If you haven't read "Assault on Reason" by Al Gore, I don't want to talk to you.

[Pacifist Patriot]

After reading this book I am so tempted to use this line if any GOP / Bush supporter wants to get into it with me. It's a baseline for restoring political discourse. He really drives home why conversations with ideologues have gone absolutely nowhere. Having recently completed books by Gore, Lakoff, Dawkins and Harris I am more than a little concerned over the prospects for future rational decision making. Oy!

[truebrit71]

1. Mine is in the mail as we speak....

....looking forward to reading it...

[malaise]

22. Mine too

Can't wait.

[illinoisprogressive]

2. what if you have a tight budget and a ton of books ahead to read

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. I am totally sympathetic!

I listened to it on audio myself while cleaning the house, making dinner, driving, etc. Not a chance I can add another book to my pile. One of the gentlemen at my church purchased four copies to pass around the congregation. It is also available at our local library in both print and audio CD versions.

I am being a tad facetious about being the one to shut down communication. I was hoping that would be pretty obvious. I keep forgetting how large DU is. I'm used to smaller sites where people get to know one another and their styles fairly quickly. My bad!

I will never give up on rational discourse in my life.

[truebrit71]

25. You just have to prioritize that's all!!

I always have a built-in supply of books that need to be read...and I constantly fiddle with the reading order....

[Hamlette]

3. ???? It would see you would want to talk to them and use Gore's arguments on them.

Maybe I'm grumpy over the "do not talk to a republican" nonsense I've read on DU lately but it seems you would want to talk to republicans and try to convince them you are right.

You could use Gore's arguments. You could study them like lab rats.

What do you learn from talking to people who think like you do all the time?

(What about people like me who read the book and didn't like it?)

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. I would dearly love to have a discussion with you.

What are your objections to the book?

[Hamlette]

41. I felt put down and lectured to

I'd never seen that in Gore before, a man I've met and like very much. It was irritating.

I don't see this, historically, as new. I don't think it is television. I think there was less reason during the civil war. I think religion had a larger influence on government in the 1830s (or so) when Congress and even the president were sending people on missions to convert Muslims and Jews to christianity and establish Israel as a jewish homeland. The Assault on Reason today is not more over the top than Vietnam, McCarthyism, the 1920s when the KKK was powerful even in the North, the Salem witch trials. The Dark Ages? Yowsa. No TV then.

Man is an animal capable of reason who doesn't always use it. We are controlled too much by superstition which the leaders use to control us. It isn't new and it isn't about TV or celebrity worship.

[Pacifist Patriot]

43. Interesting. I did not pick up on that at all.

Condescension didn't even enter my mind. Now I did have a problem with some of the repitition. I felt he said ten times what could easily have been left at 2 or 3.

I agree there have been time periods in which decision-making based on reason and religious fervor have cycled in and out of prominence. But I agree with his conclusion that television exacerbates the problem. I don't think you can look at the superstitious nature of the dark ages and draw unfavorable conclusions about Gore's premise simply because they did not have television 1,000 years ago. They also did not have the printing press, the scientific method and representative government.

[Buzz Clik]

4. " .......... ............ ............ ........."

[Sapere aude]

5. I'm reading Gore's book now and have experimented with conservatives for the last couple of months.

I was really interested in why conservatives I work with and live around think like they do. I've spent many hours talking to them and I now think that talking to them is a waste of time.

Here's why. They do not use rational thought in these discussions. They rely on ideology and the need for an authority figure for their thoughts. A combination of John Dean's and Al Gore's thoughts is what is needed to explain them.

[Pacifist Patriot]

31. I have found George Lakoff to be helpful.

It takes some practice, but approaching it from a values-based discussion opens a surprising number of doors....and minds.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. That sounds unreasonable.

:shrug:

[Pacifist Patriot]

16. Of course it is!

:)

[RestoreGore]

7. Actually, those are the very people we need to talk to

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. Yes I know.

My post was tongue-in-cheek frustration. Now where do we get an emoticon for that? :)

[kineneb]

8. "I refuse to have a battle of wits....

with an unarmed opponent."

[marlakay]

9. Only can talk to open minded ones

and that is very few. Most are solid on their belief systems afraid of having it shaken like it will send them to hell. I am about 2/3 through the book and waiting to see what he says the answer to this mess is...

[libodem]

10. I bought the book, Friday

I'm still finishing a Nora Kelly, novel, and also have the Secret Life of Bees. I might have to read it conjointly. Just so I can talk to you. :)

[Pacifist Patriot]

23. Thanks for the smilie. I was starting to think my post was going to be wildly misunderstood.

I too often forget the emoticons that will help folks with interpretation of my words.

[libodem]

26. .

:hug:

[deadmessengers]

11. Mine should be here tomorrow!

Can't wait!

[libnnc]

12. Screw it. I'm going to Borders this afternoon.

I was trying to wait until I got a head start on my graduate comps reading list for the fall, but I can't wait.

I can do both Gary B. Nash and Gore at the same time.

[Pacifist Patriot]

21. Actually, if you read here with any regularity...

Nothing in Gore's book will come as any surprise. He covers the same territory. He just does it so eloquently...in my personal opinion. There are a few points he gets a tad repetitive about, but hey, that rhetorical tactic seems to have worked fairly well for the right wing ideologues.

[jollyreaper2112]

14. cut me some slack!

I'm still making my way through Fiasco. It's hard since I keep throwing the book across the room in rage at least once a page.

[Pacifist Patriot]

18. LOL! Well I did say it was the GOP supporters I wanted to read the book.

I imagine Gore's tome will come across as preaching to the choir to many who participate here.

[blogslut]

17. They sold out at my book store!

It's not my fault! I have it on orderrrrrr! Sheesh!


Please note: They sold out at our local bookstore. Our local bookstore in the reddest county in North America. Texas, North America. They. Sold. Out. In. The. First. Few. Days.

[Pacifist Patriot]

19. That's cool!

[blogslut]

20. yep

very cool

[deepthought42]

27. I'm currently reading

"god is not Great", "The God Delusion", and I bought my copy of "The Assault on Reason", but I haven't started it yet. I plan to though. I didn't plan on Hitchens's book being so good!

[Pacifist Patriot]

28. I finished "The God Delusion" right before starting "The Assault on Reason."

And before that I read "The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation." I have been considering the Hitchen's book but feared I'd go into a depressive tailspin.

[deepthought42]

32. I know what you mean...but it's still a good read.

IMO. I love that Dawkins dedicated his book to Douglas Adams. ^__^

[Pacifist Patriot]

35. I had no idea that Dawkins and his wife had met because of Adams.

I think the dedication is brilliant.

[deepthought42]

42. Really? I didn't know that...

but then I just started on that book and haven't gotten far yet. The dedication made me smile. :D

[Pacifist Patriot]

44. I learned that when I Googled the actress who narrated the book...

on audio with him. Didn't realize it was his wife and that she had been in Dr. Who. She sounds just like Karen Armstrong.

[SharonRB]

29. I read it over Memorial Day weekend.

Will you talk to me?

[Pacifist Patriot]

30. Are you a Republican who has read it?

If you're a Dem I'll talk to you whether you've read it or not.

;)

Actually, I'm ready to talk to anybody today. My husband is away on business and the children are driving me absolutely batty.

[SharonRB]

34. Heavens, NO -- I'm definitely not a Repub!

I was just yanking your chain -- I knew you'd talk to me even if I hadn't read it. I'm at work and need to get back to work now that I've finished lunch.

Have a great day!

[EstimatedProphet]

33. I would like to read it, but will you talk to me until I can?

[Pacifist Patriot]

36. Depends. Do you want to talk about something frivolous like....

politicizing the justice department or something more meaningful like whether or not Paris Hilton will emerge from jail in need of a touch up at the roots?

[EstimatedProphet]

37. I like to keep it light

In-depth subjects like Paris Hilton's hair color are just too serious for me.

[hang a left]

38. Is sitting on my desk, along with Joe Conason's

"It Can't Happen Here" barely into the first chapter.

I don't know what is wrong with me. I just have a freakin house that is trashed and needs to be cleaned, and a list miles long of crap I need to handle.

I need help.

[hang a left]

39. p.s.

I need a DU Procrastinator Forum where I can share and well... procrastinate.

[marmar]

40. I'm reading it now....

It takes me forever to get thru a book, though. I read in fits and starts, but I have a feeling I'll get thru this one quickly.