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A review by headingnorth
Outraged: Why Everyone Is Shouting and No One Is Talking by Ashley 'Dotty' Charles
4.0
This was a refreshing perspective. Although I don’t agree with everything Charles says in this book, she makes some really great points about how we express ourselves on social media, and why. There is a constant need to show how woke you are, even though all we’re doing is sitting on our couches tweeting and retweeting. Some things get blown out of proportion, while serious issues go unnoticed (probably because they can’t be solved by tweeting.)
There’s a really interesting chapter about Rachel Dolezal and how those most outraged by her were the ones who propelled her to stardom, and how it distracted from the actual racial equity work she was trying to do at the time. She’s super misguided and kind of bananas in a lot of ways, but does it justify ruining her life?
Although the book was only 135 pages, Charles touches on the lack of nuance, the way we’re influenced by those around us, the emptiness of forced apologies and how they are a way to evade actual consequences, and how giving in to outrage and victim hood is a way of giving up control. She also talked about effective outrage, such as with the organization Stop Funding Hate, which pressures companies to pull advertising from irresponsible media and real-life channeling of outrage through voting, letter-writing, and protest.
At times, she was dismissive of issues that I think are worth discussing (i.e. the use of “nude” as a color in the beauty industry) but I agree that they don’t necessitate the same level of attention such as, say, police brutality.
All in all, I found it thoughtful and honestly a bit validating. I’ve been reducing my time on social media because I’m tired of the constant unproductive yelling and anger and she apparently is too. This is a quick easy read that I think is worth the time.
There’s a really interesting chapter about Rachel Dolezal and how those most outraged by her were the ones who propelled her to stardom, and how it distracted from the actual racial equity work she was trying to do at the time. She’s super misguided and kind of bananas in a lot of ways, but does it justify ruining her life?
Although the book was only 135 pages, Charles touches on the lack of nuance, the way we’re influenced by those around us, the emptiness of forced apologies and how they are a way to evade actual consequences, and how giving in to outrage and victim hood is a way of giving up control. She also talked about effective outrage, such as with the organization Stop Funding Hate, which pressures companies to pull advertising from irresponsible media and real-life channeling of outrage through voting, letter-writing, and protest.
At times, she was dismissive of issues that I think are worth discussing (i.e. the use of “nude” as a color in the beauty industry) but I agree that they don’t necessitate the same level of attention such as, say, police brutality.
All in all, I found it thoughtful and honestly a bit validating. I’ve been reducing my time on social media because I’m tired of the constant unproductive yelling and anger and she apparently is too. This is a quick easy read that I think is worth the time.