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fleeno 's review for:
Identity Crisis
by Ben Elton
The world has gone mad, identity politics is rampant, and one tweet can make or break a person. At least in the world of Ben Eltons latest book. Old-school London detective Mick Matlock is investigating a series of suspicious murders/suicides in the lead up to a referendum on whether England should leave the United Kingdom. All the victims had engaged in some form of 'identity politics' and poor Matlock finds himself battling 'political correctness' as he tries desperately not to offend everyone and anyone. The book begins with Matlock being dragged through social media for some unintentional victim-blaming. “Why did everything have to be so tricky?” is his constant lament through the whole book - it is just so hard for a middle aged, straight, white, man to keep up with peoples ever changing views.
There are the familiar hostilities which exist in every debate - the battle between latte-sipping snowflakes and the conservative, old fashioned, fuddy daddies and the alt right. Theres a succession of #MeToo scandals and the entirely believable sub plot of the Russians meddling in British politics.
Elton points out how badly people behave online compared to the rational humans they appear to be IRL and the real world consequences of that bad behaviour. Matlock's constant lament that the world has gone mad and common sense just isn't prevailing felt a bit like that was Eltons mantra. One tweet doesn't destroy anyone's career (Trump is proof of that) and a group of people identifying as anything doesn't change the whole national landscape. The case only gets a breakthrough when Matlock puts his foot down and insists on using "non PC descriptors". There are so many people who think that one allegation can destroy a mans career, giving rights to one group of people will erode the rights of others, and people take identity politics too far. While there may be isolated cases, on the whole that just isnt true. I'm sure there will be people who find this satirical and hilarious but for me it missed the mark.
There are the familiar hostilities which exist in every debate - the battle between latte-sipping snowflakes and the conservative, old fashioned, fuddy daddies and the alt right. Theres a succession of #MeToo scandals and the entirely believable sub plot of the Russians meddling in British politics.
Elton points out how badly people behave online compared to the rational humans they appear to be IRL and the real world consequences of that bad behaviour. Matlock's constant lament that the world has gone mad and common sense just isn't prevailing felt a bit like that was Eltons mantra. One tweet doesn't destroy anyone's career (Trump is proof of that) and a group of people identifying as anything doesn't change the whole national landscape. The case only gets a breakthrough when Matlock puts his foot down and insists on using "non PC descriptors". There are so many people who think that one allegation can destroy a mans career, giving rights to one group of people will erode the rights of others, and people take identity politics too far. While there may be isolated cases, on the whole that just isnt true. I'm sure there will be people who find this satirical and hilarious but for me it missed the mark.