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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
I laughed
I learned some stuff
Can’t ask for much more
Hadn’t realised that it was 20 years old
I learned some stuff
Can’t ask for much more
Hadn’t realised that it was 20 years old
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-paced
I've always enjoyed Ronson, so it's hard to review this without bias. But it's fits really well with Goats and Lost at Sea. You laugh a lot, but almost through a defenses mechanism of how insane a lot of the people and situation are.
I don't normally write reviews on this app, but after the events this weekend in Charlottesville, VA, I felt compelled to go ahead and give this book a plug. If you're not already familiar with Jon Ronson's work, I would not start here...pick up The Psychopath Test or So You've Been Publicly Shamed first. Through those two books you'll get a better feel for his wry sense of humor when addressing heavy topics. This book, however, was a thrilling behind-the-scenes look into a couple different forms of what we think of when the word "extremist" is mentioned. Jonson is not exactly sympathetic to his subjects, but he does describe becoming familiar with them, even a bit friendly, which is, at times, unsettling, but oh so conducive in helping his readers understand this very important fact: THEY don't see themselves as THEM. We must not normalize hate, but we must understand that most people do not see themselves as not normal. People on the fringe rarely see themselves as fringe. Everything we're experiencing in recent weeks is not new. Johnson wrote this book before the so-called "alt-right" (white supremacists) became "emboldened" in the media's mind, but hate rallies, hate speech, hate crimes are woven into the very fabric of this country. It is in your community. Closer than we think. And it does us no good to ignore ignorance. I don't know what else to say or do, but I know that for me, I'm going to try to stop taking enlightenment for granted. I'm going to try to stop being surprised when spray-painted swastikas show up in my neighborhood cemeteries or when racist epithets are graffitied on historically black churches. My outrage may be useful - maybe - but I'm starting to think my shock is not. I do not say these things to cause fear. I still think the vocal minority is that - a minority. But when our history is built on so much suffering, hate, violence and oppression, we must start confronting the seeds of extremism - unconscious bias, unrecognized belief in superiority, contentment with privilege and inequality, us vs them insular thinking, etc. - inside our own homes and hearts, recognizing that it does not come out and declare itself to be extreme.
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Interesting, it was written 20 years ago, so the examples are quite old but the topic is still revelant today, I would even say, more so, because of the rise of social media, people are becoming extremists in staggering numbers, especially considering the fact that you can end up in an echo chamber and the algorithm helps reinforce extreme ideals, rather than arguments from the other side. And if someone sees one person state something on fb, it is taken as truth and fact checking has become non existence on both sides. I wish Jon would write a sequel about this. Even though I understand a little bit why people become extremists: we all want to be special in some way. If we know the "truth", we are special and not like the other "sheep". We are better than the others because we aren't snowflakes, etc etc. It's obviously a lot more complicated than that, but that was just an example to a complex issue that is only getting worse and worse. And will continue to get worse and I don't even know how you'd try to tackle the issue, because some people will happily deny facts no matter what.
It also surprised me that "The great reset/new world order" that I have heard people mentioning time and time again, has been around since atleast the 80's which was interesting.
It also surprised me that "The great reset/new world order" that I have heard people mentioning time and time again, has been around since atleast the 80's which was interesting.
Good reading at a time we are surrounded by Hillary, Trump and the like.