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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Though Murray’s latest entry into the culture wars has some similarities to, say, the recent work by John McWhorter (‘Woke Racism’), one critical difference is that as McWhorter explains he is writing to the New Yorker crowd while it’s all so obvious that Murray’s rants are clearly aimed at the Ben Shapiro / Faux News / Newsmax listenership. This is an issue because he rarely makes any attempt to convince anyone outside of the ditto-head philosophical leaning rabble on the merits of his arguments and instead is just boiler plate boring grievances to serve as chum for his readership. Just take one of his ham-fisted examples: is the information regarding the centuries-long castrating of African slaves by middle easterners actually true and if so what bearing does it have on the obvious wrongs done by European slave traders and the founding of the ‘West’? It’s sophomoric. He just comes off as a hack throughout even when he would otherwise make some decent argumentation.
challenging
informative
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I agreed with much of what this book has to say but…
This is a worldwide view of anti-west sentiment and the self loathing nature of our current culture. I’ve see some of the things it puts forward like a desire to “de-colonize” the white western canon by removing it from school reading lists in favour of modern, more diverse selections. The problem I had with it is when it turns into a list of anecdotes intended to be inflammatory.
Some of the things he lists are sometimes not well researched. He mentioned the residential schools here in Canada where the bodies of indigenous child were found in unmarked graves. He infers that it was based on the claims of one person with little evidence to back it up, I know that to be untrue, forensic pathologist were sent from around the country to investigate. Also, I had a hard time swallowing his defence of the church and the idea that without religion there can’t be true morality.
Overall I agree with his main message which is that western culture has done many evils but also many good things and tearing the whole thing down would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
This is a worldwide view of anti-west sentiment and the self loathing nature of our current culture. I’ve see some of the things it puts forward like a desire to “de-colonize” the white western canon by removing it from school reading lists in favour of modern, more diverse selections. The problem I had with it is when it turns into a list of anecdotes intended to be inflammatory.
Some of the things he lists are sometimes not well researched. He mentioned the residential schools here in Canada where the bodies of indigenous child were found in unmarked graves. He infers that it was based on the claims of one person with little evidence to back it up, I know that to be untrue, forensic pathologist were sent from around the country to investigate. Also, I had a hard time swallowing his defence of the church and the idea that without religion there can’t be true morality.
Overall I agree with his main message which is that western culture has done many evils but also many good things and tearing the whole thing down would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Thought provoking. A useful read provided you are reasonably skeptical and open to challenging yourself by the same standards, that you challenge others.
informative
medium-paced
Another book by another author that reeks of privilege and misses the point of a greater conversation. Just from reading the introduction, you immediately hear this "but what about me?" tone, in which the abhorrent crimes and interference of the Western world are completely overlooked because apparently, the Eastern world is just as bad. And that may be the case. Bigotry and racism and slavery and other horrific social constraints have existed transnationally and still do. Countries like China and its communist regime, India and its stratified caste system, and Iran and its quashing of women's rights exist outside of the Western world and civilization. But, on a global scale and through a careful retracing of the last few centuries, many countries can attribute parts of their failings and misfortunes to Western hegemony. No one is saying that it is only the Western world that has acted inhumanely. But, it is the legacy of the Western world in other nation-states that is still being felt in its full brutality. Murray missed the point in the introduction, so why should I waste my time on another 300 pages of whiny, deflective recounts of why the Western world is so amazing? In reality, it isn't. Neither is the Eastern world. Both have committed heinous historic acts of violence and suppression. But it is ultimately the influence of the Western world that we still continue to live under and continue to glorify in our institutions. Murray, you don't even deserve a one-star rating.
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Another great, and timely, read from Douglas Murray. This book doesn’t cover such a broad array of topics like “The Madness of Crowds” does and mostly centers around race, which is why I rate it lower. At times it seems slightly repetitive and the examples he lists are numerous in regards to Woke Leftisms ideas on race. Very timely read nevertheless and I would still recommend it to anyone interested in modern politics and reason.