Friday, January 2, 2009

Why we suck

I've never had much interest in Denis Leary. He has always seemed loud and obnoxious, so I never paid him much attention. But I saw him on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart recently, promoting his new book Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid, and it sounded like it might be good for a few laughs. The book is quite funny. Leary takes his turn at poking fun of everything that is wrong with our society, including celebrities, reality TV, Dr. Phil, the Catholic Church, children, and the way parents are raising kids today. He warns in the preface that this book will offend everyone in some way. And he's right. Even I felt my hackles rising when he writes that women should be at home with the kids instead of focused on a career. But I also agree with much of what he says-he just says it in a much funnier manner than I ever could. My favorite chapters included Your Kids Are Not Cute, Self-Esteem This and Grande Vente Mocha Oprah Chai. It's definitely a funny read, but like he says, if you don't have a sense of humor and you can't laugh at yourself, then you are not going to like this book.

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