Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit by Laura Penny

Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit Reviews

• 
  Robin Hemmer

  "If the minimum wage had inflated as much as CEO pay or margin debt, cashiers and rib-joint ladies would be making hundreds of dollars an hour."
  
  "In 1980, CEOs made 42 times the average worker's pay; by 1990,it had doubled; by 2000 their compensation had increased to 531 times the average salary."
  
  Interesting stuff - a must read!
• 
  Marie

  I hoped this would be an in-depth look at marketing and customer service tactics. Instead it was mostly a now-dated rant about the Bush administration.
• 
  David Sarkies

  A self-styled rant about the frustrations of modern society
  11 October 2013
  
  There is not all that much that sets this book apart from all of the other anti-corporate books that have been released, except that at the end the writer says that this is not so much a book to help us look for a way forward and a way to get out of this mess that we have found ourselves in, but rather as a means to vent her frustration over the ever encroaching corporate and technocratic domination of our lives. The thing is that Penny doesn't actually say anything new in this book, and does not really point out anything that we don't already know, and there are much better books out there that do just that (such as
  Naomi Klein's
  No Logo).
  
  The thing about the corporation is that there are two sides to every issue. Corporations are able to raise huge amounts of capital to be able to produce things that normal people like us are not able. They are also able to make life easier and to provide avenues for us to be able to get things that we like and need. Without the corporation we would not have supermarkets, or multiplex cinemas, or even the vehicle to get you to these places.
  
  On the flip side, they have what is effectively unfettered power of control. Corporations control what we see and what we do. With the amount of money they are able to raise they are able to influence governments and elections. We have seen this recently in Australia where one media company pretty much dictated the election result by printing newspaper articles with views that they wanted people to see. For instance, opposition leader was pictured as the saviour that Australia needed while every move that the government made was plastered everywhere, and was given a negative twist (while this has been the case for a long time with elections, it has never been to this extent previously in Australia). Now, what we have is a government that is effectively secret and media shy, and bowing to corporate interests for what they believe is in the best interests of the country.
  
  There is one thing that I have noticed that is coming out of this recent election and that is a law banning boycotts. This law is clearly aimed at promoting and protecting corporate interests and denying the citizens of Australia the right to freedom of speech. The question is how is this law going to be implemented. Am I going to be forced to eat at McDonalds, and am I going to be forced to do all of my shopping at one of the major supermarkets because if I don't it will be considered a boycott. Or is this law going to fall flat on its face because there is no way to actually determine whether a consumer's buying behaviour is a boycott or simply choice.
  
  Another thing this book raises is the idea of the phone maze. I work in a glorified call center (meaning that we need to have decent training to be able to work where we are working) and the idea of the phone maze is to try and direct us to where we want to go. With the number of calls I make out, I encounter either the switchboard, or the phone maze. Having navigated lots of phone mazes, one becomes proficient in getting to where you want to go, or at least working out how to speak to a person because a computer simply has no intelligence and only responds to commands. Otherwise you hit the switchboard which, unless you are ultra-specific, they end up sending you to the wrong department anyway.
  
  One thing that I notice in my workplace is how people are being forced to specialise. The work duties are slowly being narrowed down in the same way that the manufacturing sector has narrowed down the tasks that the workers perform. Before the industrial revolution, blacksmiths used to be multi-skilled, however now all you do is the same repetitive task day in and day out. The same is the case with office work, and with file management, as the specific tasks on each file are farmed out to specialists. Being somebody who likes variety in my work, and to be able to be challenged from multiple different sectors, this is something that I do not particularly like.
• 
  Mjackman

  With the Western world choking on its own bullshit, watching things fall apart because we've believed our own lines, Laura Penny rides to the rescue, shovel in hand, to help us dig ourselves out. Compared to that other book, "On Bullshit," Penny's book is a breath of fresh air. No intimidating philosophical trappings, no faux-analytical setup, no nonsense. Compared to this book, "On Bullshit" is full of, um, shit.
  
  She trains her sights on big drug companies, big business, big government, and all the other peddlers of insincerity, mendacity and falseness. And she does it in a way that's approachable and fun.
  
  More on that "fun": Lots of social critics have tried using a sort of streetwise swagger in their language (see John Dicker's "United States of Wal-Mart" for an example with mixed results). But Penny pulls it off. Why? Perhaps it's because she does it all with a knowing smile. Criticizing the president by starting a sentence, "Dude's ..." or using offhand slang to mix it up when discussing Big Pharma. It comes off as fun, not forced, plain-speaking, not pretension. It's harder to do than most think. I really liked the book a lot. (It doesn't hurt that she's youngish, cute and Canadian.)
• 
  Dan

  Bone up on how bullshit works, and begin to inoculate yourself. A small, hilarious, and easy to read book.
  
  Not only is Laura Penny extremely funny, clever, and topical but every one of her chosen subjects have direct and genuine relevance for all of us living in a culture which is profoundly saturated with state of the art commercial propaganda and playground to entire industries devoted to the subtle manipulation of the public mind (that's you, cowboy and cowgirl American - your so-called Rugged Individualist mentality was, paradoxically for you, formed within your culture -- and besides, this mentality is largely based on misunderstandings since we are hardly Self-Interest Maximizing Agents but rather social animals evolved to help each other).
  
  Excellent all around.
• 
  Paige

  So, yeah, there is a lot of bullshit out there, and this book only skims the surface. She could have expanded on a lot of the topics, but the fact that she didn't does kind of give it more readability. She talks about PR, insurance companies (those fuckers!), the media, advertisement, and of course the Bush administration. There wasn't a whole lot in there that surprised me but it was enjoyable and I did pick up some interesting nuggets. Plus it was pretty funny! I read some of it to my boyfriend and he was laughing and going, "Wow...really?!?!" too.
  
  I didn't really think she was pretentious... actually cussing pot smokers are usually the least pretentious people I know. :P
• 
  Jennifer

  This book pretty much summed up how I feel on my cynical days. An interesting overview that collects examples of bullshit from the insurance, PR, big pharma, government, advertising etc. sectors. I recommend it if you like to gripe about that sort of thing. It doesn't really offer any suggestions (and doesn't pretend to) but awareness is the first step to making things better right? Also, the book is about 5 years old so occasionally comes off a bit dated (talking about "the current Bush administration" and "Prime Minister Paul Martin" for example) but is still relevant for the most part. Plus, the writer is Nova Scotian and works at a local university so that's an added bonus!
• 
  Antonia

  Makes one even more cynical of the world. Definitely eye opening. Laura Penny communicates her message clearly. There are two forms of bullshit: simple and complex. And bullshit is not the same as lying. Lies can be proven. Bullshit is intricately woven, eloquently spoken.
  
  I think she could have used a more "professor"-like tone in her writing, since she is one, but the provocative title and manner of the book probably fueled it's popularity, so much so that the book was featured as a segment on "60 Minutes". Would like to read "On Bullshit" by Harry Frankfurt just to compare.
• 
  Laura

  Maybe it's because I thought this was going to be about the psychology of bullshit, which it is not, but I really didn't think this was worth reading. It's just the author ranting about how American government, media, the economy, and the pharmaceutical industry are basically lying constantly (though technically bullshitting isn't lying as much as just making stuff up), and then she attempts to refute it, partially through facts, and partially through her opinions, which are hardly more accurate than what she is complaining about (i.e. mental disorders that didn't exist until the makers of Prozac "invented" them to sell more drugs... zero facts to back up that claim, just her ranting about it). Some of the points she makes are good, but not worth reading the book for.
• 
  Doug I

  Dated and confined to the time period in some ways. 2005
  
  In other ways, a timeless ode (but not to bullshit). To corruption and maleficence.
  
  The edition/printing I have is full of typos. Fire the editor and/or typesetter.
  
  About 33% too verbose and repetitive, especially about the minutia of American politics. Could have been three times as good! Instead, amazingly mediocre.
  
  
• 
  Michael

  This was published in 2006 but the political bullshit discussed resonates today. It makes me nostalgic for when we talked about how terrible a president George Jr. was. :(
• 
  John O'reilly

  Though a few years old -2004- still relevant esp when talking about the way politicians use language to manipulate and influence.
  
  Funny and unbridled.
• 
  Kyle Nicholas

  This book wasn't what I thought it was. Likely for the time it was written, it was an eye-opener. However, since Facebook and Occupy and similar movements have shaken many of us awake ten years on, this wasn't a book worth the effort. Maybe I just came too late? Anyway, besides the final implication that the author is, in fact, Jesus Christ, and sent to earth to remove the money-changers from the temple... she has an annoying appetite for alliteration. And though she cries foul on sound bytes, she tends to use a lot of them. Please, we know you're Canadian. But stop with the pseudo-French. We don't need to read "beaucoup de Something in English Now" because that's lazy. We know our presidents are idiots... fast-forwarding a few years from publishing date will net you a somewhat better one, but not by too much (at least he's intelligent. And not white. Although why that should matter...) I was sort-of expecting something a little more biting towards, you know, annoying hold times on the phone, as per the title of the book. I guess I'd better gawk at the comedy section of the library next time, because obviously that's not at all important to take seriously! What I didn't expect was yet one more row at Walmart. We ALL of us know that Walmart is the root of all evil. Or how Microsoft is Satan's blister (written on a Mac by someone blissfully unaware of all the egregious human rights violations they are party to? or perhaps just ignoring the fact that she wrote this book by Googling everything through a psychic connection to the Akashic records or something? Who knows.) One could say that if you read this a decade ago, you could've seen the "Great Recession" coming a long way off. If not, then this author is a true prophetess. Sign me up - as long as there isn't any goat-slaughtering to do. Otherwise give this one a pass and go march on your local Chase Bank branch... and tell 'em you want to save a Penny.
• 
  rogue

  A noble endeavor by someone who deep down is sincere and concerned about the consequences of BS in public policy and advertising. Good for a cursory overview and might even get some people worked up enough to pay more attention. However, this book is written with very little in-depth information and a lot of BS. The tone of the book is a serious problem. The author complains about the dumbing down of information, but spends half the book trying to be cute/funny. Example: on the rise of mutual funds: "Throughout the nineties, people looked at their lazy-ass money, snoozing away in their savings accounts, and told that money to get off the couch, quit eating bonbons, and get to work." Another example of BS: a Latin error on pg. 78: "there is a lovely Latin term in corporate law, ultra vires, beyond men, that refers to actions beyond the power granted by the corporate charter." No. "ultra vires" means "beyond one's power/strength." This is a common first-year Latin error. It was unnecessary to translate "ultra vires" at all: she could have just said "ultra vires in corporate law refers to actions" etc., but the decision to include a very poorly researched translation (for what purpose? to appear smarter? Harry Frankfurt would call this BS) corrodes for me the reliability of the rest of this text.
• 
  Harvey

  - hilarious and entertaining...and yet intelligent and well-reasoned...Penny is a University Professor with a refreshingly youthful edge as she uses the word "ginormous" and writes sentences like "Dude wasn't even trying."
  - a bit like Rick Mercer's ('This Hour Has 22 Minutes') Rants, but in greater depth and casting a wider net
  - fun quote: "The media is a critical line of defence against, and a great disseminator of, bullshit. They have the power to make shit up, let shit slide, or make sure that the shit hits the fan."
  - regarding U.S./Canada relations: "Sometimes I think this bond is a sibling rivalry. Canada thinks America is loud and dumb, and America thinks that Canada is lame and boring, but they are still brothers..."
  
• 
  Kendall Morgan Hall

  Laura Penny was one of my profs (or 'tutors' as they are known at the University of King's College). She was the cool prof - the one in funky clothing who would smoke with the other cool kids during our break. She had the most distinctive laugh and could make even the most obscure philosophy relatable. When I heard about this book I was over-the-moon excited, and it did not disappoint. If you have a sense of humour you will laugh yourself silly, but more importantly, it will make you think.
  
  Strongly recommended.
• 
  Linda

  (This was my "Title Starting with Y" in my alphabetic tour of the library.)
  
  From the title, I thought this book would be humorous, or at least amusing. It was not.
  
  Instead, I got a 200-plus page rant about the state of First World (mainly American) culture in the year 2005. The author gave her uncensored opinion of advertising, finance, mega-corporations, government, pharmaceuticals, insurance, malls, urban sprawl, telemarketing, and television news.
• 
  Monique

  This book is funny and infuriating at the same time. The author speaks to the lies and BS we are fed every day by politicians,commercials, corporations and others. Laura Penny does not mince words and even though the book is ten years old, most of it is still going on today. I found myself getting riled up as I identify with the complaints she makes about the lack of truth we have to live with. A good read.
• 
  Chris

  very funny book but also sad at how companies have stopped caring about their customers. SprintPCS is one major company that doesn't give a damn about their customers having problems and being allowed to get away with it by the FCC. Although its shocking to read, there are many times you will laugh out loud for it.
• 
  Lawrence Capre-hamoud

  Your direct, to the point, blatant perspective on mainstream media, news, and politics with a twist of Canadian humor. Laura Penny to me, is a hub of truth for the amateur revolutionist. Her work enlists the necessary focal points of argument in any conversion involving the understanding of economics, intellect, and human behavior in the modern world.
• 
  WarpDrive

  Overall, I liked this book; unfortunately it is very USA-centric. It makes you feel lucky that you are not condemned to live in the USA, but I am sure that there is LOTS of BS from all over the world.
  There are some sections where I disagree with the contents and with the style of the book, but there are also very nice and striking examples of BS that constitute a real eye-opener.
  
  
• 
  Sean

  I went into this book expecting it to be about PR/advertising/rhetoric, but found those items to be only a small part of the overall narrative that turned out to be about big corporate/government stepping on the little people.
  Not that I disagree, it just isn't what was expecting/hoping for from the book.
• 
  Paul Ispas

  A great read, but with several minuses, such as the fact that it uses bullshit to dig up bullshit. I suppose it takes one to know one. Another minus might be the limitation of the themes and their interpretation, but there's only so much one can wright about.
  Nevertheless, it is strikingly honest and, even from a Romanian reader, brutally familiar.
• 
  P

  Another six star book that does nothing but make you a less productive member of a society that can be pretty shitty, in places. Favorite (probably garbled by now)line:
  
  PR firms make one thing and one thing only - Shit Up.