wj

A Bit Slanted, Marginally Pro-Bullying

Revisado: 05-19-22

I read *Weapons of Math Destruction* several years ago, so I had a feel for where the author lay on the political spectrum. And for the most part, this book was good with the examples and points being made especially around situations that are non-malleable or totally in control by an individual (e.g. weight, economic status, gender).

Where she gets a little derailed on the more social-related issues where the shaming is considered OK if you are "punching up" and in the majority view. The problem comes from the lack of nuance and subtlety in her examples, and that "punching up" ceases to be OK when the target is no longer an entity, but more a person.

Societal beliefs are fickle and changed and are somewhat controlled by a reinforcing algorithm (just like the suggested reading lists on this website). People follow the crowd based on whatever information they cherry picked from their already cherry picked surrounding and start shouting. There is no accounting in the book for that. The author pre-supposes the mob is right because the majority makes the rules. She does mention that society rules will change as a matter of time, but completely ignores the accountability of what these changed rules have done to the lives of the targets back when the mob thought they were in the right. See the events in Kenosha, WI (which she referred to in the book, but before the results were in),

In the book, she recommends "Super Sad True Love Story" as an example of social media shaming to an extreme and I'm about halfway through it. Possibly a better example would be the more easily approachable episode of The Orville - "Majority Rule".

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Immersed in an ocean of endless living fettuccine…

Revisado: 02-09-19

*potential spoilers ahead* - for which, honestly - you should thank me for sparing your time...

That was the line that made me think this story was a parody of the "end-of-the-world" genre. If it was a parody, it's brilliant both from the actors perspective (from and old-fashioned, private-eye, mystery type of cadence/inflection voice; and a whiny, "damsel in distress even when nothing is happening" voice) -- to the monumentally stupid characters that make all the dumb decisions of a teenager in a horror flick.

If not a parody, then "ouch". I cringed every time it was Poe's turn to tell the story. I think I got the fact that she was flawed after the first couple of times she said "I'm so broken", "I'm so alone", "I'm an artist", "I'm pregnant", "I'm so weak". WE GET IT ALREADY! Every time she thought about "jumping off the precipice" - of which there must be plenty around her area, I wished I had a "Bandersnatch" level of control to make her jump so the story would go one without her.

August, was pretty much useless to the plot, except to maybe keep Poe from offing herself. The fact that he was an astrophysicist studying dark matter really had no bearing on the story except to give him a reason for surviving, the ability to tell a spaceship from a satellite, from a planet from a star in the night sky - and, mercifully, a reason to stop calling the fetus "Squirt". Also, you see and get spooked by a mountain lion - to the point where you're looking over your shoulder, come face-to-face with a coyote - but yet still don't see the need for a viable way to protect yourself?

The Redeeming Parts
- Finally, someone employed a bicycle to get around in a human-desolate landscape. Although, even though the reasons for not using cars were valid at the time they were made, as the events unfolded in the the story, the characters knew what the rules were, they could have figured out how to use them more effectively.
- The powder part was fun, as well as the way that it was described in the Phoenix chapters. "Night of the Comet" also did this back in the 80s. Good way to get rid of the people without stinking up the planet.
- The Alien Biology/Makeup, well done and imaginative. The black vs. white tentacle thing was subtle - but also unnecessary.

I thought Robinson's "Infinite" was flat out brilliant. I'm going to try "The Others" next. But this one was a miss.

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