Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy by Talia Lavin

5 reviews

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

There was a lot I really liked about this book. The scary look into far-right infiltrative journalism really put me on edge. Lavin is incredibly brave and principled. However, much of this book read like a collection of well-written journal articles. The overall story lacked cohesiveness. I enjoyed each section independently ("We Keep Us Safe" was a standout), but don't go into this expecting a deep dive into the path of online radicalism. It's good as a more intro-level text of vignettes. Lavin's writing is strong, personal, and emotional, though I found it repetitive (and I spent a fair amount of time looking up words). 3.5 stars.

"To those who find themselves uncomfortable with the operation of antifascists outside the comfortable bounds of institutions and, at times, the law, I remind you that the French partisans of World War II were acting illegally, while the Einsatzgruppen had the full support of German law. We tend to like our noble lawbreakers to be comfortably in the past, where time and death have sanitized them into heroes, and to suffer those who struggle against injustice in the present only grudgingly, if at all."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Police brutality, Cursing, Ableism, Body horror, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Sexism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Misogyny, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Death, Suicide, Stalking, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Self harm, Slavery, Hate crime, War, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child death and Pandemic/Epidemic

collins1129's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Stalking, Violence, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Colonisation, Gore, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

acy's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts

amarchetta's review

challenging informative reflective

3.0

I’m glad I read this book because it reflected the grueling work the author did in her research. It was difficult to get through due to the weight of the material present. I hate to give this a lower star rating because of the incredible insights the author could provide, but I didn’t find the flow/format of the book very readable. I can’t say anyone would enjoy reading the vicious hate spewed by the book’s subjects, but the work itself wasn’t as engrossing as I had hoped. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia

ehmannky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75

 I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long while. Lavin documents the various ways in which white supremacy has become a global movement online and the ways in which tech companies such as YouTube and Twitter are complicit in that. She follows the history of white supremacy, tangled with antisemitism, and how it is fed by misogyny, homophobia, and a deep-seeded racial hatred towards anyone who isn't a very specific kind of white person. I felt a deep respect for Lavin's willingness to go undercover and submerge herself in the rampant abuse in order to show everyone what this culture is and why it's so dangerous to ignore it and allow it to grow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Bullying, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence