****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Another Pitt book which is articulate & straight up.I am as left-wing as they come and loathe Bush with every fiber of my being, yet I could not get into this book. I admit it: I stopped after 60 pages. The tone, I'm afraid, is quite naive and it sounds like the prose of an earnest 17 year old hoping to, like, change the world, man. I have heard these things hundreds of times before, yet the author would have us think that this is groundbreaking. But I also rolled my eyes when he started talking about spirituality and being a "true" Christian. The only hope the left has is to throw out religion, not embrace it. I don't need Lieberman-like candidates when there is already the GOP. In all, I was bored with this book. It lacks the crucial element of a sense of humor, which makes it a bit embarrassing at times. There are better books out there for liberals; seek them out.Even for those readers well versed in Chomsky, Herman, and the range of other leftists writing today there will still be new things for you in this book.Essentially, Pitt explains in very certain terms how the Bush administration has recast 9/11 into an event that frames, and limits, the range of policy debate now. Additionally he details how several Bush initiatives are fundamentally repugnant to our Constitution and how the media all too willingly assists in the selling of the administration's message.He concludes with an well thought out, if ever so slightly "ranty", section on how those who love the ideals of this country - those who no longer wish to see them betrayed - can begin to reclaim the institutions that are rightfully ours.Overall, a nice rehashing of the issues that plauge many of us coupled with insight material and commentary on the post 9/11 failings of the administration. Easy to read in an afternoon.I don't get it. The title is "The Greatest Sedition Is Silence : Four Years in America." I know that Pitt is pro-America/anti-Bush and that he is writing to say that "We the people" have hurt our country by being silent to the horrors of the Bush administration.Here's where I get confused. "Sedition" means incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.Therefore, Pitt is saying that the Greatest (best) way to rise up against Bush is Silence. huh? The best way to counter Bush is to say nothing?While this kind of leftist revisionist history will play well with the mouth breathing ritalin chewing types at DemocratUnderground that rah rah everything Pitt does. Like his Rovian prediciton of 24 business hours this book will sink just as quickly back into embarassing obscurity. Pitt is only at his best when he's on the barstool at his favorite imaginary bar in Boston talking of things that never happened and wishing for things that will never be.If I have this (I imagine I do...) - I can't find it.From the reviews here you can tell he's good at what he does, as the one-star reviews are obviously from dittohead drones who don't wipe themselves until their Lord and Savior Limbaugh tells them to.Will Pitt is the right's worst nightmare: someone who tells the truth. You wouldn't think that's much to fear, but in a world where 70% of people believe Iraq was involved in 9/11, people who tell the truth are a rare find indeed.Will Pitt's views on the CEO scandals, how the media changed after 9/11, and on how that 2000 election we're always told to "get over" may not have been on the up-and-up after all (Who's father appointed those SCOTUS justices? Not Gore's.) are a must read for anyone who's interested in more than if Ben and J-Lo are back together again.Its a shame that the world needs people like Will Pitt to state the obvious truths - like how Bush's economic plan is ruining the country while giving his richest friends a huge bonus- , its even more of a shame that places like Fox News has made it a needed service in these times.If you're looking for a honest and unflinching view on the state of the world and how we got to the point we're at, Will Pitt is the author for you. If you prefer your books to be full of jingoistic flag-waving, I'm sure Hannity has a new screed in the works.
