Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium [Hardcover]

As a rural American reading, "Why We Hate Us," I found myself asking time and again: Who are these people that Mr. Meyer is presenting? These aren't the people in my world, in my community. I argued point after point with him in my inner-dialogue. But as I continued to read, and follow his line of reasoning, which is cogent and tightly woven, I had to cede one point after another. I am sorry to say that in the end I had to conclude that the "They" he is writing about is "Us."

Mr. Meyer examines our culture from his point of view as a Washington insider. What surprised me was how closely it related to my rural point of view. He moves beyond the Beltway. I think anyone who looks around and is puzzled or shocked or worried by what is to be seen in our society will appreciate Mr. Meyer's thoughts. This is not a rant, it an examination. It is also bleak. Having said that, it is also a humorous and personal revelation of his own history. As much as anything it is a story of family and community. The significance of this book lies within the last chapter. Unlike so many books that tear-down, Mr. Meyer leaves us with something very surprising: hope. He shows us a way out. His parting thoughts are, to put it simply, uplifting. Not something I would have expected when I began the book. His next book might well be titled, "Why We Hate Us Less", if readers incorporate at least a portion of his intent into their lives.

Have you been wondering "what is wrong?" with our society, our local communities, our own homes? If you have struggled with the harsh reality of being iritated, if not infuriated, on a daily basis with items ranging from an obscene jingle to the war in Iraq, you need, nay you must, read Mr. Meyer's book. It is engaging, witty, well-researched and extremely well-written. But more importantly, it may provide answers to those questions that continue to nag us about the source of our collective dysfunction; and hopefully, also offer suggestions about how we can correct our deviant course, as a nation and as individuals.

Writing with thoughtful intelligence and keen insight, Dick Meyer, author of Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium, is sincerely haunted by several questions regarding our country's current malaise: Why are so many of us lonely? Why are so many of us depressed and angry? Why are so many of us defensive and paranoid? Why are so many of us distrustful of everyone? Why are we so willing to accept phoniness and ineptness from others, including our government? Why have so many of us surrendered to a condition of learned helplessness and apathy in which not only do we not know what questions we should be asking to solve our depression, we don't even have anyone to confide in should we know the questions we should be asking.

To answer these questions about our country's collective low-self-esteem and paralyzing depression, Meyer tells us a story about ourselves. The story is about a country that has lost common, shared values and virtues, a country that having lost community has replaced communal bonds with fierce tribes and clans that aggrandize themselves while demonizing their "opponents."

The beginning of this story is for Meyer, "Phase One," the Aquarian Promise of Free Love during the 1960s in which there were no boundaries to the freedom, the ego, the sense of self. This Unlimited freedom without a moral roadmap resulted in hedonism, egotism, and ultimately narcissism.

Instead of maturing into responsible adults who give and take from a healthy community and family, we become a bunch of whining, materialistic egotists, our inflated expectations of "selfhood" inevitably being dashed and resulting in greater and greater discontent, bitterness, and resentment.

The 1960s was the beginning of "The Great Me Project," which resulted in little islands competing against each other rather than a healthy community, which could provide the only source of our sanity--"social capital"--the sense of belonging, intimacy, and authenticity that healthy communities provide.

Absent this belonging, intimacy, and authenticity, we fear we are battling against forces by ourselves and we must also be on guard, living defensively against predators, market scams, phony politicians, and the slew of B.S. that has become so ubiquitous.

To compound our disaffected, isolated selves, our brains have become overwhelmed in the face of "Phase Two," the Technology Revolution that dizzies us with so many contraptions and messages that we have lost our grounding, our core, our focus. We don't know if we're coming or going and we feel we're about to explode.

His call for community, less materialism, and more courageous standards for moral absolutes might be too late, but at least he is still kicking and fighting.

While much of the material was familiar to me from other books, including the terse, more focused Shows About Nothing: Nihilism in Popular Culture from The Exorcist to Seinfeld by Thomas S. Hibbs and while he tries to cover too much ground as Meyer issues a diatribe about a "big menu of creepy irritations," Meyer succeeds at telling us a cohesive narrative about our popular culture to show us the trajectory leading to our current condition of learned helplessness, loneliness, partisan humbug, and mistrust.