Book Review: Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue In the Land of the Free

Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free, is a rant conceived by Charles P. Pierce against the declining intelligence of America and its tendency to veer towards ignorance over experience. At the very least, it is a rant against the Republican right of United States politics.

This book is what you would get if you had to write down what a drunken Holden Caulfield and Bill O' Reilly had to say about American truth. It is a rant on the existence of fact smeared by the American tendency to ignore empirical truth and sell ideas, no matter how crazy and unbelievable.

That said, Pierce lays out the three main points of his theory:

1) Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units.

2) Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it.

3) Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough.

These three mantras pervade the book in a serious of examples from modern history, jumping from the crazy rantings of Ignatius Donnelly, the conspiracy of Templars, Terri Shiavo, and finally, the ineptitude surrounding 9/11 and its subsequent war.

All these examples are present to showcase the American twisting of truth and lies to destroy the facts along with any sensibilities that came with them. Most of the blame falls on the Republicans and their ineptitude surrounding many situations.

This is all presented in a series of nonlinear summaries of events introduced and ended by descriptive narratives to pull sympathy for Pierce's point of view. It jumps chapter to chapter with a different approach, sometimes going back to an original allegory of Madison and his vision of future America.

Some will find this format jarring, but Pierce's style forces you to focus on his points both independently and joined in the context of Idiot America. His endless capacity for references and wry cynicism also serves to bring a smile to your face, provided you know what he's talking about.

Perhaps I'm too young to understand the political motivations behind this book, but it seems to me that this rant does not serve its purpose well. The book jabs conservative rights with insult, as if Pierce is on some personal vendetta rather than just criticizing what he doesn't like.

Some people will undoubtedly find this book altogether unreadable as a whole, but I have to stress that any Republican with enough self esteem can put the book down and walk away as if this piece of literature were a insane hobo on steroids. It has a penchant for merciless opinion that forces the reader to challenge everything they've ever seen on the news or read in a newspaper. The pessimistic truth spells out that our search for actual truth is a waste of time.

That being said, I can't help but revel in the irony set by Pierce's three points. With his book being a national bestseller, wouldn't that make his theory irrefutable, even if it was utter bullshit? After wrapping my head around this, I couldn't stop smiling for a whole hour.

The fact of the matter is, the real "truth" is dependent of existentialist perspective. Pierce gives us his perspective and argues that the American standard for truth is deluded with misinformation that comes with popularity. Fine, we can pack that up in a box and put it in the theory storage warehouse.

But when you try to answer the question of what is true and what is not, you delve into a philosophical cluster bomb that undoubtedly differs from person to person. If you follow Pierce's pessimistic view to heart, you begin to realize that nothing you've been taught is true. You can only question the truth behind the truth, and so on. It becomes an infinite circle of existential crises.

If you decide to read this book, take it for face value. The very least it can give you is some perspective on American politics and media and their respective shortcomings. If it isn't your cup of tea twenty pages in, no one's forcing you to keep reading.