braking system

adult