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)
Reform or revolution -Rosa Luxembourg (Not a book per se but worth the read)
Black shirts and reds -Micheal Parenti
The conquest of bread -Peter Kropotkin
Mutual aid -Peter Kropotkin
The Black Panther Party ten point program - Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale
Guerrilla Warfare -Ernesto “Che” Guevera
Rich Dad Poor Dad (no joke). It’s a glimpse into the inner workings of a wealthy shithead’s mind. It unironically tries to convince you that profit is the only thing that matters, people are disposable and those who disagree with these ideas are intellectually inferior. The “poor dad” in the book is a teacher (and the guy’s biological dad) who’s pictured as someone well-educated, who tries to live an honest and modest life, and is therefore a “loser”. It’s nauseating.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Didn’t really radicalise me but it’s interesting that people had those ideas a long time ago too.
“The right to be lazy” (translation by me so it’s worth what it’s worth)
The Bible
For me, it was Quran who made me question the majority and gave me a questioning mind and now I am an atheist.
The book that reads at the very beginning something like “you must believe everything written in this book with blind fate” made you question things? Or maybe I picked up a tampered copy… 🤔 I read that, put it back on the shelve and never picked it up again.
For me, i was raised religious. Fully believed it all because I was a child and the idea that its all a con was way beyond my capabilities. Got a little older, family fell apart and religion stopped being shoved down my throat.
Decided to read the bible so I could understand the whole story instead of just being lectured about a couple of paragraphs plucked at random.
God creates everything and then straight up fireballs everyone to death in the first like 5 minutes of reading. Ive been taught since birth that God loves us. Been drilled into my head that God has a perfect plan. Chapter fucking one God says whoops and does a genocide.
I did not finish the book.
yeah cuz I wanted to be a better Muslim and I dove deeper and deeper and that made me question my sect, then my religion, then all religions.
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.
But why then US fought Germany if US also likes fascism?
Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent
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 blew my mind wide open in high school.
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
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
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.
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.
