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A wide variety of extremist groups -- Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis -- share the oddly similar belief that a tiny shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In Them, journalist Jon Ronson has joined the extremists to track down the fabled secret room. As a journalist and a Jew, Ronson was often considered one of "Them" but he had no idea if their meetings actually took place. Was he just not invited. Them takes us across three continents and into the secret room. Along the way he meets Omar Bakri Mohammed, considered one of the most dangerous men in Great Britain, PR-savvy Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Thom Robb, and the survivors of Ruby Ridge. He is chased by men in dark glasses and unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp. In the forests of northern California he even witnesses CEOs and leading politicians -- like Dick Cheney and George Bush -- undertake a bizarre owl ritual. Ronson's investigations, by turns creepy and comical, reveal some alarming things about the looking-glass world of "us" and "them." Them is a look at the lives and minds of extremists. Are the extremists onto something? Or is Jon Ronson becoming one of them?… (more)
lquilter: Jon Ronson's "Them" and Tony Horwitz's "Confederates in the Attic" both offer wry, personal observations of cultures, not their own, often derided by others.
Funny weird world described through fairly dark lenses in a period around 2000. The almost endearing description of very strange people, including Alex Jones, which I don’t think would stand today seems to suggest there would be a second order Them to the Them...
I learned something, but not sure I wanted to... ( )
Does a good job of humanizing the (mostly American) fringe, including revealing facts about 'Ruby Ridge' that I never knew, while not loosing sight of that fact that these people are weird, very weird, and that's just for starters. Ronson succeeds in revealing how e.g. Alex Jones' world view might make sense to him and his followers --in other words, they are not 'just crazy'-- while not loosing sight of the fact that they are, well, a bit crazy (in the colloquial sense.) ( )
I can't decide if he was playing dumb for rhetorical purposes, or he did zero research. The book is on the edge of irresponsible because of how clueless the narrator is about things he could have found out by reading anything about Nazism, the Klan, or any other group he discusses. He ended up giving Alex Jones a lot of press, which turned out badly for everyone. ( )
2020 UPDATE: Totally forgot I'd read this four years ago. I stand by my review below, with the exception of the last line. Ronson somehow manages to ferret out some of the most fascinating people, that I have to keep reading his stuff.
ORIGINAL 2016 REVIEW: I'm giving this one the benefit of the doubt with three stars. It's like it's not quite sure if it wants to be funny or poignant or eye-opening. In the end, it's a little bit of all three.
I've read a couple of Ronson books now, and I have a few more shelved to read, but I'm finding my biggest frustration is that his books really don't seem to go anywhere. They're more anecdotes that move to different ones before looping back to the earlier one before jumping into a third. There never seems to be an official conclusion, more of an abandonment of each story.
Let's see what the next one holds. It may be my last. ( )
I think it bodes well for world peace that Friends is a success everywhere in the world. —Lisa Kudrow
When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who they were. It was us versus them, and it was clear who them was. Today we are not so sure who they are, but we know they're there. —George W. Bush, January 21, 2000
A plume of pearl-grey smoke rose into the sky, marking the spot where the twin towers used to stand—my view, and everything else, forever altered.... Now I am angry. I'm depressed. I'm weepy. I can't control my emotions at all. I want to hug strangers. I want to hurt other strangers. —Jay McInerney, September 15, 2001
Dedication
for Joel
First words
One evening in 1999, I was in the bathroom at a lecture hall in Frome, Somerset, when David Icke, the subject of chapter six of Them, walked in.
Chapter 1. A Semi-Detached Ayatollah.
It was a balmy Saturday afternoon in Trafalgar Square in the summertime, and Omar Bakri Mohammed was declaring Holy War on Britain.
Preface (September, 2001)
In the hours that followed the heartbreaking attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., politicians and pundits offered their list of suspects.
(from 2002 Simon & Schuster edition)
Quotations
"Bilderberg are very secretive," she said. "They don't want people looking into their business. What are you doing there?"
"I am essentially a humorous journalist," I explained. "I am a humorous journalist out of my depth. Do you think it might help if we tell them that?"
Chapter 4, "Bilderberg Sets a Trap!" (p.127)
"The good news," said Sandra, "is if you know you're being followed, they're probably just trying to intimidate you. The dangerous ones would be those you don't know are following you."
... "But that isn't logical," I said. "Big Jim Tucker is obviously not intimidated. I don't think they'd waste their time trying to intimidate us when it is quite obviously failing."
"You sound a little intimidated, if you don't mind my saying," said Sandra.
"Perhaps so," I said, "but I am not behaving in a visibly intimidated manner. From across the parking lot I do not seem to be intimidated."
Chapter 4, "Bilderberg Sets a Trap!" (p.129)
Indeed, every individual accused of reptilian pedophilia by David Icke had so far failed to sue, including Bob Hope, George Bush, ... Al Gore, and the steering committee of the Bilderberg Group.
"Why do you think that is?" David Icke had asked me when I interviewed him about this matter in London. Then he turned to my notepad and thundered, "Come on, Ted Heath! Sue me if you've got nothing to hide! Come on, George Bush! I'm ready! Sue me! I'm naming names! Come on, Jon! Why are they refusing to sue me?"
There was a silence.
"Because they are twelve-foot lizards?" I suggested, meekly.
A wide variety of extremist groups -- Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis -- share the oddly similar belief that a tiny shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In Them, journalist Jon Ronson has joined the extremists to track down the fabled secret room. As a journalist and a Jew, Ronson was often considered one of "Them" but he had no idea if their meetings actually took place. Was he just not invited. Them takes us across three continents and into the secret room. Along the way he meets Omar Bakri Mohammed, considered one of the most dangerous men in Great Britain, PR-savvy Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Thom Robb, and the survivors of Ruby Ridge. He is chased by men in dark glasses and unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp. In the forests of northern California he even witnesses CEOs and leading politicians -- like Dick Cheney and George Bush -- undertake a bizarre owl ritual. Ronson's investigations, by turns creepy and comical, reveal some alarming things about the looking-glass world of "us" and "them." Them is a look at the lives and minds of extremists. Are the extremists onto something? Or is Jon Ronson becoming one of them?
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I learned something, but not sure I wanted to... (