Friday, February 26, 2021

Blackout - Candace Owens


I almost never read political opinion books written by elected officials anymore because I think the majority of them are actually written by the kind of hired-gun ghost writer paid handsomely to make the politician look a whole lot smarter than they actually are. I do, on the other hand, still occasionally read a political book written by a relative outsider, someone still far enough away from scene of the crime that they are not completely nauseated by the smell in the room. I generally prefer the ones written by respected historians (although my respect for even some of those people has slipped more than a notch or two in recent years) or by someone with a particularly interesting point-of-view. 

Candace Owens is one of those people, and Blackout is one of those books. 


Owens is what used to be much more rare than it is today: a young, black conservative with the courage to publicly share her beliefs about today’s political environment. As such, she has often been viciously targeted by media people and/or via social media in an attempt to discredit her to the point that she shuts up or changes her message to suit her critics. To her credit, this articulate young woman has done neither. Instead, she has responded to those who want so badly to destroy her with Blackout, a compelling argument that African American culture is going to continue to deteriorate as long as her fellow blacks are willing to sell their votes to the Democratic Party so cheaply. 


Owens contends that it is time for African Americans (she, I think, prefers the term “American Blacks”) to lose the herd mentality that has allowed one political party to claim roughly 95% of their votes for the last several decades. In that spirit, she has founded the “Blexit” movement by which she urges blacks to leave the Democratic Party until Democrat politicians actually earn their votes. She says that it is time to quit working for the Democrats for free. 


But perhaps the most damning charge Owens makes against Democrat politicians is that they will never allow black Americans to quit thinking of themselves as victims of systemic racism. Her argument goes that as long as blacks have someone other than themselves to blame for their cultural failures, they do not have to do the hard work of solving their own problems. It is just too much easier to have someone else promise to do that for them, as both political parties do, even though both parties almost never deliver in a meaningful way on those promises. The concept of black victimhood, Owens says, is a card that the Democrats have relied on for too long, a card they can never afford to give up now because black bloc-voting is what keeps them in power.


Bottom Line: In Blackout Candace Owens makes a strong case for what she herself has only relatively recently come to believe about American culture. Along the way, the reader learns about Owens’s upbringing and why she changed her own mind about the relationship between the Democratic Party and American Blacks. Sadly, I doubt that a significant number of  American Blacks are going to cut through all the noise and personal attacks on Owens long enough to read the book. That is part of the problem. And that is the saddest thing of all. Right, wrong, or somewhere in the middle of the real truth, Candace Owens deserves to be heard.

6 comments:

  1. Her voice is one that does need to be heard! I will definitely be reading this one. Thanks for reviewing it. I probably never would have heard of her or this book if you hadn't. :)

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    1. She came to my attention when she started showing up on various podcasts that I listen to on a semi-regular basis. I found her story to be a fascinating one, sort of a coming-of-age story that neither she nor anyone who knew her could have seen coming. She's had death threats galore, and the media really are out to ruin and discredit her. She's one tough lady.

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    1. I was curious to hear what she had to say from her point-of-view. She readily admits that until five years ago, she didn't think the way she does now, and she speaks to that evolution of thought in the book. She is thoughtful and rather calm in her approach to explaining her thoughts, and I ended up being even more impressed with her than I was goin in. Her interpretation of history is sometimes debatable but her analysis of where blacks in this country find themselves today is thoughtful, and I suspect, more accurate than not. She is a force to be reckoned with now.

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  3. I have come to really admire her. She gives me hope for the future.

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    1. She does exactly that, Pat. It's good to see such a young person thinking for themselves this way and having the courage to share the message with her peers. I just wish that more of them would hear her out...then they can decide for themselves.

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