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klsreads's review
challenging
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.25
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this little essay. It was smart, incisive, and funny. Shawn doesn't pretend to have the answers but does offer a clear analysis of the "lucky" and "unlucky" in current society and why the underclass rises up in defiance. He recognizes that he is part of the "lucky" class. Overall, it's a meditation on the nature of right and wrong and whether humanity can profoundly course-correct to achieve a better world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Police brutality, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Deportation, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, War, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Pedophilia
balkeyeston's review
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
What begins as a series of notes, passing thoughts on itemized existential anxieties very quickly becomes a careful questioning of the meaning of success and civilization. What does it mean to be on the lucky side of history, even up to the days of our self-inflicted demise?
Night Thoughts is a short, intellectual essay that strips social and national disputes of their names in order to force us to rebuild our own thinking of the meaning of civilization without bias, racism, privilege, or prejudice. Without the terms "Islamic State" and "Marxism," which social revolutions and actions are the ones rooted in collective liberation, and which ones are only invested in revenge and punishment of the oppressor? From the very fundamental basics of logic and moral thought, Shawn helps us relearn and resensitize ourselves to the tragedies of humanity alongside our greatest accomplishments.
Ultimately, Shawn presents us with the crisis to end the existence of humanity, and asks us how we can change ourselves when we are confronted with the wounds we inflict on the unlucky, the poor and underprivileged, the colonized and the oppressed. In recalibrating our moral compass, will we be able to steer ourselves away from extinction and towards a common, collective good before it's too late?
Night Thoughts is a short, intellectual essay that strips social and national disputes of their names in order to force us to rebuild our own thinking of the meaning of civilization without bias, racism, privilege, or prejudice. Without the terms "Islamic State" and "Marxism," which social revolutions and actions are the ones rooted in collective liberation, and which ones are only invested in revenge and punishment of the oppressor? From the very fundamental basics of logic and moral thought, Shawn helps us relearn and resensitize ourselves to the tragedies of humanity alongside our greatest accomplishments.
Ultimately, Shawn presents us with the crisis to end the existence of humanity, and asks us how we can change ourselves when we are confronted with the wounds we inflict on the unlucky, the poor and underprivileged, the colonized and the oppressed. In recalibrating our moral compass, will we be able to steer ourselves away from extinction and towards a common, collective good before it's too late?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Minor: Xenophobia
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