brenticus reviewed Black Pill by Elle Reeve
Online becomes offline sometimes and that can be very bad
4 stars
It's interesting being on the internet for a good chunk of my life and recognizing the names of all the sites mentioned in this book, but did I ever really associate them with political action until recently? No, not at all. Sometimes they were cesspools, not worth thinking about. Sometimes they were strange, chaotic areas that you wouldn't walk into but you'd keep an eye on in case a gem somehow emerged. Reeve does a brilliant job of laying out how these online communities shunned even among the other online communities fermented into the alt-right movement we see today.
There are weaknesses, for sure. The way she discusses autism is really weird. The way she talks about these people who she considers horrid but kinda friends is a little weird. The way she was accepted in so many of these spaces that despised her is actually confusing and I'm not …
It's interesting being on the internet for a good chunk of my life and recognizing the names of all the sites mentioned in this book, but did I ever really associate them with political action until recently? No, not at all. Sometimes they were cesspools, not worth thinking about. Sometimes they were strange, chaotic areas that you wouldn't walk into but you'd keep an eye on in case a gem somehow emerged. Reeve does a brilliant job of laying out how these online communities shunned even among the other online communities fermented into the alt-right movement we see today.
There are weaknesses, for sure. The way she discusses autism is really weird. The way she talks about these people who she considers horrid but kinda friends is a little weird. The way she was accepted in so many of these spaces that despised her is actually confusing and I'm not sure I followed how that happened very well. But the main thread running through, showing online communities breaching into reality at Charlottesville and in Trump's presidency, is executed really well.