Shut Up and Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics, and the UN are Subverting America

Rating:
Summary: You go, girl!
Review: Conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham decided to write a book called "Shut Up and Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics, and the UN Are Subverting America" in an effort to throw a spotlight on the folly of our so called "leaders." Dismissed as a hateful screed by hysterical shills for the Left, the author's book is in reality an intriguing, funny, and forceful call to action for American citizens weary of the idiocy that passes as "liberalism" today. Far from being the friendly, inclusive ideology of the common man, many of today's leftists are narrow minded, intolerant bigots full of self-loathing guilt about the success of America. By the way, I don't pay attention to any particular radio programs endorsing either side of the political spectrum, largely due to my increasing annoyance with both right and left, but I would definitely give Ingraham a listen based solely on this book. Would I condone everything she said lock, stock, and barrel? Definitely not, but it's always fun to see one of these self-righteous leftist zealots take a shot on the chin.

Who are the elites who spend every waking minute making the rest of us miserable? According to Ingraham, they occupy prominent positions in the entertainment industry, politics, academia, the judiciary, and the United Nations. You know a lot of them by sight: Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, Barbra Streisand (grrr), Jane Fonda (double grrr), Ted Kennedy, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Susan Sontag, Cornel West, and a million other dupes espousing blatant "Hate America" ideologies. Ingraham even includes a pictorial "rogue's gallery" in the middle of the book in case you don't know the faces of our anti-American enemy. Many of the individuals listed above work in Hollywood, a place that has had such a corrosive effect on this country that anyone who says and believes otherwise ought to reserve themselves a padded room at the local mental motel. Through certain movies, public appearances, and other media driven avenues, these elites attempt to instill their unhealthy ideas on the rest of American society. According to Ingraham's elites, America is an intolerant society dominated by ignorant bumpkins suffering from a mental disability called religion who want to impose their backward, parochial views on every other part of the globe. The elites urge us to take the United Nations and socialist Europe as the model for what America should become: a powerless cog in a world government presided over by leftist overlords. It seems communism never went away. What a surprise.

The author heaps scorn upon Hollywood, but reserves most of her venom for other areas of elite control, specifically academia, politics, and religion bashers. Loads of books outline in greater detail the horrific conditions of America's left wing indoctrination centers (read: colleges and universities), so Ingraham's summary doesn't add much to the historiography. What it does do in relatively few pages is introduce the novice reader to some of the wackos in higher education. Unfortunately, the insanity found at the university level has now filtered down to the earliest grades in public schools. Subversion of the education system wouldn't be possible if the political organs didn't provide a comfortable home for cranks, and the author writes in detail about the lunacy taking place in the federal government. The judicial branch carries most of the responsibility for the problems we face. Instead of interpreting the law, these guys and gals use the bench to launch convoluted social programs impervious to the will of the electorate. One field of contention with the courts concerns the status of religion in the public sphere. The author outlines elite efforts to make secularism the state religion. While I am definitely not a Christian (or a member of any other faith), I cannot wait for the day when some lawyer steps up in front of a court and successfully argues secularism has become a religion endorsed by the government in direct violation of the Constitution. You know it will happen.

"Shut Up and Sing" isn't a perfect book by any standard. Ingraham, for instance, fails to recognize the true nature of the elites in America. What she describes in this book transcends the political labels of "Republican" and "Democrat." And while the author takes President Bush to task over the mess that is immigration policy in the United States, and criticizes corporate greed and the increasing monopolization of American business, she simply cannot bring herself to elevate the debate above right versus left. Both parties are taking us down the road to ruin because both parties pay homage to the idea of "democracy." Democracy, like communism, sounds great on paper but has been a disaster in practice. A slothful, indifferent public too busy enjoying bread and circuses cannot make democracy work. Turning over your civic duties to others leads in large part to the types of problems described in this book. A return to the republican virtues our founding fathers endorsed in the Constitution is the best hope for the country.

"Shut Up and Sing" is an intriguing book well worth your time. I fear for the future every time I read books like this one, regardless of their political orientation, because the country has degraded so far in such a short time that revolution is probably the only possible remedy now. Since revolutions tend to be rather messy affairs involving the deaths of thousands if not millions of people, and usually take divergent courses never imagined at their inception, I would rather see a more rational solution to our problems.

Rating:
Summary: String 'em up!
Review: I love this one, a particularly pathetic volume in the Rush Limbaugh Presidential Library (or is that Penal Library?)

I have to agree with her though about elite Hollywood liberals hijacking America. I, too, was frightened on 9/11, when Susan Sarandon, George Clooney, and Babs hijacked a plane and flew it into the Pentagon, and even had the nerve to survive and make more films. That's real terror.

Also, elites, or Elites, are genuinely dangerous people because they don't agree with Bush's politics. I couldn't agree more. These people must be stopped, immediately. I call for a Hollywood dominated by Republican elites, instead. I'm sure the quality of the films will improve, too.

Lastly, I can only hope that Laura writes more books, because ever since President Clooney got re-elected, this country has been nosediving. And with Vice President Sarandon's vicious attack on civil liberties, we are really in for it now.

Rating:
Summary: Who cares anyway?
Review: Laura Ingraham (along with Ann Coulter) is one of those entities that can only exist in America. Quite frankly, nobody in Europe - and most other places in the world - gives a damn what the politics of Hollywood celebrities are. Artists such as Barbra Streisand, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon etc. are popular the world over and have been so for many years. Does Ms. Ingraham honestly believe her ranting and raving will have a negative effect on the box office of a movie like, say "Meet the Fockers"? Just because Barbra Streisand happens to be an outspoken democrat who is despised by far-right extremists such as Ms. Ingraham? There's a clear reason why none of this trash (Coulter's books included) has ever been translated into European languages - although Michael Moore's books have (see, I told you! We're all commie-loving, pot-smoking misfits anyway!!). Apart from its limited appeal with the public, this book would fast become the laughing stock of literary circles on the continent - and not just in France! Hence my recommendation: Avoid the temptation of being "dumbed down" by this drivel - go see a good Hollywood movie instead!



Rating:
Summary: Helping the self-appointed elites understand consequences
Review: Laura Ingraham observes the present state of our political debate with insight and humor. She has a very enjoyable (if a bit too noisy) radio show and she includes some material from that show in making her points in this book. So, if you already know you don't like Laura, don't bother with this book. However, if you don't yet know her and have some questions about where our culture is sliding, this book is a great place to start.

Her writing is easy to read and has a good dose of humor along with her analysis and insight. She takes us through several important topics of the day including: who the self-appointed cultural elite are and what they are saying about America and anyone who doesn't fawn over their points of view, the out-of-control courts, the anti-religious movement to enforce a secular faith, the connection between the anti-war movement and our overseas enemies, the left domination of education, our schizophrenic approaches to controlling our borders, and the anti-America work of the United Nations.

The title does not mean that the left shouldn't speak. Nor does it mean that entertainers who do speak should face government sanction. What it does mean is that many of us on the right do enjoy the talents of certain entertainers who, for some reason, think that they actually know something about public policy and are surprised that their fatuous statements provoke a reaction from the public. They seem to expect that their right of free speech protects them from consequences in the marketplace. That notion is as wrong as their incoherent views.

This would be a great book for young people to get a good handle on what is going on in our culture and entertaining for those of us who have a desire to read quotes from the self-appointed that are so far from the main stream that they are both frightening and ridiculous at the same time.

This breezy tour of our off-the-track popular culture tries to inform and entertain more than win at a philosophical discourse and it pulls that off quite well. She exposes their contempt for us folks in flyover country as too dumb and uneducated to understand the complex issues the self-appointed elites want to decide for us rather than let us participate in the public discourse ourselves and through our elected representatives.

Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Public Enemies # 1: Liberal Elites & their Anti-Americanism!
Review:
I'm affronted Ingraham hasn't been recognized as a premier voice and/or writer of the conservative cause. Ingraham's severely astute and observant in her acidic dissection of which visible, public figures-who've exorbitantly disproportionate "say" than the rest of us-are offending the majority of Middle America. It MUST be signified that, unlike fanatical liberals' "books", conservative authors are widely FAIRER in their discriminations regarding their targets; liberal authors loathsomely, blindly aggress ANYONE they sentence as conservative or moderate with barely "conservative" views, as part of their crushingly zealous intolerance towards opposing viewpoints-Ingraham reserves well-deserved criticism at Republicans and right-leaning publications like WSJ for their fearful laxity hawking illegal immigration, including the President. Ingraham's book-a reference guide exposing anti-American traitors in society-is exhaustively organized in such logical and progressive order that her thesis-ostracizing liberal elites as the decay of American values-is cumulatively built.

What Ingraham does competently to provide order is, in the first chapter, establish the pillars of her argument by citing into which infamous groups of elitism the liberal violators fall. As aforementioned, Ingraham's fair-mindedness acknowledges even Republicans dilapidate into the anti-American elite brand; thusly, her book skewers the undermining mentality of elitism. Only liberals are unpromisingly more threatening to fall into the elitist infamy. Ingraham's elites are either media, ivory-tower (academia), cultural, business, or "world-citizen" (UN lackeys like the increasingly wayward Demoncrats)!!!! From observing developments in current events, like liberal media partisanship, 70% of universities' speakers being liberal, the rogue entertainment community's resentment of Bush's successful Iraq policy, and the Demoncrats' subservient begging of UN "authorization", we can justly confirm Ingraham's categorizations are flawless.

Ingraham has coherent flow in shaping her arguments. When she dissects the liberal elites' perilous knack to demean anyone Southern as "white trash", for instance, detective-like, she investigates the history of that elitist condemnation, and blames it on the self-righteous, destitute-hatemonger H.L. Mencken, who popularized the term which was originally invented by slaveholders to degrade poor whites, who were the majority of immigrants. Therefore, Ingraham proceeds to reason that liberals' actions have mountingly been against the favor of the masses-from an obdurate consolidation in only major cities and decrying of the "flyover" states to a resentment of and enrollment in the military-and that's why they've consequently been incrementally segregated in holding elective office.

Ingraham adeptly arraigns the ever-aggravating rogues from entertainment, and, witnessing the unhygienic lows these scum stooped to throughout 2003 against Iraq and majority opinion, unless you were obliviously unheeding, you'd have to concur with the self-evident. Ingraham chronicles how ALL celebrities are IRREVERSIBLY UNQUALIFIED to discuss ANYTHING concerning foreign policy. Ingraham unmasks what was discomfortingly glaring to all, when celebrities revengefully disowned the war effort, to SHIELD Hussein!!!! Factually, Ingraham provides DAMNING quotes by the most infamously erring celebrities, specifically ones where they downplay tyrants like Hussein's enormities, and confess enthrallment for communist slaughterers like Castro!!!! Ingraham smartly summarizes the reasons for celebrities' mental debaucheries as stemming from their sickly, beastly, isolated development from the real world, where they're surrounded only by more "countercultural" types who refuse to answerably "grow up" to get real jobs.

Two of the gloomiest disclosures are the vindictive creeping of secularism into persons' rights to publicly practice religion, and the sinful façade for anti-Americanism and dictatorship-love "human rights" activist groups indulge in!!!! Following the news regularly, there've been excessive, high-profile perpetrations of the state taking away rights of individuals to profess their faith publicly-the most recent case was Alabama, but Ingraham includes many like-minded horror stories ranging from a harmless teacher's aide who was intimidated by her school from wearing a crucifix around her neck in her classroom to a mere six-year-old being tyrannized from bringing his favorite book to read in class because it happened to concern Bible stories. The latter involves the forbidding fact that MANY of the self-righteously hypocritical "groups" aggravatingly peddling "anti-war" messages actually DON'T care about war's victims, NOR love their native, American country!!!! By exposing "activist" groups REFUSED to EVER construct their shabby placards with slogans of concern for civilians, Ingraham details those groups were SOLELY preoccupied with anti-Bush, anti-American animosity-which was independently apparent to ANY observer watching those anarchy sideshows concealed as "demonstrations". More perilously, those said groups also, on the surface, front what really are abased socialist, communist organizations that represent a willfulness to murder America, and actually control the management of those "activists".

Two other notorieties where liberal elites contravene pertain to their sinful lust for illegal immigration and a crushing tyranny for their exclusive views in colleges. As Ingraham documents, illegal immigrants are decaying America from the inside out, stealthily, because AMERICANS and LEGAL IMMIGRANTS are PERSECUTED TO PAY for the unrightfully MANY free services illegals plunder!!!! Every last pettiness from FREE healthcare at hospitals to FREE services to have "schooling" and official information rendered in their NATIVE language to JOBS being surreptitiously STOLEN by abusively low-cost-working illegals COSTS AMERICANS and LEGAL IMMIGRANTS!!!! Now colleges, they're grisly havens for liberal elites who've taken over academia because their "professional class"-parents got comfortable jobs after WW2, and were able to send their later-elitist-kids to good schools where they'd be trained in some of the most influential jobs, like professors. The predicament was the timing, as these later-elitist kids were degraded by 60s culture, which misfortunately shaped their adult worldview. Now in academia, these 60s-rejects indoctrinate unsuspecting students with their anti-American, irredeemably "internationalist" partialities over an indiscriminate cross-section of courses, although the majority of their classes DON'T CONCERN politics!!!!

Ingraham's a sharp sense of humor, and throughout her book lie hilariously witty quips targeting liberal offenders, usually after an expose scrutinizing an elite's breach against values Americans hold dear. Some reviewers have chided Ingraham for not "validating" her claims with extensive notes. Though ONLY technically fact, readers shouldn't be that hampered to only rely on an inclusion of extensive sources, to verify the book's veracity. Simple Google searches WILL produce independent references to most, if not all, of Ingraham's discussions.





Rating:
Summary: No Talent!
Review: Laura,

I recently discovered your book in a trash bin (wrapped inside a brown paper bag, which was actually what perked my curiosity to look inside), outside my local Ben Franklin craft store, where I was accompanying my young lady friend who was making a photo album for my wife's birthday. Always one interested in reading new thoughts and ideas, I couldn't help but pick it up. I wish I hadn't. My recommendation: Shut Up and Stop Writing: Now, for Goodness Sakes, Go Eat Something!

Rating:
Summary: Sour Grapes: Everyone more famous than Laura is an "Elitist"
Review: Many conservative pundits have been pushing this notion that Hollywood liberals are out of touch with America. If you spent enough time listening to conservative talk radio, you'd think Susan Sarandon was behind the 9/11 attacks! But if Michael Moore and Sarandon are such ivory-tower elitists that nobody in America can relate with them, where's the public backlash? You would think, if everything Ingraham says is true, that people all across America would be boycotting films made my these smug celebrities. On the contrary, Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was a tremendous box-office success, Al Franken's books have all shot to the top of the bestsellers list, and Meet The Fockers starring the heathen Streisand is a huge hit.

I'm believe in the concept of the Marketplace of Ideas and I do believe that people vote with their dollars. I'm sure that Ingraham would agree with me there! So it follows that, since she doesn't move as much product as Moore, she doesn't actually speak for "the people" any more than he does. So why does she feel such resentment towards Moore and other "left coast" people? Partly because she flat-out disagrees with them, sure. But do I detect a note of jealousy? Out of all the conservative talk radio bomb-throwers, Ingraham is probably the least recognizeable. Make of it what you will!

Rating:
Summary: Another book of right wing biased opinions
Review: The author of this book is making absolute stereotypes of who the liberals are in this country without looking into who they actually represent. I have a suggestion for a left counter attack book which may just as well be biased:
Shut Up and Pray: How Corporate Elites, Christian Fundamentalists and Wall Street are Subverting America.

Rating:
Summary: A Lot Like Coulter - but less logic (if possible)
Review: Did Laura Ingram read Ann Coulter's books and decide to use the same basic recipe? Maybe she thought that if she became mean and insulting to large groups of people she too could become filthy rich. I'm just glad I didn't invest my own money on this book (I belong to a book club and we trade.)
In terms of the subject of this book I think that Republicans are envious that Progressives have more of a voice in Hollywood than they do. However, Republicans haven't hessitated to use their Hollywood voices when they can. Charlton Heston, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan, Ben Stein, Ricky Schroeder, Steve Young, and Bo Derek are just a few examples of Republican Hollywood Stars who have used their voices to advance Repulican causes.
With that said I keep myself in check by opening myself up to the ideas of those who oppose my political beliefs. I love a well thought out arguement and have often had to rethink some of my beliefs when faced with good counterpoints. I was hoping that this book might be one of those strong arguements, but have to say that I was very disappointed. There were very few facts to back up this woman's arguements. I beieve that I could find more intelligent arguements from a Jr. High School debate team. In addition to the lack of substance in this book the same basic concepts were repeated over and over and over again. This entire book could have been condensed into about 8-10 pages without missing anything. The title and price of this book really had me expecting more.


Rating:
Summary: Thats so funny.(sarcasm)
Review: You know why thats funny?Its because people like her and Sean Hannity,believe that if you don't support this president and you don't support the war than your a traitor,which I find quite funny.And I will tell you why,because Reagan armed Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons in the the Iran/Iraq war in 1980.Not only did he arm him with weapons he supported him!
And that is a traitor.