Messy Manifetso

They say that to propagate a lie, you need to bookend it with facts, truths and things people know. Nothing better describes this book thusly. A mix of pieces of history, quotes that are only occasionally cited, and sweeping generalisations, this book is a love letter to a kind of living - middle class suburbia, unthreatened by evolution - which in and of itself is a construct of the oligarchy. There are also massive amounts of information missing - the power of collectivism to champion minorities and workers rights (this gets part of one chapter), Marx is mentioned often but the context that his manifesto was partly a reaction to the way middle/ working class people at the time were being treated by corporations is completely missed. Of course this book is very USA- centric, with examples based mostly on that country, though there are examples of other world cities, and some of those details are incorrect, again making a sweeping generalisation about how people in that city reacted to a certain incident. The Far Left and Right are mentioned, but it's very clear the author sees the agitation for greater rights as (on one hand) danger to the order of things, and on the other as something to engage in... but not the way the Left does it.
The reality is that the middle class is a construct designed in the Industrial Revolution to keep kids in schools so parents could work longer hours in factories. Then it was adapted to keep women at home so more men could have jobs (post-WW1 and WW2), and then again it was promoted by Hollowood as the ideal in the 50s and 60s to distract attention away from the growing civil rights movement.
The author has some interesting ideas, and they basically border on the idea of Class Warfare that have been discussed for a very long time, but it's when he tangentially ties these together with his own biases, thoughts and feelings that there is contradiction and repetition. At some points he rails against "for the greater good" and then he tells us to have children for the society even if we can't do that.
There's so much to say about this book, and very little of it is good. The ideas are old, the survey data is from 2015-2018, the idea of generational change and societal evolution is missing, but most of all it's the way he weaves this contradictory manifesto together with quotes from random "experts" (which he also says is bad but then highlights them as virtuous), fictional books with dystopian plots and historical examples which can be good, but he misses the prime fact that it was collectivism after the Plague that led to the end of Serfdom. He only mentions it once, and then moves on without returning to the idea of society joining together to challenge the status quo. He also completely misses the cultural impact of civilizations like the Mongols or Moors in Europe's advancement to an age of enlightenment - rather his point is that immigration from these countries ONLY leads to "youths hanging around the streets" and the loss of existing culture. He is not a fan of multiculturalism with very little evidence that it's harmful. He rails against the Far Left, mentions the Far Right and misses out a lot.
Honestly, the performance is good, the book is flawed on so many levels. If it agitates you for change, great! But the path he's sending you down is one that follows the existing power dynamic, the oligarchy, not challenges it. He's bought into the "divide and conquer" propaganda from the Powers That Be (which at no point includes media moguls which is a HUGE oversight) and runs with it. It's fundamentally a lie to distract us from everything else and he misses it! I'm sure he thinks he is very enlightened, but alas, this book is actually rubbish. Look more widely and you'll find better work.

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Required reading

Required reading to understand the present and future economic and societal trends. Reshaped my thinking.

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insightful call to action

Must read for any concerned citizen .. learn what can be done to save the middle class

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1 person found this helpful

Depressing, scary and really, really good

wow... i think the best thing about this book is that it comes across as very well researched, and completely unbiased. really good.

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great

loved it was very good, very good wow it was good very good so good

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Brilliant

Spot on, should be required reading.
I am likely biased towards the thesis in this book, so I found it excellent.
Those still aspiring to make it big in the gig economy should read this book, if for no other reason than to leave it and go get a real job which may get them ahead in life.

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A summary of everything !

Explaining how we got where we are now and wh6 we'll return to the debt slavery of neo-feudalism via the digital UBI.

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Awesome

A great read

Thoroughly enjoyed the analysis which unlike so many these days was not political but fact based

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Cultural extinction through ignorance/apathy.

The author issues a data backed, hard nosed and insightful summary of the forces lined up against the fragile flame of a liberty culture.
Our liberty culture is driven by the kind of benign, agreeable and trusting relations that typify western attitudes, on a good day.
On a bad day we all too easily slip down the one way slope of tyranny, totalitarianism and despotism.
We see these forces of dark lining up to grab the proceeds of a thousand years of enlightened thoughts and attitudes.
Will we collectively co-operate is such a preventable mist of stupidity and false righteousness.

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5 people found this helpful

interesting

a great perspective on the workings of the world and a glimpse into the psychology behind it

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