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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
I found this book a little all over the place compared to his So, You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and The Psychopath Test. But the Alex Jones content at the end was amazing.
People are strange, and this is a good example of just how strange they can get, and how dangerous extreme views and opinions can make someone. As is true with other of Ronson's books, this is very much the author's experiences in investigative reporting. It's a personal account more than anything else. Not his best work, for me, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Huge fan of Ronson. Really enjoyed the parts about his time with Alex Jones, the now famous Bohemian Grove ritual and David Icke. Fascinating reading about the Weaver cabin and Islamic extremism in London (I wish he'd managed to write more on this). Not his best book, but certainly worth a read.
What I love about Jon Ronson is his ability to see the insanity and sanity of both sides. Yes, believing lizard people are ruling the world is insane, yet the idea that there are elites with little accountability and an outsized role in world politics is quite reasonable. Sure, the government may not be a grand conspiracy of Jews trying to destroy civilization, but that doesn't mean it won't fall into a deadly disaster through gross incompetence.
In Ronson's world, there are people on all sides who are trying to use logic yet not always coming reasonable conclusions. Among the right-wing loonies he includes a left-wing group whose insistence that every government-conspiracy group is anti-semitic means they can't accept that yes, there is a group that isn't being euphemistic when they talk about those evil alien lizards. Ronson shows all easily pretty much anyone can fall into paranoia and conspiracy thinking.
Ronson has the clear vision of someone who is more interested in observing than judging. It allows him to calmly portray a KKK leader trying to clad the organization in a cloak of positivity, but to also show the moments the mask falls and the monster peaks out.
Consistently entertaining, amusing, and thought-provoking, like everything from Ronson.
In Ronson's world, there are people on all sides who are trying to use logic yet not always coming reasonable conclusions. Among the right-wing loonies he includes a left-wing group whose insistence that every government-conspiracy group is anti-semitic means they can't accept that yes, there is a group that isn't being euphemistic when they talk about those evil alien lizards. Ronson shows all easily pretty much anyone can fall into paranoia and conspiracy thinking.
Ronson has the clear vision of someone who is more interested in observing than judging. It allows him to calmly portray a KKK leader trying to clad the organization in a cloak of positivity, but to also show the moments the mask falls and the monster peaks out.
Consistently entertaining, amusing, and thought-provoking, like everything from Ronson.
Really enjoyed this. Interesting reading about conspiracy people I've known about for a long time.
Like Evan Wright, Ronson has the journalistic insight to know that radical fringe groups, far from wanting to be secret, are longing for an audience for their activities and theories. Ronson, who makes it clear he is a Jew, is invited along to rallies and training camps by three feuding branches of the Klan, Mullah Omar Bakri, Randy Weaver, David Icke, Ian Paisley and radio host Alex Jones, all of whom hate each other, but are fixated on the Bilderburg Group controlling the world. Most of these groups teeter uncomfortably on the edge of pathetic while still being absolutely capable of inciting dangerous violence and amazingly obtuse ignorance in a catalog of the banality of crazy (most notably Icke attempting to convince Canadian border officials that unlike some of his followers, when he talks about a conspiracy of Lizard people, it isn't a code word for Jews, he actually means Lizard People, who are not covered under Canada's anti-defamation laws).
I think I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read it 20 years ago, when it first came out, rather than in 2021. While reading, in the back of my mind was always the thought that these same Klansmen & neo-Nazis have now come out of the woodwork, that Alex Jones & David Icke not only influence a huge portion of my country but also my federal government and presidents. Alt-right conspiracy theorists, militia men, & extremists now not only are emboldened as part of mainstream media, but have infiltrated our healthcare system, our justice system, and write laws. There's no entertainment to find in these pages for me anymore, just an exhausting sense of grief.
This was an extremely fun and informative read. Ronson's self-deprecating style incorporates honesty with entertaining gonzo journalism and a willingness to do almost anything and trust almost anyone in the name of a story. If he ever fears for himself in his increasingly unusual adventures, he writes about it, and if he sees that he is becoming as paranoid as his conspiracy theorist subjects, he admits it freely.
The subject matter was completely unknown to me, but Ronson delivered it helpfully, slowly introducing new characters and scenarios and occasionally reinforcing the reader's understanding, without coming across as pandering. That's a hard line to walk in investigative journalism, especially when the subject metter touches equally on niche and (what should be) general knowledge-- but I think he walks it wonderfully throughout. I learned a lot about conspiracies, world leaders, extremist figures, and atrocities about which I knew nothing, like the battle for Ruby Ridge. I have no idea how I could have been so completely unaware of such a monumentally disturbing event in modern history, but I'm grateful to have learned about it from so honest a writer. I think it takes great skill and character to be able to look at a massacre, relay its horrors openly and honestly, and find some modicum of true humor within it-- finding the seeds of irony that make the situation possible to digest.
Above all, I think this book made me aware, for the first time, of the strange subculture of conspiracy theorists and counter-conspiracy agents, extremists and coalitions against extremism, racists and anti-racists, and how the two sides of the coin are almost indistinguishable, as if they've built up to an arms race of absurdity for media attention. Fascinating stuff, and a thankfully fast read for the amount of information contained within. I will definitely be checking out more of Ronson's work, namely [b:The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry|9378733|The Psychopath Test A Journey Through the Madness Industry|Jon Ronson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1307825196s/9378733.jpg|14262366]. Because psychology.
The subject matter was completely unknown to me, but Ronson delivered it helpfully, slowly introducing new characters and scenarios and occasionally reinforcing the reader's understanding, without coming across as pandering. That's a hard line to walk in investigative journalism, especially when the subject metter touches equally on niche and (what should be) general knowledge-- but I think he walks it wonderfully throughout. I learned a lot about conspiracies, world leaders, extremist figures, and atrocities about which I knew nothing, like the battle for Ruby Ridge. I have no idea how I could have been so completely unaware of such a monumentally disturbing event in modern history, but I'm grateful to have learned about it from so honest a writer. I think it takes great skill and character to be able to look at a massacre, relay its horrors openly and honestly, and find some modicum of true humor within it-- finding the seeds of irony that make the situation possible to digest.
Above all, I think this book made me aware, for the first time, of the strange subculture of conspiracy theorists and counter-conspiracy agents, extremists and coalitions against extremism, racists and anti-racists, and how the two sides of the coin are almost indistinguishable, as if they've built up to an arms race of absurdity for media attention. Fascinating stuff, and a thankfully fast read for the amount of information contained within. I will definitely be checking out more of Ronson's work, namely [b:The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry|9378733|The Psychopath Test A Journey Through the Madness Industry|Jon Ronson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1307825196s/9378733.jpg|14262366]. Because psychology.
Intrepid journalism by one of Hull's finest writers. A quick and fun read.