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seriouslyreadabook

Seriously, Read a Book!

Thoughts on books, often interpreted through the high-brow prism of cartoon (read: Archer) references. Wait! I had something for this...

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Them: Adventures with Extremists

Them: Adventures with Extremists - Jon Ronson
My worryingly paradoxical thought process could be summarized thus: Thank God I don't believe in the secret rulers of the world. Imagine what the secret rulers of the world might do to me if I did!

Ronson's own thought process, as he describes it about half way through the book, is how I felt at my most "sucked in" moments which were, admittedly, few and far between.

I really like Jon Ronson and/but his propensity for sensationalism is both what attracts me to his books (Calling a book [b:The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry|9378733|The Psychopath Test A Journey Through the Madness Industry|Jon Ronson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1307825196s/9378733.jpg|14262366] is some pretty genius marketing), and has me take him with a grain of salt.

This book was published in 2002, which means that there was minimal integration of 9/11 conspiracy theory elements and, if you're trying to keep up with the Islamic fundamentalist or KKK movements of today, this isn't your best source.

Also, I found myself having to make liberal use of Wikipedia while I read this which was probably a result of my being insufficiently well-educated tween with respect to world politics when a lot of the research for this book was done circa 1998 (Nicolae Ceaușescu, James Wolfensohn and David Icke were among the many characters I had to look up...I know, I'm ashamed).

In the end, I can no more prove that there's a global elite controlling our world than I can that there's a Flying Spaghetti Monster- as Ronson himself points out, the nefarious Satanic rituals at Bohemian Grove bear strong resemblance to fraternity hazing (actually, the whole place reminded me of my summer camp), but ya never know...