A Book Literally About Assholes

Look up an old movie, titled Flesh Gordon. It was a really cheesy sex farce in which the principle force for evil was the Emperor Wang, who gloated as his fawning subjects addressed him most deferentially as, 'Your Assholiness.'

There are more than a few high flying players in public life these days who have very much earned the distinction of being referred to with the same contemptible scorn.

Do we really need a book that tells us the accumulated knowledge on the subject of assholes?   University of California, Berkeley linguist, Professor Geoffrey Nunberg has done just that with his new book, Ascent of the A-Word: Assholism, The First Sixty Years.  

Here's what Booklist had to say about it...
 
“Only an asshole would say this book is offensive. Sure, it uses the A-word a lot, but this is no cheap attempt to get laughs written by a B-list stand-up comic. The author … undertakes a serious examination of not just the word, but also the concept surrounding it (known as assholism, a type of behavior with, it seems, pretty clear markers)…. An intelligent and wide-ranging study of linguistics, ideas, and social trends."

Nunberg says an asshole is someone capable of cultural obtuseness.  Assholes act with a sense of entitlement.  There are plenty of people in public life who fit that description.  Their attitude seems to be, 'I got mine, so F*** you.'  Assholes carp about all the taxes they're paying; They hate regulations that force them to adhere to a reasonable societal standard.  They want to strip away the social safety net that  protects those less fortunate than they are.

Selfish, arrogant, self-absorbed, delusional; these are some other words that fit nicely in giving an asshole real definition.  

I probably won't read Geoffrey Nunberg's book of Assholes, but I'm glad it's here.  It just seems fitting that we now have a book that shines a glaring light on the brain dead self-absorption that characterizes so many business and political leaders across America.

Here is an article Geoffrey Nunberg wrote about assholes...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-nunberg/asshole-history_b_1819872.html#slide=more246095