Matt Taibbi -- The great derangement
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This book covers three separate topics: (1) inside reporting on
Taibbi's infiltration and time spent as a member of a Christian
mega-church; (2) reporting on the dysfunction of the U.S. elected
Federal government; and (3) a description and critique of the 9/11
Truther movement and some of the people in it.

If you do not like the disconnect between those three topics, view
it as a collection of essays or articles on these topics.  But,
whether viewed as three separate books within one or as a collection
of articles on three topics, it was extremely worth reading.  I'm
one of those who is likely to complain: "I don't know how so-and-so
(left-wing or right-wing politician) could possibly have gotten
elected; none of *my* friends voted for him/her."  Exactly, and
Taibbi helps get me out of that narrow limited view by introducing
and describing the world outside of mine and the *other* very
different (from me) people in it.

Writing on religion, Taibbi describes his experiences with a
Christian mega-church and a number of people he came to know within
it.  He attended services (impressive theatrical productions), cell
meetings at various homes, and even a 3-day retreat.  His reporting
is very revealing, and you come to understand the needs of a few of
these people, the world they live in, the ways in which they are led
to and supported by the beliefs they have.  Taibbi is sympathetic.
These are people who genuinely do need support.  Taibbi gives you a
clear view of their loneliness, desperation, financial problems,
depression, etc.  Taibbi is not sympathetic with what the
mega-church, its leaders, and even other members do or offer in the
way of that support.  These are people in need, and what they get is
immersion in a world filled with superstition and demons, a world
where politicians on the wrong side of the divide are sinners and
evil.  It's a world filled with fear and blame.

Taibbi is amazed that in an advanced civilization, we can still have
so many people who are so superstitious, people who believe that
their souls can be captured by devils if they think or say the wrong
things, people who can be told and who believe theatrical stories
about the End Times.  Convincing the same people to vote a
particular way on a political issue must seem easy by comparison.
Actually, from Taibbi's descriptions, peer pressure and group-think
takes care of much of that without any extra effort.  In some of the
smaller meetings that he attends, there are some positions (e.g. on
gay marriage, on whether President Obama is a socialist) that are
rigidly enforced.

Writing on politics, Taibbi describes the inner workings of the U.S.
Federal government that would fully justify our view of them as
sinners and as evil.  It's a world in which what seems to be most
important are: (1) Keeping your job, if you are an elected
representative.  (2) Following the rules of the inner workings of
government, rather than solving problems and improving the country.
And, (3) Serving the individuals, corporations, and institutions
that funded your campaign as well as the lobbyists that are paid to
keep elected officials on the track they were paid to follow, etc.

Writing on the 9/11 Truther movement, Taibbi asks for reality
checks.  He asks that that we check what we say against reality,
against facts, and that if what we claim does not hold up, that we
stop saying it.  He's a reporter after all, a witty one, one who
takes a stand on one side or the other of an issue.  But, he
believes that he and others must back up what they say with fact,
and that the facts have to be true.  Is that too much to ask, he
seems to say.  This disconnect is especially the case for the
Birthers, who continue to claim that President Obama was born
outside the U.S. no matter how much evidence is presented to the
contrary.

He is also a bit shocked and exasperated by the implausibility of
the claims of the Truthers.  The theories and the Truthers about who
brought down the World Trade Center are so improbable and outside of
any likely explanation.  These theories and the stories woven from
them are the kind where every decision must be made correctly, every
event performed at exactly the right time, and every every event
from the outside must happen in exactly the right way, at precisely
the right time and place.  And, according to Taibbi, Truthers do not
even feel that they have to prove that one of these stories is true;
they at most, feel the need to show that things *could* have
occurred that way and that there can be some doubt about the
official explanation, which is actually the explanation accepted by
everyone except the Truthers.  It's all just too much for Taibbi,
who is used to his stories being fact checked before publication, to
handle.

The imagined, fantasy conversation between Dick Cheney, Paul
Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, and others to plot the destruction of the
Twin Towers (which is near the end of "The great derangement"), has
to be one of the very best comedy routines I've read.  Taibbi
believes that this is the kind of fantasy story you are led to when
you start accepting Truther claims.

Here is a link to another review:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/05/04/508572/-Book-Review-Matt-Taibbi-s-The-Great-Derangement

11/03/2014

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