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darkenergy 's review for:
Them: Adventures with Extremists
by Jon Ronson
I don't like conspiracy theories. I think the notion that even a powerful group of individuals can control world events is absurd, given how inherently unpredictable people are.
But....
I'm used to Ronson presenting information in a what seems to be completely objective way, but which easily can be construed as subtly poking fun at the absurd. And no doubt that many of the people we meet in this book are absurd: the Islamic fundamentalist who claims he's saving the orphans so people will take his leaflets, the Grand Wizard trying to rebrand the KKK, the former newscaster who believes world leaders are giant lizards, etc. Who I wasn't expecting to find absurd was the Anti-Defamation League and other groups who look for anti-Semitism in every right-wing view, or the actions of our own government in the Ruby Ridge incident. Or, for that matter, the existence of an actual Bilderberg Group, or depraved happenings in Bohemian Grove.
Ronson dives into a world of people from the entire political and ideological spectrum who all have one thing in common: they're convinced someone is out to get them/the world they stand for. With his usual mix of light, sometimes absurd humor and candor, Ronson brings to light the fact that these conspiracies have root in truth and that no side, no matter how just it thinks its cause is, engages in a certain amount of demonization of Them, the Other. (If you've read The Prague Cemetery or some history, you will be more familiar with the anti-Semitic happenings of the nineteenth century.) This work is a little rougher than his later works, but it's still engaging and characteristically humorous and sympathetic towards the fact that these people may believe insane things or represent a far from mainstream side, but they're still people.
But....
I'm used to Ronson presenting information in a what seems to be completely objective way, but which easily can be construed as subtly poking fun at the absurd. And no doubt that many of the people we meet in this book are absurd: the Islamic fundamentalist who claims he's saving the orphans so people will take his leaflets, the Grand Wizard trying to rebrand the KKK, the former newscaster who believes world leaders are giant lizards, etc. Who I wasn't expecting to find absurd was the Anti-Defamation League and other groups who look for anti-Semitism in every right-wing view, or the actions of our own government in the Ruby Ridge incident. Or, for that matter, the existence of an actual Bilderberg Group, or depraved happenings in Bohemian Grove.
Ronson dives into a world of people from the entire political and ideological spectrum who all have one thing in common: they're convinced someone is out to get them/the world they stand for. With his usual mix of light, sometimes absurd humor and candor, Ronson brings to light the fact that these conspiracies have root in truth and that no side, no matter how just it thinks its cause is, engages in a certain amount of demonization of Them, the Other. (If you've read The Prague Cemetery or some history, you will be more familiar with the anti-Semitic happenings of the nineteenth century.) This work is a little rougher than his later works, but it's still engaging and characteristically humorous and sympathetic towards the fact that these people may believe insane things or represent a far from mainstream side, but they're still people.