Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male Power

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Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male Power by Ijeoma Oluo

19 reviews

sidbookreviews's review against another edition

challenging informative fast-paced

5.0

This is one of the most important books, and one of my most favourite non-fiction books that I have read in quite some time. Mediocre is a sharp, challenging, nuanced, multifaceted, clear and effective book that serves as a history and examination of white male supremacy in America and a scathing look at the systems of power it has created. So much is covered in this book, with historical and present examples of how white male supremacy has affected everything from the economy to the environment to politics and general society. Mediocre is everything I hoped for when reading the title and more. It's no question that Oluo is immensely talented and this book is a truly fantastic piece. Seldom do I adore non-fiction as much as I did this book. I think it's also worth noting that I read this as an audiobook, which I would highly recommend, as it's read by Oluo herself and is a very powerful and passionate reading. Overall, I can't recommend Mediocre enough.

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michellegm15's review against another edition

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5.0

Whew. What a journey. First of all, this book is a fabulous and enjoyable read, even though the topics covered therein are often complex, infuriating, and devastating. Not an easy task to pull off.

This book has also definitely given me a lot of education about white male supremacy. I learned a lot of history I either hadn't been taught or hadn't been shown from the angle of white male supremacy. It makes a STRONG case that white male supremacy is what America was built on and that it has wreaked havoc, violence, and oppression on too many people (including, in some ways, white men themselves) for far too long and that we need to work toward dismantling it rather than putting our efforts toward gaining closer proximity from it. White men, generally speaking, need to learn to develop a sense of identity based on healthier ideals. I also felt both schooled as a white person and validated as a woman. I hope a lot of people read this book. It really needed to be written, and it was incredibly brave of the author to write it AND to give it the title it has. To push against white male supremacy while it works tirelessly to punish her and her family for her work is courageous. I'm grateful she put this out into the world!

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vvoman_of_darkness's review against another edition

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5.0

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magicalrealem's review against another edition

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5.0

Ijeoma Oluo is brilliant and so is Mediocre. I finished this book in mid-February and have tried writing a review, but I don’t think I can do the book justice. It’s a critically important work; what Oluo analyzes and discusses is vital. I wanted to underline every sentence. This book examines how everything “works according to design.” America and its systems were designed by elite white men through violence, exploitation, and oppression to benefit them and only them. White elites’ greatest con is making middle-to-lower class white men think they have an opportunity at wealth and power, and when they don't, they turn to women and people of color, especially black women, and blame those groups for their situations and lack of opportunity. White supremacy is dangerous not only to women and people of color but also to white men and all progress. Oluo discusses: the violence of Westward expansion and the foundations it laid, the toxicity of Bernie Bros and male feminists, housing covenants, glass cliffs, the great migration and anti-Black violence, higher education, the power dynamics in college and pro football, and the list goes on.

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meganelise's review against another edition

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5.0

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sydneyj's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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4.25

I liked this much more than Oluo's previous book. I thought that the premise and execution were well done. Oluo ties a lot of disparate threads together under this theme. I will say, however, that the beginning and ending of the book were stronger and clearer than the middle.

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tachyondecay's review against another edition

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4.0

When I heard Ijeoma Oluo had written another book, there was no question in my mind that I would run, not walk, to NetGalley to request it. Publisher Seal Press made it happen! Medicore: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America is a formidable follow-up to So You Want to Talk About Race. In her first book, Oluo outlines all the ways that white people can move past ignorance and fragility to have authentic dialogue about race and racism. In this book, Oluo explains how white supremacy (particularly in the United States) creates a culture of mediocrity in which white men receive the message that they deserve greatness, even if they haven’t actually done all that much. I’m sure many people will dismiss this book as an attack on white people. But if you go into it with an open mind, the history that Oluo outlines demonstrates incontrovertibly the hostility that the United States has shown and continues to show Black people and people of colour.

At first, I wasn’t sure what Oluo was doing. But soon the picture emerged: each chapter began with the white supremacy of the past, from which Oluo draws a line into th white supremacy of the present. This is a history lesson, one that establishes how today’s racism exists atop a foundation of racism from centuries prior. In this way, Oluo demolishes the myth so often sold by white men to each other—the idea that it is possible to make American great again. America has not been great, especially for Black people and people of colour. The United States has always privileged the feelings of white people over the lives of non-white people.

Now, I am Canadian, so I am slightly outside the target audience for this book. Canada has its own dangerous legacy of colonialism and racism and is also a white supremacist state. I’ll have to seek out pertinent books about anti-Black racism here. Nevertheless, I think non-Americans would benefit greatly from reading this book. First, it will help us understand what the hell is going on in America. A little history lesson goes a long way. Second, although the details are different here, the story arc is the same: white people show up, steal the land, import cheap labour by people of colour, and then marginalize and oppress them when they’ve gone from useful to inconvenient. Oluo’s chapters are illuminating regardless of where you live.

Take her chapter on education, for example. I like how she explains the paradox of post-secondary education for people of colour. Right-wing pundits sometimes insist that post-secondary institutions are bastions of socialism and political correctness gone wrong. In fact, post-secondary institutions are still racist, sexist, classist, etc. Oluo points out, therefore, that attending college or university is simultaneously the best path people of colour have for attaining middle-class stability and one of the worst places to be, in terms of facing discrimination. This paradox is but one of many in American society—and I’m sure it is much the same here in Canada too.

For my fellow white people, this book asks us to examine how we are complicit in white supremacy and patriarchy. And those of us who aren’t men are still complicit. Oluo’s entire thesis is that we cannot allow the conversation to be distilled down to “some white guys are terrible.” Her whole point is that this is not about individuals; this is about systems. So you do not have to be a white man to participate in upholding a system that privileges white men. Additionally, Oluo points out that the system really wants to help rich white men—the system by design punishes poor white men too. This, in turn, motivates them to uphold white supremacy by encouraging them to feel superior to people of colour.

I’ve said this before, and I will say it again: if you want to consider yourself anti-racist, you need to do that work. And that means you need to do more than read books. But Mediocre is a great starting point in your quest for information. What matters going forward is what you do with the information, how you throw around your metaphorical weight to help dismantle the system Oluo exposes here.

I would like to quote at length from this book, but if I did that, this review would contain almost the entire book. Oluo’s writing is just that dense with meaning. This is a book that can be savoured as you explore each chapter, and it is rich with connections and ideas. Mediocre invites you, as I said, to truly consider white supremacy as a four-dimensional system—and when you can see the shape of a thing, through time as well as space, you have a better chance of understanding how to manipulate—or in this case, dismantle it.

Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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5.0

Thanks to Seal Press for the free advance copy of this book.

MEDIOCRE is one of those books that makes the reader feel like they've put on a new pair of glasses and everything is clearer. So much of what Oluo dissects in this book are ideas that I've seen half-formed in many places, but she really expands on them and places them into the larger social context in a way that made lightbulbs go off all over the place for me. 📚
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The thesis of this book is that American men have been told the world is theirs, and when that wasn't delivered, they needed scapegoats - women, BIPOC, poor people - anyone who isn't them is taking away what is rightfully theirs. 📚
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Oluo traces several threads throughout American history - from the Wild West to the NFL - that have converged over time to bring us to where we are today. I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of these social forces now, and am better equipped to have conversations about them in the context of our current political landscape. I think if you are still trying to grasp all the reasons why Trump voters act the way they do, this book is a must-read. 📚
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Content warnings: Antisemitism, bullying, death, gun violence, hate crime, Islamophobia, mass/school shootings, misogyny, physical abuse, police brutality, racial slurs, racism, slavery, suicidal thoughts, violence, and xenophobia.

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