OPINION

Book Review – In Lies We Trust

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When I was asked to review Ed Brodow’s newest book titled In Lies We Trust, I didn’t know what to expect. The subtitle, How Politicians and the Media are Deceiving the American Public, explained a bit more.

The book published by Post Hill Press is a 273 page journey that details the dark and incestuous relationship between the media and our public servants. Brodow starts off with a warning.

“This book is not politically correct. Read it at your own risk.”

He keeps that promise. The book is quick witted and strong on information taken straight from the media sources all around us. Some of the chapter titles let you know just how hard Brodow decided to hit the system. He doesn’t shy away from the big topics. Chapter 1 “Gullible” sets the stage for just how bad things really are. The book moves on with, “Hail to the Chief Liars”, “Obamacare: The Nanny State Part 1”, “Welfare Entitlements: The Nanny State Part 2”, “Islamic Terrorism”, “The Global Warming Hoax”, “Campus McCarthyism”, and finally the antidote, “Critical Thinking”.

I personally enjoyed the explanation of Skullduggery…underhanded or unscrupulous behavior, because I think it is a wonderful word that almost no one knows anymore. Skullduggery is a term that sadly goes hand-in-hand with both our media sources and our politicians.

Brodow doesn’t hold any punches and hits both sides of the aisle as he lays bare the lies we’ve all heard and maybe believed. From George Bush’s infamous, Read my lips, no new taxes, to the unforgettable Clinton statement, I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Politicians have been speaking out of both sides of their mouths for years.

What that has done to us as a public is what’s important or do you believe what another Clinton so eloquently stated, “What difference does it make?”.  The barrage of lies has created a nation of people to indifferent to care and an inability to know the truth from fraud has permeated all levels of society.

Brodow quotes Edward R. Morrow, “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” We most certainly are at that stage in our history. Spin and propaganda are no longer something in far off Russia of old selling its governmental lies in Pravda. It’s here and we are surrounded by lies all day, every day. In Lies We Trust, begins to wade through the “avalanche of nonsense” out there and provide the reader with enough truth to either laugh or cry at the state of our current news sources.

The most unsettling truths that Brodow explains are the death of some of our most revered ideas. The demise of Intellectual Freedom and an outright assault on Due Process are amongst the things we are in danger of losing. America is at a crossroads, and this book does a great job of showing how we got here.

Is there any hope? Critical thinking may be a lost art, and it may be our only hope.

“Don’t you believe in flying saucers they ask me? Don’t you believe in telepathy? In ancient astronauts? In the Bermuda triangle? In life after death? No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no. I believe in evidence. I’ll believe anything, no matter how ridiculous, if there is evidence for it.” – Isaac Asimov.

Brodow goes on to explain how critical thinking by the individual is in many ways our only hope. Basically, a person with critical thinking skills can detect BS.  People without it are much more gullible and on the road to becoming a sheep herded by wolves.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in going behind the spin.