WHY WE HATE US(ISBN=9780307406637) 英文原版 下载 pdf 电子版 epub 免费 txt 2025

Americans are as safe, well fed, securely sheltered,

long-lived, free, and healthy as any human beings who have ever

lived on the planet. But we are down on America. So why do we hate

us? According to Dick Meyer, the following items on this (much

abbreviated) list are some of the contributors to our deep

disenchantment with our own culture:

Cell-phone talkers broadcasting the intimate details of their lives

in public spaces

Worship of self-awareness, self-realization, and

self-fulfillment

T-shirts that read, “Eat Me”

Facebook, MySpace, and kids being taught to market themselves

High-level cheating in business and sports

Reality television and the cosmetic surgery boom

Multinational corporations that claim, “We care about you.”

The decline of organic communities

A line of cosmetics called “S.L.U.T.”

The phony red state–blue state divide

The penetration of OmniMarketing into OmniMedia and the insinuation

of both into every facet of our lives

You undoubtedly could add to the list with hardly a moment’s

thought. In Why We Hate Us, Meyer absolutely nails America’s

early-twenty-first-century mood disorder. He points out the most

widespread carriers of the why-we-hate-us germs, including the

belligerence of partisan politics that perverts our democracy, the

decline of once common manners, the vulgarity of Hollywood

entertainment, the superficiality and untrustworthiness of the news

media, the cult of celebrity, and the disappearance of authentic

neighborhoods and voluntary organizations (the kind that have

actual meetings where one can hobnob instead of just clicking in an

online contribution).

Meyer argues—with biting wit and observations that make you want to

shout, “Yes! I hate that too!”—that when the social, spiritual, and

political turmoil that followed the sixties collided with the

technological and media revolution at the turn of the century,

something inside us hit overload. American culture no longer

reflects our own values. As a result, we are now morally and

existentially tired, disoriented, anchorless, and defensive. We

hate us and we wonder why.

Why We Hate Us reveals why we do and also offers a

thoughtful and uplifting pre*ion for breaking out of our

current morass and learning how to hate us less. It is a

penetrating but always accessible Culture of Narcissism for a new

generation, and it carries forward ideas that resounded with

readers in bestsellers such as On Bullshit and Bowling Alone.

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DICK MEYER was a reporter, producer, online editor, and

columnist at CBS News in Washington for more than twenty-three

years. He is now an executive editor at National Public

Radio.

From the Hardcover edition.

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编辑推荐

In the 1976 movie "Network," Howard Beale, a veteran news anchor

played by Peter Finch, becomes psychotic after being told he's too

old to anchor the newscast. On what is supposed to be his final

broadcast, he breaks out into a rant about the problems of the day,

imploring viewers to "get up right now ... go to your windows, open

them, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'm as mad as hell and

I'm not going to take this anymore.' "

Viewers nationwide respond by shouting out their windows en masse.

The impromptu segment is a ratings hit, and the lunatic broadcaster

is given time on future broadcasts for his tirades.

That satire reflected the insanity of popular culture, particularly

television, that reflects a misplaced anger and confused values in

society. Those are all themes that inspire Dick Meyer's incisive

cultural critique of modern society in "Why We Hate Us."

The book's central argument is that Americans are dissatisfied with

their own society. Meyer points, with a wealth of supporting

evidence at his fingertips - the vulgarity of the marketing

industry, the media's fascination with Paris Hilton, even people

who talk loudly on their cell phones - to what he calls the "toxic"

cultural environment, which is rife with disingenuousness. Our

resulting self-hate is illustrated, he says, by polls showing

declining faith in institutions.

"Americans don't trust our institutions or one another," he writes.

"Without trust, without a shared vocabulary, without community, we

feel endangered."

The author, a former CBS News producer and columnist for the

network's Web site who now works for NPR, draws on sources as

disparate as existentialism, books on American suburbanization and

interviews with an evangelical pastor to generate a book that goes

a long way in making sense out of the zeitgeist. The success of the

book is less in its de*ion of the cultural climate than in the

way he draws together seemingly unconnected experiences to explain

with Occam's-razor logic a complex society that is drawn to its

culture and also repulsed by it…

After his critique of society, which synthesizes many recent

academic and popular assessments of modern life, Meyer offers a

solution to the problems of the world: a return to some traditions

that predate the '60s. "[I]t is necessary to find and nurture

authentic commitments in private and community life," he writes.

"In making thoughtful choices, it is necessary to cultivate a

guiding 'moral temperament' - a philosophic perspective."

His solution may sound like a old-timey bromide, but it's a

refreshing alternative.

—San Francisco Chronicle

Hasn’t something like this happened to all of us? Don’t you hate

it? Ever wondered why Americans feel like this kind of behavior is

acceptable and justified?

In Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium, Dick

Meyer shares countless examples that illustrate his thesis that

Americans have grown to hate us–not America, and not each other,

but the culture we have created and in which we actively

participate. We have private conversations in public places, we are

constantly attached to electronic devices and often choose them

over in-person contact with the people that are right in front of

us, and we are suffering from a “lack of social self-respect.”

Meyer diagnoses America with a chronic case of low self-esteem and

concludes that we are acting out. He couldn’t be more right.

Meyer’s central thesis is that we hate us because phoniness—-that

bane of Holden Caulfield’s existence—-has become “the emblematic

malady of our times,” along with a lack of manners and “the decline

of organic community.” He explores the irony in the fact that

Americans are inundated with phoniness and know how to recognize

spin—-basically, we know when we’re being bullshitted—-but we have

become so steeped in it that our lives have begun to reflect the

very things we hate…

I loved this book for being so smart when it would have been very

easy for Meyer to dumb things down. I’m so proud of him for

resisting the temptation to go the route of trying to entertain the

reader rather than asking difficult questions and forcing us to

reflect on our own behavior and our role in perpetuating and now

fighting against a culture that is sick and in need of help. I saw

myself in many of the things he described, and I didn’t like it. I

felt inspired to reexamine my ethics, my consumption of media and

products, and my social conduct and relationships.

Though there are many chuckle-inducing statements in this book,

Why We Hate Us is definitely not a light read, and that is a

very good thing. This is a sociological analysis of modern culture,

a rallying cry, and a call for social change. It is a rather

balanced look at how things are and why they are that way, and

Meyer is not afraid to lay blame where it is due. The bad news is

that we are all guilty. The good news is that “it is not a sign of

terminal social disease that we do hate us,” because we can all

participate in rebuilding our culture and repairing our national

self-esteem.

And we can start by not clipping our toenails in public.

I give Why We Hate Us a very happy 5 out of 5... There’s a

lot of information in this book, and there’s a lot that I couldn’t

fit into my review. You should read it. Everyone should read it. We

should make Why We Hate Us required reading for all

Americans. It would be a good start.

—The Book Lady's Blog

"Dick Meyer has done the impossible -- he diagnoses the

self-loathing, moral confusion and ennui that infect supersized

America without hectoring us and badgering us, and without tiresome

self-righteousness or smugness. Why We Hate Us takes us on a

rollicking, laugh-out-loud ride across the brittle American

landscape, and by 'us' I mean all of us -- liberal and

conservative, black and white, city-dwellers, suburbanites and

farmers. Dick Meyer understands that our national culture is on

life-support, and he has thought long and hard about how to

resuscitate it. Read this book, if not for you, than for your

children, and for the America they will inherit."

—Jeffrey Goldberg, Atlantic Monthly national correspondent

and author of Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and

Terror

“A widely respected player in national politics, Dick Meyer has

transcended the game most Americans hate to describe a larger

context of relentless marketing, omnipresent pseudo-events and

above all the enshrinement of phoniness that pollute the public

square. Mixing original research, a keen, analytic mind and

mordant, wicked wit, Why We Hate Us should be the bible for

the vast majority of Americans who tell pollsters the country is on

the wrong track but aren't clear why.”

—Thomas Oliphant, journalist and bestselling author of Praying

for Gil Hodges: A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One

Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers

“This is a serious, thought provoking discourse on America in the

age of instant communication and a reminder that our new

ability to know everything about everybody all the time may not be

all good.”

—Bob Schieffer, Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS

News 

“Meyer has written a deeply informed critique of those ‘toxic and

menacing’ aspects of American culture in which individuals,

families, and communities have suffered as ‘self-awareness,

self-realization and self-actualization became the measure of

emotional and existential health.’ Meyer has put into words the

tensions and anxieties that grip all Americans as they go about the

difficult task of achieving happiness while struggling to ‘find a

compass’ to give their lives moral legitimacy and purpose. If you

are aiming for one guide to the well-lived life, buy this

book.”

—Thomas B. Edsall, Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore

Professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Political

Editor of the Huffington Post, and author of Building Red

America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent

Power

From the Hardcover edition.

• 作者：老阿飞—故园 发布时间：2020-10-22 17:48:53

  气质非常独特的反英雄的超英漫画，角色原案致敬了黄金时代，却重新解构戏谑了所有的超级英雄，不是把他们扔入泥沼，而是摔入了牛粪。一整个团队的人全都有严重的心理创伤，不只是中年危机那么简单。角色刻画的很丰满，而且会让你明显意识到这只是冰山一角。另外，这是一本外传比正传还多的系列。

• 作者：sleepy Mia 发布时间：2017-06-26 23:16:38

  很好看啊。居然没有改编成剧，我很惊讶啊！

• 作者：濯鹤 发布时间：2013-12-17 15:38:23

  词藻华丽，情节堪奇

• 作者：我就是楚囚 发布时间：2017-06-15 11:45:52

  20170705重读毕。

• 作者：summer! 发布时间：2020-07-22 00:07:22

  有这本的纸质版，貌似翻译是比其他版本要好的

• 作者：chester 发布时间：2018-05-24 22:07:54

  这是一本应该在年轻时开始读的书。

  我边读边想，女儿14岁时我陪她一起读这本书的情形.......

  因为从那个年龄开始接触哲学，会学会思考，学会质疑，学会尝试找到自我的意义，毕竟那时是好奇心和求知欲最旺盛的阶段。

  #大人都会不自主的躲进舒适的毛根，习以为常，尽情吃喝#

• “顾老板”不愧是上世纪有国际声誉的史学大师

  作者：心情随风 发布时间：2006-06-15 13:28:32

  很薄的一本小书，却是一本很不一般的经典。几十年的史学研究概貌清晰可见。在上世纪早期，就能写出这么一本平实、客观、冷静、缜密的那个时代的史学研究史，很不一般。很多认识和思想上的突破甚至都影响到了当今史学界的视野，那时代的一些年轻学者傅斯年、胡适、顾颉刚的才华真是光彩照人，后人难望其背。有四点感慨：一是那时的年轻知识分子创新和思辩意识真令人叹服，一本《古史辨》就奠定了年轻的顾颉刚在史学界的大师地位。二是那个兵荒马乱的年代对知识分子的重视程度真令当代人羡慕，不仅有社会声望，而且还有厚实的物质基础（顾在那年代不仅有自己的专车、大宅，还有充足的学术经费）；三是那个黑暗的旧年代居然还有如此宽容的学习自由和思想舒张氛围；四是那些早年成名的大师成名以后的日子似乎头脑生锈了，竟只能倚老卖老，没有什么新的学术果，全没有当年的才华和锐气。

• “只有在不幸之中，你才知道，你是谁”

  作者：✨Lachesis 发布时间：2019-02-06 01:35:09

  读茨威格的人物传记，最难以忘怀的是他笔下的某种双重性。一方面对主人公的不幸，痛惜之余不失严厉苛责，责备他们忘记了历史赋予他们的、作为统治者的重大责任；另一方面又充满了温和的睿智与同情，不以事后诸葛的角度自作聪明地评价历史人物的一时言行，也从不自大地设想“假如我在那个位置上会做得更好”（这恰恰是某些历史评书/穿越小说津津乐道的套路）。在这部为“断头王后”玛丽·安托瓦内特而作的传记里，后者大概占了更多份量。

  这不仅仅是因为这位王后符合了茨威格笔下值得被理想化和同情的女主人公的一切要素——优雅、美丽、富有女性气质，却由于“女性的软弱”（在那个时代是stereotype，在今天而言就是妥妥的政治不正确）而失去了王冠、政治权力甚至生命；出身高贵却在落魄时遭遇暴民侮辱，以囚犯之身死在断头台上——这一切都是茨威格这个老派欧洲人和保守主义者津津乐道的元素。拨开桃色新闻和历史流言的迷雾，此书对人性和历史事件阴暗面的深度挖掘，又使得它无论带有何等强烈的主观感情色彩，都不可能止于一部浅薄流俗的历史小说的水平。在描写大革命和王室关系的桥段中，它的深度丝毫不在《旧制度与大革命》等书之下。

  当然，和和法国人不同，作为奥地利人的茨威格纵使“偏心”也是正常的。对出身哈布斯堡王室、身为玛丽亚·特蕾西亚幼女的玛丽·安托瓦内特（和她那同样不幸的丈夫路易十六）的批判和同情是同样地深刻和真实，使人对那个时代的贵族生活丝毫没有一点羡慕（这是真的）：尽管非常之穷奢极欲、纸醉金迷，但在非常之时代却要冒非常之风险。更要命的是，那时信息的闭塞是如此严重，一个统治者只要想沉浸在自己的小世界里，完全可以轻易屏蔽掉外面的整个大世界，十年，二十年。茨威格对于这对才智平庸的国王夫妇的评价甚至也是足够客观，写路易十六，说他并非像外表看上去的那样迟钝和愚蠢，仅仅是性格羞怯；相反他“喜欢读书，读书很多，在历史和地理方面知识丰富”、“文件和家务流水账簿都整理得井井有条、无懈可击”，连那本著名的无视一切重大历史事件，在革命爆发之日记载着“今日无事”的日记，也是他每日像小学生完成作业一样必行的功课。他生性简朴、敬畏上帝，对待他所不能理解的美丽妻子温和而宽厚；但这个“适合于充当一个诚实可靠的海关检察员，或者公务员”的老实人，惟独不适合做统治者。除却他自己那致命的优柔寡断之外，他的悲剧恐怕要更多地推给君主制和那个风雨飘摇的时代。但这迟钝的人也有他自己的幸运：他不会感到任何强烈的感情波动；即使是死亡，也不会动摇他的好胃口和对睡眠的欲望。如果没有被革命砍去脑袋，仅仅是作为一个被废黜的君主圈养在他自己的花园里的话，他是不会有任何的不幸之感的。

  而王后则恰恰是一个反面：她聪明，好动，灵巧，但又懒散，轻浮，憎恶任何深刻的思考、阅读和费神的工作，只想要轻松愉快，游戏人生——这正是整个十八世纪的道德，“奥地利式”的轻盈优雅、缺乏深度的美学。这也是令玛丽亚·特蕾西亚最为焦虑不安的地方，母亲知道：“这个女孩天资聪慧，很有灵气，完全可以迸发出成百倍的能量。玛丽·安托瓦内特只消扮演好她归根到底业已在演的角色，她就拥有国王的权力；但是，真是灾难，她出于懒散，总是置身于她自己的精神水准之下。作为地道的奥地利女人，她无疑拥有许多天才，甚至过多的天才，可惜就没有丝毫意志力，把这些与生俱来的天赋认认真真地充分利用，或者予以深化。”特蕾西亚以政治家的慧眼早已看到了波旁王朝面临的重重危机，对这个“懦弱的男人”和“喜欢社交的女人”组建的领导者联盟深感不安。虽然她看不到二十年后发生的事情，也多少预感到了不可避免的悲剧的萌芽：两个被放在大时代舞台上的小人物，注定会因为不能胜任而成为牺牲品。玛丽·安托瓦内特不同于路易十六的是，她只要稍微学习着努力一点，似乎就能避开许多悲剧的可能性；然而，倘若如此，就不是玛丽·安托瓦内特这个洛可可主义者的天性了。

  十八世纪是自相矛盾的，表面的潮流愉快轻松，内里却暗流涌动，随时可能吞噬一切。在茨威格看来，玛丽·安托瓦内特灾难性的错误，便是“只想作为女人，而不是作为王后赢得胜利”，她被享乐了蒙住眼睛，只想轻松愉悦地享受手里的权力，“作为整个宫廷最为时髦，最为卖俏，穿着最好，最受娇纵，尤其是玩得最为高兴的女人受人赞美，”却从不思考权力背后意味着的责任是什么。在执政的二十年间，她从未踏出她那六座王宫之间小小的六角形区域，仅仅是醉心于时尚的服饰、发型、珠宝、花样翻新的游戏；对她的贵族圈子之外存在的真实世界全无兴趣，从未想过要探访她的臣民，访问一下巴黎之外的省份，或是走到巴黎的普通民众中去。这种“对世上的一切悲惨一无所知，或不想知道的性格”，使得她成为了轻浮飘逸、绝代风华的洛可可精神的代言人，时代的弄潮儿——同时也是牺牲品，因为茨威格无时无刻不在提醒我们“一个忘记了百姓的王后，可是在冒极大的风险”。

  “一直等到革命用暴力，把她从这座微乎其微的洛可可舞台，拽到世界历史的宏伟壮阔的悲剧舞台上，她才认识到她犯了一个其大无比的错误，二十年来她选择了一个过于渺小的角色，轻歌剧中一个滑稽欢快的女高音角色，一位沙龙贵妇的角色，而命运其实赋予她力量和坚强的心灵，去扮演一个女英雄的角色。她认识这个错误，时间已晚，但是还不算太晚。因为恰好在这出牧羊人悲剧的终曲上演之际，玛丽·安托瓦内特不能再扮演着王后的角色而生，只能扮演着王后的角色而死，这时她才达到了她真正的高度。只有等到假戏变成真戏，人们夺走了她的王冠，玛丽·安托瓦内特才的确发自心灵深处成为王后。”（第八章《洛可可王后》）

  玛丽·安托瓦内特的真实性格，在茨威格笔下是在革命到来之后才被惊醒、显露和获得成长的。在一系列的众叛亲离之后，她终于意识到自己的致命错误，开始努力学习（从坐下来认真读书、写信开始），从事保全自己的家庭和王冠的政治活动，甚至终于写下了“只有在不幸之中，你才知道，你是谁”这样灵光闪现的句子。在她生命的最后几年，她终于才意识到自己的历史使命——不在于和其它贵妇争夺时尚的冠冕，而是在后世的目光中赢得持久的、为人尊敬的胜利。受累于软弱的国王丈夫和她自己同样薄弱的政治才能（连那位努力营救他们的忠诚的情人菲尔森伯爵，最终也败在了“使用过于华丽的马车运载国王夫妇出逃，最终被发现拿获”这类昏招上——由此可见当时的贵族们是何等娇生惯养、缺乏常识），错误一再犯下，波旁王朝的命运已然不可挽回。但在悲剧不可逆转地扑面而来的过程中，她却逐渐显现出自己作为个人的高贵品性。她在信中写道：“至于我们个人，那我知道，不论发生什么事情，任何关于幸福的念头都已过去。可是一个国王的职责在于，为别人去受苦受难，我们出色地完成了这项职责。但愿有朝一日，这点能为人所认识。”

  很难想象这样的文字会出于数年前那个纵情玩乐、不具备任何责任感的洛可可王后之口。二十年前，玛丽亚·特蕾西亚女皇曾绝望地写信问她，“什么时候，你终于能够变成你自己？”现在随着悲剧的命运乃至死亡不断迫近，“玛丽·安托瓦内特终于变成了她自己。”

  当时因被污蔑的项链事件而失去人心的王后，却在大革命的风口浪尖上，在一再落难之中收获了来自个体民众（而非整体的、抽象化的、罗伯斯庇尔口中的“人民”）隐秘的同情。如果说茨威格的笔下流露出类似的同情，也是因为玛丽·安托瓦内特在命运面前的转变，而不是因为她之前二十年来孩子气的固执和拒绝长大。这个女性从童年到步入婚姻，一直被安排坐上皇位，还一直是个孩子，伸手拿取命运的馈赠对她来说是种本能。但，自从她意识到这些事物的代价，她也几乎是同时意识到了毁灭和死亡的必然性，只不过还需要经历一个极其缓慢、痛苦的过程。在王室一次次遭遇变故，待遇一次比一次差，直到最终住进了囚室一般的“庙堂”（路易十六在这里住到最后一日，后被押往断头台）和她生命终点的贡西哀尔杰里监狱，直至到达刑场，她都维持着高贵、轻蔑、毫不屈服的姿态。为了在临刑前维持整洁的仪表，她坚持换下了被经血污染的血迹斑斑的内衣，仅此一点，就令人叹服——想起《布达佩斯大饭店》中的古斯塔夫先生，或是纳粹面前落难的钢琴家，或是《干校六记》——历经苦难羞辱，却仍然保持尊严。

  此书宜与索菲亚·科波拉的《绝代艳后》（Marie Antoinette）同看。（数年前看了电影，感想是克里斯滕·邓斯特的气质太过硬朗，不够柔美，但服道化还是值得一看。）我个人是出于一种审美情怀，对王后甚是同情；毕竟，如果生在“奢华浪费的消费主义”和“个人主义”并非原罪的当代，她可能不过是一个网红级别的时尚icon而已，再奢华浪费，不过是一个帕丽斯·希尔顿或失意的富豪儿女，犯不到断头台的风险。但绝对君主制下，相关的政治责任便是个人的原罪——如果那个人不是政治家的材料（如路易十六或天启皇帝），这种责任简直比“他是希特勒”还要冤枉。（另外，如果说我想起了奥地利人的死敌腓特烈二世，那也不过是“另一种反抗方式”组成的“另一个故事”罢了）。

  有失必有得，在这个平民主义的后现代社会，我们失去了贵族制下的精致美学，获得了大众的狂欢；我们把权力和话语权，连同我们的想象——对共同体和美学幻想的重构——都交了出去，交给了大大小小的粗俗的媒体，换来了庸俗、虚无、人人不甘落后地彰显自我却无人倾听的自由。

  一个时代有一个时代的故事。所以，不必眷恋穿越小说所代表的过去和科幻小说所热爱的未来；我们只有这个时代。

  “让别人去诅咒、哭泣吧，我高兴的是我们的才干是完美无缺的”。

  Lachesis

  2019.2.5

  Reference：

  《断头王后：玛丽·安托瓦内特传》，斯蒂芬·茨威格著，张玉书译，人民文学出版社，2017年4月。

  《德意志安魂曲》，豪尔赫·路易斯·博尔赫斯，王永年译。

  

  

  Reference：

  《断头王后：玛丽·安托瓦内特传》，斯蒂芬·茨威格著，张玉书译，人民文学出版社，2017年4月。

  《德意志安魂曲》，豪尔赫·路易斯·博尔赫斯，王永年译。