About book Them: Adventures With Extremists (2003)
What is the Bilderberg Group? Is it a self-interested but vaguely benevolent private club composed of international movers & shakers who come together annually to discuss "government and politics, finance, industry, labour, education and communications"? Or is it a nefarious group of power brokers and nation breakers - the Secret Rulers of the World?Who is David Icke? Goofy New Age conspiracy nut who believes our leaders actually belong to 1 of 16 sinister alien-reptile species? Or a misunderstood questioner of the powers that be?Who is Ku Klux Klansman Thom Robb? Who is Omar Bakri Muhammad? Who is Ian Paisley? What really happened on Ruby Ridge?But most important to me as a reader... who is Jon Ronson?Is Jon Ronson a semi-comic journalist, author, and documentarian who has made a career out of puncturing various blowhards - in particular self-important politicians and freaky cult-style leaders? Is Jon Ronson a passive milquetoast who quivers in fear at the slightest threat? Is he an obnoxiously "neutral" and unusually self-absorbed member of the press corps... the sort of ruthlessly clueless reporter who would forget about pulling a kid out of burning car just so that he could take some cool snaps... the kind of hopelessly naive person who pretends that no one is truly capable of enacting evil - after all, you just gotta look under the surface and we're all just silly, harmless humans who couldn't hurt a fly, right? Or is Jon Ronson simply an adorable wet kitty cat? This collection of anecdotes focusing on the "human elements" of various controversial figures and groups - with a brief but poignant (and ultimately infuriating) stop-off into the world of Ruby Ridge - is fast-paced and consistently amusing. I really appreciated the humanization of the assorted extremists - it fit right into my cynical-but-basically-humanistic perspective. People ARE funny. And even villains are people too, right? They have their little human foibles. No person is all bad or all good and everyone has their personal context and everyone is three-dimensional blah blah blah.This has been a surprisingly popular book for a couple groups of friends. So let me talk about them for a little bit. These friends are: semi college educated & college educated & college - yeah right; work with their hands (so to speak), or not - but not office drones either; somewhat anti-intellectual; staunchly pro-human rights; semi hard-drinkin' family men... the kind of assortment of social work & blue collar & non-corporate, hates-all-politicians kind of guys who form a surprisingly large portion of the Democratic Party's backbone. Factor in youths spent in various alternate subcultures and you have in some ways an ideal audience for this novel. In an engagingly sardonic and self-effacing style, the book reveals who the assholes are and how fucked up governments are and points out the hypocrisy of certain extremists - fun stuff. Heads nod in agreement, including mine. And under all the mild snark and comfy irony is an almost sweetly idealistic theme of "people are just people". Awww, shucks.Unlike my friends, I'm a Queer White Collar Nerd. But I doubt that that has anything to do with my different reaction. My friends are not naive (and, I should add, they are awesome), so maybe I'm just more of a prick. Whatever the reason may be, I didn't enjoy this as much as everyone else did. I really wonder why. This book annoyed me, sometimes even disgusted or angered me - but not because of Them's various subjects. JON RONSON was the problem. Oops, almost forgot my meaningless Venn Diagram: Anyway, I enjoyed it enough to give it 2 stars. It was fun. Cute even, at times. People and their little foibles, amused sigh. Crazy people sure are crazy, good grief! And yet they're human too, my goodness! Funny crazy humans!Eyeroll. I have some questions for you, Jon Ronson:- What is your problem with being a Jew? My God man, have some fucking pride! I'll give you this: you acknowledge your unseemly hypocrisy in buddying up with various creeps who base their careers on demonizing jewish folks and who actually fund groups whose intent is to Kill Jews. Yes, you acknowledge that practising dishonesty by omission made you feel bad. But you continued to do it! At one point you fantasize about sabatoging an effort calling for the decimation of your people. All you had to do was throw away some horrifically offensive flyers. And yet you do nothing, not the slightest thing, you just wish you could do something, and then you move on with a shrug. I'm sorry, but I'm just not cool with that. Have some courage. I don't respect wusses just because they admit that they are being a wuss. Fine, thanks for being honest - but you are still a wuss. Am I supposed to be charmed by your sheepish confessions and your continual lack of backbone?- Do you really think the Bilderberg Group is simply an overhyped bunch of harmless (albeit security-happy and obnoxiously exclusive) businessmen? Do you truly think they have had no impact whatsoever on the various events that have happened on the world stage? Are you that stunningly naive? Do you actually work for the Bilderberg Group?- Don't you believe in checking out someone's background before you go a-spyin' with him in Spain? I'll give the Good Ole Boy in question his props: he didn't seem like a complete idiot. But you didn't bother to check out the rag he edits first? You are surprised that his small-town rag published some virulently racist articles? As a journalist, you didn't think it was necessary to check out his actual work before going on a super secret spy mission with him? Do you think that just because someone is garrulous and down-to-earth that they can't be capable of doing things that are incredibly wrong?- Why didn't you mention that you had filmed a documentary on Ian Paisley prior to meeting him? You paint this scary blowhard as oh so mean to poor wittle Jon Ronson - Paisley's monstrous rudeness just comes out of nowhere. Don't you think it was at all necessary to declare your past history with the gent in question? That chapter functioned as a near hit piece... why? Sweet revenge for past insults?- Do you think that writing a narrative, reporting a story, being a documentarian... somehow lets you off the hook when it comes to basic decency? I hate frickin' excuses, and in particular I hate excuses that are trying to let someone off the hook out of doing the right thing. Case in point: you are aware that some jackasses are planning to physically and publicly humiliate a guy who you know is not a bad guy, who is not a racist or anti-semite or whatever... you know that what the jackasses are planning to do is completely unjust... the guy bares his soul to you, including all about his greatest fear: public humiliation, ON THE WAY TO WHERE THE PUBLIC ATTACK IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN... and you do nothing. Journalistic integrity, I suppose, right? Must not interfere, right? Fuck off! So it didn't turn out how the jackasses wanted it to turn out. So what? It could have - and you did nothing. I really wanted to kick your ass after that sequence.- Do you truly believe that the Fourth Estate is unbiased and objective? In your quest to understand extremists and extremism, to show the human inside the monster, to show the basic foolishness of man... have you forgotten that people actually die for their beliefs...that words and actions sometimes have meaning? Your chapter on Ruby Ridge was the only place I found genuine anger... are you afraid of anger? Are you afraid of being disgusted by people who do truly disgusting things? Is the world and all of its woes and all of its angry violent people and all of its blood and slaughter simply amusing and interesting topics to snort and smirk over? Are there truly no stakes? - Do you believe such passive engagement with the world is capable of delivering any kind of real truth? Well, at least the kind of truth that I can understand. "Objectivity"... Neutrality. Goddamn I hate that bullshit. Feh! Grow up, man. No one is truly neutral. Everything is subjective. I could have been riveted by this book if it had had the strength to have an actual opinion. This isn't a history book, it is not clinical research or a community needs assessment - it is a personal narrative. Personal Narrative. And so No Opinions = Bullshit. Be real, don't be afraid to have some opinions or to get a little hardcore. To be yourself. To be angry that there are a bunch of fucked-up things going on in the world, all the time, throughout time. I'd much rather have that pissed-off messiness than this determinedly amusing, blandly pleasant, roll over & die softcore truthiness.
Can I please have a half star system????? Or a 10 star system????? Yeah, I know. Then I'd have to back and re-rate every book I've rated and probably update all the reviews. It would be a hassle, but then I wouldn't have to struggle with some of these ratings.I'd give this one 2.5 stars. In most cases when I reach a 2 star rating it means I've pretty much decided I don't like the book, but it has something that requires I not give it the bottom of the well, 1 star. Maybe the prose has been good, or maybe it was a great idea that just crashed and burned in the execution. Well, here, the book isn't hard to read. It will probably hold your interest (if not your thought processes) throughout. The problem is, it really doesn't go anywhere. The writer is probably best know for The Men Who Stare at Goats. I recently read The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry. This will probably be my last foray into the writer's work.I have been for years interested in conspiracy theories. I've known (and know) people who buy into them entirely. I've had arguments with at least one that I had to leave at "well, we'll just have to agree to disagree." as this person believes so strongly in well, what they believe.The problem here is that Mr. Ronson's approach to book writing and reporting (basically following subjects around, recording what they do and say and what is done and said around them) doesn't boil down to anything here. He meets and interacts with several individuals and groups all of whom believe strongly in (or at least say they do) different conspiracies. Many...no, all of these tend to be contradictory theories. Mr. Ronson doesn't really make any effort to differentiate (aside from what appears to be his semi-meltdown at the end of it all), though he does play it a bit (and only a bit) for laughs. You never get a feel as to how he feels, what he thinks over all. Well, except that he ends about where he began...wondering who's screwed up and has the wrong view. "Him or them?"We meet Islamic believers who believe they are facing an anti-Islamic conspiracy. We meet white supremacists and white separatists. These are not the same but from outside they are often confused and lumped in with Nazi and Neo-Nazi groups and the KKK. There are New age groups who believe that all religions need to be done away. There is at least one new age group (hated or at least shunned by other new age groups) who believe the world is ruled by a race of giant reptiles who can appear human. (This group is lead by David Icke and other New age conspiracy as well as conspiracy theorists in general believe he's giving them a ll a bad name. They generally hold he's crazy or a part of the conspiracy simply trying to hurt the "movement"). There are theorists who believe in a cabal of old white men (the Bilderbergers or another group). Then there are those who still hold to the Jewish conspiracy.One of the problems in running anything down here is/was that racism tended to take center stage. Either as an actual fact or as a charge thrown at individuals or groups. Is this group antisemitic? Are they racist? was what this or that person said actually "a code word"? All in all an interesting read if picked up as a diversion. If you really want to find out something about conspiracy theories and theorists, look elsewhere.
Do You like book Them: Adventures With Extremists (2003)?
"Them" consists of journalist Jon Ronson's encounters with extremists of various stripes - a British Muslim extremist, a KKK leader, several believers of complex conspiracies and others. I loved how a subject is treated with a deceptively light touch by Ronson. The book is certainly quite humorous in spots though there are also several uncomfortable, even tense sequences, especially when some of the extremists learn or suspect of the author's own Jewish heritage. Most of the extremists are egotistical and yet many are also quite concerned that they appear in a 'good light' to Ronson, and therefore the public. It never fails though that the seemingly 'genial' extremist will burst into racist diatribe or in some other way reveal their true nature.In the beginning of this book, I had to check a couple of times to make sure that it was really non-fiction, as Jon Ronson's tales of extremists have some almost unbelievable passages. A very satisfying and enjoyable read.
—Christy
Jon Ronson must be one of the most fearless men alive. In this book, armed only with a good deal of persistence and his (extremely British) self-deprecating wit, he befriends and follows around conspiracy theorists, KKK members, Al Quaeda sympathizers and anti-semites of every stripe and variety. He also, while he's at it, attempts to infiltrate the secret, heavily guarded annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group and the somewhat less heavily guarded occult rites of the Bohemian Grove.The result is typical Jon Ronson - a rather light approach to often serious material, and a humorous vibe that belies his ability to get surprising answers out of people. The original premise of the book was that Ronson would spend time 'embedded' with the leaders of various British and American extremist groups and write about them. However, his experience soon revealed a common theme: all of these people, whether they were working towards global jihad or the purification of the white race, believed that world events were controlled by 'Them', a secretive cabal of people meeting in a room somewhere. So Jon Ronson, being Jon Ronson, set out to find that room. Two names cropped up again and again during the course of his investigations: The Bilderberg Group, a club of billionaires and politicians who supposedly met yearly at five star hotels to decide the course of world affairs, and The Bohemian Grove, a place in the Redwoods of California where the rulers of the world participated in pagan rituals at the food of a giant stone owl. Oh, one other name kept coming up as well: jews. Pretty much everyone believed that they were behind things somehow. Did I mention that Ronson is Jewish?For the most part the 'extremists' that Ronson followed come off as rather silly people searching desperately for validation rather than genuinely evil threats to humanity. But things do take some ugly turns, like when Ronson attempts to visit the compound of the Aryan Nations. Ronson also chronicles the events known as 'Ruby Ridge', which gave rise to much of the modern militia movement in America. I had never heard those events described in full until now. Even without buying into any conspiracy theories they are both heartbreaking and chilling.This book was written shortly after 9/11 but very little of it feels dated. As usual, Ronson resists the temptation to draw Big Conclusions from his adventures; yet careful readers will find plenty of valuable insights.Worth picking up.
—Tom
An entertaining look at the world of people who believe that the world is run by a small group of evil people hidden away someplace. A lot of the people in the book come across like absurd wing-nuts, in a more lovable way than I imagine they are in real life. Of course my one problem is that this book doesn't even touch upon the real dangers facing the world. While the Bilderburg Group and crazy Owl / Druid sacrifices are being done by people like Kissinger and Bush, and yes some of them are in fact giant lizard people from another dimension, and yes there is also a secret cabal of elderly Jews who are in fact also meeting and plotting for one purpose or another, and also yes all of the above mentioned enjoy killing children either by eating them, mutilating them and putting their foreskins into unleavened bread, or just burning them inside a giant owl statue in Northern California, or just raping them because as a giant lizard person you want to shove your enormous lizard cock into small children.... yes all of this is true, it's in books and I'm not about to say anything under my jurisdiction in the bookstore could possibly be insane or wrong. So yes that is all true, but even someone who is normally a rational beacon of truth like David Icke misses out on the real root of the problem, all of these groups of men and lizards are really controlled by miniature little people who live on the moon and who (like black helicopters) can fly into your ear if they want and make you do anything they want, and their own raison d'etre, is to personally fuck up MY life. I call them Moon Jews, and they are one of the tribes of Israel, and they are the real problem of the world. They do all kinds of things, like if you are playing pool and you make a shot that should be easy but your ball somehow turns at the last moment, well that is them doing that. A miracle card coming on the river in poker that makes you lose a big pot? Yep put there by them. Can't find your keys in the morning? That's them too. They do all of this, and they control these evil evil men and lizards. Why? Because they find it funny, and that is all that matters to them. They are funny little people and they live on the moon, but can teleport anywhere they want instantly.
—Greg
