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Title: Who's Looking Out for You? by BILL O'REILLY ISBN: 0-7679-1379-5 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.83 (518 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: O'Reilly sums up what's wrong with society.
Comment: I'll be the first one to admit I'm not a big fan of O'Reilly. Now that we got that out? I got the book from a friend of mine, and tried reading it with an open mind.
'Who's looking out for you' is Bill O'Reilly's attempt at a self-improvement book for you, offering hints ant tips so that you will be more aware of what to look out for. Both for yourself, and for the general population as a whole.
Discussing such matters as 1-parent families, selfish people who are just out there to screw you over whenever they can, the government not really caring about you (unless of course, it's election time), stars who don't exactly make an example out of themselves, religion, the war in Iraq, the legal system (basically the people WITHIN the legal system), and social and ethnic minorities, the reader is taken on a trip, with many insights into O'Reilly's personal life. The last two chapters are built around advice how you can protect yourself from making mistakes that will hurt you. Most of the chapters rely heavily on his personal experience.
Which is exactly one of my complaints about the book. While O'Reilly DOES make some valid points, his offered solutions are heavily based on what he believes is right. There's a whole lot of anecdotes from O'Reilly's own experience, but I can't help but get a nasty aftertaste in my mouth, making it seem as if he feels the constant need to pat himself and his show on the back for what he, the humble journalist, managed to pull off.
Another thing that irked me was the fact that whenever possible, O'Reilly (ab)uses his insights in what's wrong with the world to take a jab at his favourite targets. Jesse Jackson, George Clooney, Bill Moyers, and of course the Clintons. (At one point O'Reilly states the Clinton presidency chapter is closed. He goes on with a good 9 pages or so of bashing Bill Clinton. Hillary gets another few pages devoted to herself). Presidents Bush (both senior and junior) also get a slap on the wrist, but it's nowhere near the lashing reserved for the Clintons.
Finally, I do believe that someone like O'Reilly doesn't have to lower himself to namecalling. Often, people who disagree with will be labbeled 'pinheads', 'liars', and what not. This, in my opinion, takes away some credibility.
Most of the chapters are pretty straight-forward. The conclusions O'Reilly draws would like conclusions most people would agree with. While I'll choose to exercise my right to disagree with him on the religious and 'war in Iraq' chapter, one thing I did find lacking in the book was a chapter devoted to sources being quoted.
To sum things up? Yes. O'Reilly offers some advice that most people will benefit from. He offers an insight on social issues. But if you'd scrape all the personal backpatting and the attacks at the people he's known to dislike, I can't help but feel as if there would be very little left of the book.
Rating: 4
Summary: More Philosophy Than Poltics
Comment: Selfishness has long been the target of those who urge that human beings can better themselves only by engaging in its opposite--altruism. In WHO'S LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?, Bill O'Reilly suggests that selfishness does indeed have a worthwhile function in human relations. For O'Reilly selfishness is not of the me-first-and-the-hell-with-you variety. For him, his version includes eliminating those toxic individuals whose only purpose is to drag you down to their own miserable level. Once human beings are free to live their lives without the negativity of naysayers, then they are free to establish relations with those like minded others who realize that you cannot advance far in this or any other society without someone of note in your corner. What emerges, then, is a text that is more self-help than political. True, much of this book reveals the conservative origins of a political commentator who nightly preaches his philosophy of republicanism from his cable television show THE O'REILLY FACTOR. Yet, the examples that are taken from the world of politics are used to buttress his thesis that we can trust only those others who are truly looking out for our own best interests. His litany of those who make their fame and fortune off the misery of most of us is distressingly long: the monolithic federal government, the INS, Hillary Clinton, most Democrats, the Hollywood elite core of actors, the majority of journalists, the ACLU, and anyone who prides himself on his political correctness. His solution? One must make peace with one's own inner core of values. O'Reilly finishes his book with a series of steps that sound easy enough to say but are probably quite difficult to carry out. He urges us to take a clear look at our respective virtues and vices. We should learn to forgive us our trespasses and take positive action to cultivate relationships with those who are no more perfect than we are but we are sure that they are far more likely to help us out of a tight spot than to give us a shovel to more deeply dig ourselves into a bottomless pit. Ultimately, O'Reilly notes that if we are worthy of benign attention from potential help-givers, then we must first learn to have the strength to go life alone if needed. Later, as we show tolerance towards others who may or may not wish to help us, then we will be sure attract the helpful gaze of others who will follow a similar path toward establishing a support system of which we will be a willing part. WHO'S LOOKING OUT FOR YOU? is a welcome breath of fresh air that not only shows the political differences between liberals and conservatives but also points out that guided selfishness is a virtue that we would do well to emulate.
Rating: 1
Summary: disgusting, revolting, offensive, and plain vile
Comment: Total FILTH from a self-possessed right-winger with no care for truth, honesty, and humanity. Just get as obnoxious as you can and watch your ratings skyrocket. Bill O'Reilly is all bark and no bite. Avoid and get any book by Al Franken instead.
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Title: The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life by Bill O'Reilly ISBN: 0767905288 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 12 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Shut Up and Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics, and the UN are Subverting America by Laura Ingraham ISBN: 0895261014 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: 15 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The No-Spin Zone: Confrontations with the Powerful and Famous in America by Bill O'Reilly ISBN: 0767908481 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 16 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Deliver Us from Evil : Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism by Sean Hannity ISBN: 0060582510 Publisher: Regan Books Pub. Date: 17 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Treason : Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism by ANN COULTER ISBN: 1400050308 Publisher: Crown Forum Pub. Date: 24 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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