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Title: The Assault on Reason
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Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
List Price: $16.00
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| The Assault on Reason by Penguin (Non-Classics) Fair analysis but some flaws in the content | | Although a bit dry, I think Mr. Gore's main argument that reason has been replaced with flash images on TV is indeed relevant to today's society. He argues that there was a time when reading materials especially during the Enlightenment period was cherished and respected. Now, the value of reason is taken for granted, ignored, loathed, or manipulated through the media networks. I buy this part of his argument. However, there are some flaws in the book. I felt Mr. Gore was not entirely correct with his interpretation of certain historical events, i.e., slavery and the Civil War- it was fought to preserve the union not about slavery. Secondly, there is no confirmation that hurricanes have become stronger due to global warming. Evidence from universities in Florida suggest otherwise. Due to the ambiguity, Mr. Gore should not state it as fact. Thirdly, while I agree that special interests have taken over in Washington, I am perplexed as to why Mr. Gore did not mention the special interests behind the Iraq War other than oil. I give him credit for mentioning this since they are "partly" one of the reasons we are in this failed fiasco. However, other interests contributed to this such as military industrial complex interests, other business interests, and AIPAC. Unfortunately, just mentioning the latter can get one into trouble and labeled as anti-Semitic due to its power and influence across the political spectrum and mainstream media. So in one sense, I can see why Gore would only focus on the oil interests in his book. It is simply not popular to mention AIPAC. Nevertheless, for a person of his caliber, prestige, and intelligence, an excellent book would focus on all the above aspects even if it popular or not- because reason amounts to truth and vice versa. And isn't this his argument anyway? Regardless of the book's shortfalls, he makes an ok argument and his criticism of the Bush administration is compelling and warranted. Recommended. However, supplemental reading is necessary that pertains to oil, AIPAC, CIA, and the influence of other special interests in Washington. | | The Assault on Reason by Penguin (Non-Classics) Way Better Than I Expected | Al Gore, the man elected President in 2000, has written a more satisfactory non-campaign book than any of the three current candidates to replace the usurper Bush - more forthright than Clinton's, deeper than Obama's, and a hundred times less self-serving than McCain's. What a president he might have made after all! though I wasn't an enthusiastic supporter of his in 2000! I snatched up this book to read on a long airplane flight, thinking that if I fell asleep it wouldn't be a great loss. I intended to leave it on the plane. But it's a solid piece of work - not a literary triumph, not witty or stylish, a tad repetitive, but powerfully insightful into the mess that American public life has become.
It's a sermon, this book of Gore's, a "Jeremiad", the kind of sermon preached in times of cultural crisis. That America is in crisis seems self-evident, with some huge percentage of polled citizens declaring that "we" are going in the wrong direction. Gore's central observation is that political discourse, in the broadest sense, has degenerated since 1980, and that the degeneration may well become more drastic. Fear-mongering and deception have replaced the reasoned give-and-take of American tradition. "The surprising recent dominance of American politics by right-wing politicians," he writes, "whose core values are usually wildly at odds with the opinions of the majority of Americans is one that resulted from a careful building of a coalition of interest groups that have little in common with one another.... This coalition of supporters includes both right-wing religious extremists and exceptionally greedy economic special interests..." and, as he explains in careful detail, extreme ideologues who reject the whole concept of the commons, of "public interest" in favor of unshackled trickle-down capitalism tinged with imperialism. That, friends, is undeniably so.
The "Assault on Reason" has been made possible, according to Gore, by the slow and steady elimination of the vigorous two-way public forum based on access to information, which characterized American democracy in the past. That forum was based on reading, on the participation of many people in the relatively cheap and open-to-all print medium that was the original stimulus of the rise of democratic institutions and their revolutionary overthrow of aristocratic government. As radio and then TV have replaced reading, Gore says, access to information has been re-consolidated in the hands of an oligarchy of wealth, and the flow of debate has become one-way, nothing but "marketing" of ideas, AKA propaganda. In his first chapter, Gore posits that reading, in itself, helps to shape in the human mind the faculty of "reason", which is the essential ingredient of popular sovereignty. Gore is no scientist, although he is fond of scientific metaphors and of seeking scientific explanations for political phenomena. That fondness has opened him to attacks from his deniers, but I have to say that Gore's science is stronger than I expected. I've recently spent some time with my good friend Dr. Joshua Sanes, the head of the Institute for the Study of the Brain at Harvard University. Josh declares that Gore's simple explications of mental processes and development are essentially sound and up-to-date. Anyone who wishes to quibble might be wise to compare Gore's notions with the essay "Toward Basic Principles for Emotional Processing" by Jean-Marc Fellous and Joseph Ledoux, reprinted in the book Who Needs Emotions.
Gore also casts his net of argument to include apt correlations with the ideas of thinkers of the past, from Aristotle to Adam Smith and beyond. In several ways, Gore is the mirror image of the "screaming heads" who serve as the storm troopers of the right - Coulter, Hannity, O'Reilly inter alia - whose broadsides are never historically contexted. Gore is moderate, dispassionate even when most impassioned, and careful to offer analysis rather than mere slogans, war cries and insults. It's easy to see why the most vocal ideologues of the right choose him as their bete noir. It must be infuriating to see him succeed in making sense to a lot of people.
It's not just the devolution of reading and reasoning habits that is responsible for the current squalor of public discourse, however. There are culprits, the assailants in this assault on reason, and the chief culprit is George W Bush. Gore writes: "I know President Bush is plenty smart, and I have no doubt that his religious belief is both genuine and an important motivation.... I'm convinced, however, that most of the president's frequent departures from fact-based analysis have much more to do with his right-wing political and economic ideology than with the Bible... Bush uses a religious blind faith to hide what is actually an extremist political philosophy with a disdain for social justice..." Much of Gore's book focuses on specific indictments of the Bush administration for deception, secrecy, disregard for law, tyrannous invasion of individual rights and disregard for the Constitution, and outright folly in the struggle against terror, the management of the economy, and the oversight of the environment. Gore never uses the word `impeachment' but it's clear that he regards Bush as guilty of impeachably grave high crimes and misdemeanors. So does this reviewer.
Lincoln said that a "house divided against itself" could not stand. Teddy Roosevelt once railed against the "malefactors of great wealth." Dwight Eisenhower warned us of the "military-industrial complex." Al Gore is not a maker of memorable phrases of their order, but his book is at least as powerful a warning to the American public as theirs. Things have to be fixed, friends, and the fixing begins with repudiating Bush and Bush's version of the Republican party.
| | The Assault on Reason by Penguin (Non-Classics) Five Enemies of Reason... | Al Gore, in his new book, lists the "five enemies of reason" -- fear, superstition, ideology, deception and intolerance. And then he writes an entire book that uses fear, ideoloy, deception, and intolerance to make his "reasoned"(how could it not be, since he listed the five impediments of reason) opinion about reason, politics, change, etc.
This guy is the biggest charlatan and snake-oil salesman in the last 200 hundred years. You go, Al! Even after the Oscar, and even after the Nobel Peace Prize, Al is still upset that he didn't win the Presidency in 2000; and all he had to do was win his home state of Tennessee...tend to your own backyard, Mr. Gore. And stop telling us how to tend to ours. | | The Assault on Reason by Penguin (Non-Classics) Excellent and insightful | | After reading this book and coming to realize what this country has gone through since the fiasco that resulted in Bush leading this country instead of Gore, I was really saddened. Before this read, I didn't know how insightful and deep Mr. Gore is and truly wish he was on the ballot this go round because someone of his stature is truly what we need at this point in our country's history. The book is fantastic. It is demonstrates how a tyrannical and corrupt administration has been allowed to sink our democracy to the lowest levels in history aided by an unthinking, unreasoning populace. Kudos! A wake up call for all. | | The Assault on Reason by Penguin (Non-Classics) An intelligent book by a polarizing figure. | | I'll keep this review short since many people have reviewed this book. It seems as though Americans are very polarized on the image of Al Gore. You either really respect him for what he stands for, or you hold him in disregard and consider him to be disingenuous. Most people in the latter group probably would dismiss this book out of hand. For the rest, this is an intelligent book that covers not only some dangers facing our society, but an optimistic appraisal of the opportunities we possess to change course for the better. Here and there, the book may be open to criticism of overreaching or generalization, but for the most part it is an honorable effort by man who should receive more respect than he often does. | | The Assault on Reason by Penguin (Non-Classics) Product Description | A #1 New York Times bestseller: A visionary analysis of the degradation of our public sphere and its consequences for our democracy
Nobel Peace Prize winner, bestselling author, activist, and political icon, Al Gore has become one of the most respected and influential public intellectuals in America today. The Assault on Reason takes an unprecedented look at how faith in the power of reason—the idea that citizens can govern themselves through rational debate—is now under assault. The marketplace of ideas, once open to everyone through the printed word, has been corrupted by the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith. By leading us to an understanding of what we can do to restore the rule of reason, Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking. | | The Assault on Reason by Penguin (Non-Classics) Amazon.com | | The first question many people ask when hearing of a new book from Al Gore is, "Is it about the environment?" The answer is yes, but it's not (or, rather, not only) the kind of environment he wrote about in Earth in the Balance and of course painted such a vivid picture of in his Oscar-winning documentary (and companion book), An Inconvenient Truth. It's the political environment he's concerned about in The Assault on Reason: the way we debate and decide on the critical issues of the day. In an account that balances theoretical discussion of the foundations of democracy with a lacerating critique of the Bush administration, Gore argues that the marketplace of reasoned debate our country was founded on is being endangered by a variety of allied forces: the use of fear and the misuse of faith, the distractions of our entertainment culture, and the concentrations of power in the national media and the executive branch. In his essay and answers to our questions below, he introduces the crisis he sees, as well as the opportunity for its solution he envisions in the open forums of the Internet. A Message from Al Gore to Amazon.com Readers  I've dedicated my book, The Assault on Reason, to my father, Senator Albert Gore Sr., the bravest politician I've ever known. In the 1970 mid-term elections, President Richard Nixon relied on a campaign of fear to consolidate his power. I was in the military at the time, on my way to Vietnam as an army journalist, and I watched as my father was accused of being unpatriotic because he was steadfast in his opposition to the War--and as he was labeled an atheist because he dared to oppose a constitutional amendment to foster government-sponsored prayer in the public schools. The 1970 campaign is now regarded by political historians as a watershed, marking a sharp decline in the tone of our national discourse--a decline that has only worsened in recent years as fear has become a more powerful political tool than trust, public consumption of entertainment has dramatically surpassed that of serious news, and blind faith has proven more potent than truth.
We are at a pivotal moment in American democracy. The persistent and sustained reliance on falsehoods as the basis of policy, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, has reached levels that were previously unimaginable. It's too easy and too partisan to simply place the blame on the policies of President George W. Bush. We are all responsible for the decisions our country makes. Reasoned, focused discourse is vital to our democracy to ensure a well-informed citizenry. But this is difficult in an environment in which we are experiencing a new pattern of serial obsessions that periodically take over the airwaves for weeks at a time--from the O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson trials to Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith. Never has it been more vital for us to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from the climate crisis to the war in Iraq to the deficits and health and social welfare. Today, reason is under assault by forces using sophisticated techniques such as propaganda, psychology, and electronic mass media. Yet, democracy's advocates are beginning to use their own sophisticated techniques: the Internet, online organizing, blogs, and wikis. Although the challenges we face are great, I am more confident than ever before that democracy will prevail and that the American people are rising to the challenge of reinvigorating self-government. It is my great hope that those who read my book will choose to become part of a new movement to rekindle the true spirit of America. Questions for Al Gore Amazon.com:Of all I've read and seen on climate change, I don't think anything has had quite the impact on me that those vivid maps of shrinking coastlines did in An Inconvenient Truth. You've spent years trying to communicate the threat of climate change and you've learned how to use compelling images to tell that story, but in this book you're very wary of the power of visual images to overwhelm reason with fear. How do you spur people to action in a crisis like this without using fear? Gore: I often open the slideshow by talking about the "climate crisis." The English meaning of the word "crisis" conveys alarm, but the Chinese and Japanese expressions use two characters together: the first means danger, but the second means opportunity. The animations do help to convey some of that sense of danger--but the opportunities are enormous. We are beginning to see companies taking advantage of the new markets that are emerging as they innovate and put to market the technologies that we need to solve this crisis. Some have become ubiquitous, like the hybrid electric engine and compact fluorescent light bulb. There are thousands of opportunities like this all around us if governments will show the type of bold leadership that we need--and work with industry to exploit these opportunities. Amazon.com: You describe two problems with television culture: it's a top-down system in which, as you say, "Individuals receive, but they cannot send," and its physiological vividness allows it to bypass our reason. The user-created communities that seem so promising on the Internet would seem to solve the first problem, but what about the second? Gore: There are a number of barriers for individuals who want to communicate over TV. The major networks won't give average Americans a voice, and it is virtually impossible to start a channel. One solution, that I have worked on with my partner, Joel Hyatt, is the creation of Current TV, where viewers can submit content over the Internet to air on the channel. With regards to the Internet, anyone with access to a computer and broadband can create a website or blog and post content. They can send information into the public forum. Of course, we need to continue to work to bridge the digital divide, to ensure that we expand the access of people to the Internet, but the threshold for entry is much lower than that of television. Amazon.com: You're the chairman of Current TV, the interactive cable channel aimed at young people. Can you talk about the challenges of constructing a platform where the kind of substantive dialogue you are looking for can take place? Gore: One of the things I talk about in the book is infotainment--the "well-amused" audience that is bombarded with the latest programming about O.J. Simpson, or JonBenet Ramsey, or Anna Nicole Smith. What we are trying to do, in part, is to provide a public forum for viewers to submit content about issues of concern to them. And they have, by the thousands, on issues from the war in Iraq to the environment to education and others. I am continually amazed by both the quality of the submissions and the breadth and depth of the subject matter. Amazon.com: You have a chapter on the importance of checks and balances in government (in a sense, that's what the whole book is about), and we're seeing the effect that active oversight from Congress is having right now. For most of your eight years in office, you and Bill Clinton had to work with a Republican Congress. I'm sure that at times (say, 1998) that had its frustrations, but do you think it was valuable to have that balance, or did it prevent you from doing what you came into office to do? Gore: Checks and balances are vital to the functioning of our system of government. Of course it can have its frustrations, but the Founders intended that we have a system whereby no one branch has too much control over the others. Ultimately, it is up to voters to decide the control of Congress and the White House and then for elected officials to work to serve the public interest and to try to implement policies that serve the country. These are core values that are at the heart of who we are as a nation. Amazon.com: I wanted to ask about the Office of the Vice President. I think it's safe to say that the last two vice presidents, you and Dick Cheney, have been the most powerful and influential in our history. Why do you think that is? Gore: I think the answer is very different in the two administrations, but in a world that is truly globalized, with a broader information ecology, with challenges ranging from a more complex system of international issues ranging from the climate crisis to asymmetric attacks, it is not a surprise that a President might choose to draw upon more advice from the office of the vice president than in the past. This is a trend that I would expect to continue under future presidents, as the range of the demands on the presidency will not diminish over time. |
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