By poking fun at everything from the newest in mommy couture to teenagers who say “like” excessively, conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham points out several ways U.S. culture is declining in her new book. “Of Thee I Zing: America’s Cultural Decline from Muffin Tops to Body Shots” keeps readers laughing from beginning to end.
Through her satirical analysis of annoying cultural practices and habits, Ingraham gets laughs by pointing out habits most people find irritating, and by jabbing at mannerisms some of us are guilty of ourselves. If you hate it when tone-deaf drivers sing loudly while holding you hostage in their cars, or when parents dress their children scantily — Ingraham calls them “prostitots” — then this book is for you.
In the book, Ingraham reveals some remedies for a few of the most exasperating social offenses.
When Ingraham suspects her neighbors only invite her to their parties to keep her from calling the cops on them, she stops by the parties to be polite before going home to carry out her revenge. “Then once I get home, I go up to my room, get into my PJs, and call the cops. I figure I already have my alibi!” Ingraham writes. Similarly, Ingraham resents people who park in her driveway, but quickly solves this problem by calling a tow truck company.
And for those who are guilty of some of these faux pas, Ingraham might get you to even laugh a little at yourself. In the chapter titled “Disgracebook ; )” Ingraham needles the “laptop people” who infest coffee shops but aren’t really doing anything important, and poor university students whose moms want to be their friends on Facebook. She even snipes at a friend who butt-dials her. Most notable, however, is Ingraham’s description of her own Match.com dating experience.
“He looks nothing like the man I ‘met’ online … Robert described himself as ‘athletic.’ This guy had a body type like Danny DeVito’s,” she writes.
“Of Thee I Zing,” which Ingraham felt compelled to write after experiencing several signs of “impending [cultural] disaster” at a shopping mall one Saturday afternoon, works so well because Ingraham’s cultural complaints make so much sense. Too funny to put down, this cultural commentary will satisfy your inner urge to castigate those around you, while also making you question some of your own idiosyncrasies.
