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A review by adamrbrooks
Newsfail: Climate Change, Feminism, Gun Control, and Other Fun Stuff We Talk About Because Nobody Else Will by Allison Kilkenny, Jamie Kilstein
3.0
First of all, before reading, watch Kilstein's appearance on Conan. It will help you get the voice of the book (though I didn't watch it until nearly the end, when he tells the story).
If you pick it up, you probably know the authors are purporting to talk about how the media is failing our democracy. Which, to be fair, is probably true. But the book is largely just lectures on things they see as problems -- politics, foreign policy, the war on drugs, the war on women, eating meat, etc. And in almost all cases, I agree with them. But they just want to talk about those issues, then say, "And the corporate media doesn't agree with us." True, but they aren't really examining why and how that happens.
Ultimately, they tend to fall into a common trap of thinking, "If only people know what we do, they would see the light!" But it's not necessarily true. There are legitimately people who believe the war on drugs is legitimate, that racial bias in sentencing is because of differences in people, that convicts and drug users SHOULD suffer in prison for their sins/crimes, etc.
Maybe it's just that I'm fairly well-informed (so I think), but I didn't feel I learned much from this book. Maybe that's what I really want from non-fiction.
If you pick it up, you probably know the authors are purporting to talk about how the media is failing our democracy. Which, to be fair, is probably true. But the book is largely just lectures on things they see as problems -- politics, foreign policy, the war on drugs, the war on women, eating meat, etc. And in almost all cases, I agree with them. But they just want to talk about those issues, then say, "And the corporate media doesn't agree with us." True, but they aren't really examining why and how that happens.
Ultimately, they tend to fall into a common trap of thinking, "If only people know what we do, they would see the light!" But it's not necessarily true. There are legitimately people who believe the war on drugs is legitimate, that racial bias in sentencing is because of differences in people, that convicts and drug users SHOULD suffer in prison for their sins/crimes, etc.
Maybe it's just that I'm fairly well-informed (so I think), but I didn't feel I learned much from this book. Maybe that's what I really want from non-fiction.