I was watching some video and there was mention of someone getting 1984. Upon which, a guy said that this one (one who got 1984) will end up being radicalized. I was already born into a very radical environment so no needs of books to radicalize me (although I am trying to be moderate and chill now)
You must log in or # to comment.
The Bible
Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Related: he quotes Marinetti’s 1909 “Manifesto of Futurism” which is still frighteningly relevant.
I mean 1984 did a pretty good job radicalizing me against fascism. I consider it radicalization because turns out America really likes fascism so I guess I’m in the minority.
Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. I’d be shocked if every person who bought a copy isn’t on a watchlist automatically.
I’m on a big Kim Stanley Robinson kick lately (currently reading Aurora) and I haven’t heard of this one. Definitely picking that up lol
Island - Aldous Huxley
Less radicalized and more just opened my thinking about how society could be and how imperial forces and people’s desires get in the way constantly. More of a ‘this is why utopia can’t happen’ vs Brave New World’s ‘look at this dystopia’
A People’s History of the United States
There was a book which I picked up from my high-school library and it really did a number on the younger me. “Green Rage” was a book written by Chris Manes in the early 90s about radical environmentalism and it gave me a new perspective on things I had not been aware of at the time. While I never actually got directly involved with any environmentalist groups, I did start to better appreciate how our Capitalist system’s need extract value at any cost from natural resources would have disastrous consequences.
Fast forward 35 years and I can’t honestly say if the author’s more dire predictions haven’t come to pass since you simply can’t trust corporate media to give unvarnished truth about anything. But I have seen and experienced things with my own eyes that give them credence. The fact that the title for this book came to mind immediately when I read this post/prompt says something about it’s impact I think.
Why are we calling being an empathetic individual and being against fascism “being radicalised”?
Because it is the correct use of the word. It is the american conservative propaganda machine which gave it the negative connotations.
Being antifascist matches at least two definitions of radical: “Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter” and “(slang) Excellent; awesome”
well it is just you. Radicalized can entail many things. When I was in early to mid teens, I have read and listened to extremists and that made me a hardcore extremist in my religion.
My question exactly
A People’s History of the United States blew my mind wide open in high school.
The terms of service for the warranty on my first car after the first time I tried to use it.
Purely Functional Data Structures by Chris Okasaki. It took the blinders off and I became a convert to functional programming.
I like to joke about recursion and how it gets overused as a “good” programming practice, but I genuinely have a solid understanding of it and find it pretty intuitive… In OOP. I cannot wrap my head around tail recursion
Learning Perl, 2nd edition
Mother Night, Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein (it does have some anti-lbgtq messaging, but if I recall correctly it’s a single paragraph and Heinlein has known biases. The term “grok” came from this book; I’m not the only one who despises how it’s been co-opted by Musk)
Makes Me Wanna Holler - Nathan McCall
The Emperor’s New Mind - Roger Penrose (especially pertinent with the hype/propaganda coming from oligarchs surrounding AGI/ASI/the singularity)
The Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan
These books opened my eyes.
From Freedom to Slavery: Rebirth of Tyranny in America by Gerry Spence
https://archive.org/details/fromfreedomtosl000spen/mode/1up
Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/62558.Quantum_Psychology
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man
Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator by Ryan Holiday
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13542853-trust-me-i-m-lying
