Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell

13 reviews

zydecovivo's review against another edition

informative reflective tense slow-paced

3.0

I learned about Malcolm Gladwell through his podcast, Revisionist History. Because of that, I prefer to listen to his books. This one in particular includes interviews, music, and recreated court scenes that I find helpful for keeping my attention. If you are coming into this blind, Gladwell has a way of writing and speaking that is very matter-of-fact and blunt. He intertwines history with personal interviews and studies to illustrate his points, which are usually out of the box or defy convention. He writes as if his answer is the correct, obvious, and logical conclusion. So if you disagree with his assessment of a situation, I can understand why it would be upsetting. This particular book covers some darker topics, such as police brutality, sexual assault, and suicide, and Gladwell’s characteristic tone doesn’t quite bring the empathy I think is needed to approach them. However, he does raise interesting points and provides new ways of thinking about how we communicate, how we trust or distrust, and how we think about others. The overall ideas are interesting and worth talking about, but if you are not in the right headspace to face some graphic descriptions of assault, put this off for a little while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, and Medical trauma

claire2024's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.5

i think some of the passages surrounding the second chapter could have been done more carefully as they felt somewhat victim-blamy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

sidekicksam's review against another edition

2.25

A re-read of a book I read back in 2020, after the pandemic caused both a lot of isolation and division. People were literally keeping their distance, interacting less with strangers, but the summer of '20 also had some very painful revelations and awakenings for the race and equality discussions. 

Reading it again, I feel refreshed in the theories he outlines in the book. The 3 problems we have when encountering strangers (defaulting to the assumption that people can be trusted; thinking people's feelings always match their appearance and our inability to judge correctly whether someone is lying or the mismatch is happening; and that context is vital but also underappreciated) are a few that kept me curious, thinking and will stay with me in the back of my mind in encounters with strangers. Interesting food for thought and definitely contemplations that will stay with me. 

That being said, I am uneasy with some of the examples Gladwell decided to explore to prove his points. I already had some question marks during my re-read, but after reading multiple 1-star reviews (which have gained 1,000+ likes) on the first page, I'm seriously reconsidering whether this book is good enough to be read on its own (without the accompanying guide/reviews to also challenge the examples given). 

To use cases of rape and child molestation and trying to explain away the motives of witnesses or even instigators of the crimes is just... what? Why would you invalidate experiences of trauma instead of exploring the faulty assumptions on which we make errors (the cases of the Cuban spies in the CIA were much more compelling I think). 

Example: Brock Turner raping a passed out drunk girl on campus is explained away by their (mutual) excessive drinking and misinterpeted signals - I have never had to explain to any of my boyfriends that no means no (and that if I don't wake up or respond that is also a big fucking NO). 

Not taking the prejudice of race into consideration when discussing Sandra Bland's case, but explaining it away to miscommunication... especially with police brutality against Black people blowing up in the media in recent years, it's just harrowing.

I'm happy I don't just read books but also review them, because I may not have gotten further in my evaluation than 'whoo interesting material' without re-evaluating also the icky (and blatantly wrong) bits. 

Read it at your own volition, but do heed my warning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

csnyder0018's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Classism

pagguini123's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

montyalmoro's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

kelseyjameson's review against another edition

medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

stories's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

Clear contention which was well signposted and scaffolded. Unfortunately said contention was also distasteful and built on astounding levels of rape apologist, ableism and an enduring belief that we should simply carry on stereotyping, just generously, as if the possibility of accounting for diversity were unfathomable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

Moderate: Ableism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Racism, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Car accident

kostkova_barca's review against another edition

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Sexual harassment

missbsbookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Murder