Righteous Indignation

Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World by Andrew Breitbart

My Rating (out of 5 stars):

3 stars for subject—I liked it.
2 stars for content—It was okay.

Amazon Description:

“Known for his network of conservative websites that draws millions of readers everyday, Andrew Breitbart has one main goal: to make sure the "liberally biased" major news outlets in this country cover all aspects of a story fairly. Breitbart is convinced that too many national stories are slanted by the news media in an unfair way.

In RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION, Breitbart talks about the key issues that Americans face, how he has aligned himself with the Tea Party, and how one needs to deal with the liberal news world head on. Along the way, he details his early years, working with Matt Drudge, the Huffington Post, and so on, and how Breitbart developed his unique style of launching key websites to help get the word out to conservatives all over.

A rollicking and controversial read, Breitbart will certainly raise your blood pressure, one way or another.”

My Thoughts:

I should mention, straightaway, that I am not a conservative. I am certainly not accepting of any Tea Party ideology. However, I do enjoy reading from all sides of the political spectrum.

What drew me to this book was the focus on media. The change within this industry, over the past 20 years, is astounding.  It is impossible to find completely objective reporting within networks. Different media outlets tend to lean toward the left or to the right. Some of the bias is more noticeable.

The disappointing thing about this book is that Breitbart takes it further than that. He alleges that the media is part of some liberal conspiracy to bring down the United States. His conspiracy theory is broad and irrational. Instead of giving facts and research, we get vicious personal attacks and opinionated sermons from Breitbart. The overwhelming negativity was a big turn off.

The worst thing…Breibart’s conservative slant was all over this book. To write a book about a liberal media conspiracy…with a conservative bias? Hypocritical in the extreme! He leaves out the media outlets that lean to the right (Fox anyone?) completely.

There were parts of the book that I found insightful, but wished he could have used more poise and reasoning in his arguments. I do think he was only writing to a core group of conservatives in the US, not actually writing to inform everyone. His book is aimed at the target audience that would blindly accept his arguments. It was somewhat of a battle cry for young conservatives to be aware of the media complex and work to balance it.

I do agree that media should be more balanced. That is why I read so many different outlets for my news consumption. I like to get a broad perspective, instead of one perspective. Unfortunately I felt Breitbart wants to “win” the “media war” and have all outlets lean his direction--which is exactly what he rails about in this book, reversed.

Overall, I felt like Breibart’s book was all about him and his passions. His face is on the cover of both sides, so clearly the focus is on…Andrew Breitbart. I prefer a little more reasoning and objectivity in this type of book. The personal attacks made this book difficult for me to respect.

My final thought—no media will ever be completely impartial. It’s just not possible. And the current issues with the media? Only going to continue to be more partisan, more ridiculous. I’m so over seeing nonsense as “news.” I’m on the search for better books on this subject!

**Sadly, after I finished this book and had written my review I read that Andrew Breitbart passed away. This doesn’t change the way I feel about his book, of course, but I admire that he was passionate about his beliefs and that he put himself out there. Even if I disagree with him, I still have immense respect for that.

Who Should Read?:

Readers who enjoy political issues can check out Breitbart’s views. However, read this knowing that it is not objective…I would term it more of a “memoir” type than educational.