Book Review: "Them" by Jon Ronson

Full Title: Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson

After reading The Psychopath Test I decided that I would take some sporadic time to read (and re-read) some of Jon Ronson's works. Honestly, I forgot how much I liked them. Littered with quirky anecdotes about travelling behind certain strange individuals in our society who seek to disrupt the social order, Jon Ronson puts his journalistic instincts in his pocket and his life on the line to bring the reader an interesting story with brilliant research. Though admittedly it is not as good as The Psychopath Test, Jon Ronson really goes out of his way to make this book as enjoyable as physically possible whilst presenting the very realistic threat of people with extremist or fundamentalist views and how they will have a negative impact on our societies and ways of life.

The first chapter, I have to admit, is one that he wrote with a lot of thought. A manipulator of religious values - this chapter is about an extremist of the Islamic faith who seeks to not only frighten the British public but coherse and even guilt-trip those of his own religion (who, mind you, do the religion properly) into going along with him. This obviously doesn't go down to well with either side. Jon Ronson writes about meeting the ring leader, Omar Bakri and notes that his views may be extremist but he is by no means the smartest (or even the remotely smart) of them and therefore, this will completely fail. By stirring the flames of hatred that not only involves those who are not muslim, but also causes in-fighting amongst their own, Bakri's methods of divide and conquer read more like a tragicomedy than anything else. Ronson makes a point of getting people like this to admit to their insecurities.

The second chapter is historic in the sense that it is about the tragedy that happened at Ruby Ridge. No matter which way you feel about it, a dead child is everyone's business. Sammy Weaver was shot through the head and Jon Ronson goes to meet his sister - now all grown up and still telling her story. I am going to be perfectly honest in the fact that I have only read one book about Ruby Ridge and so, the only thing I feel strongly about is that the ATF open fired on a child. I don't care who that child belongs to - you just don't do stuff like that. It is a brilliantly written chapter with some fantastic insights about gun rights. But it also shows the strange loomings of Neo-Nazism and cult mentality that at one point from the 1970s to the 1990s, engulfed the USA beyond any rational thought.

The third and fourth chapters are about the Bilderberg Group and how people are paranoid about their meetings. I will tell you the complete truth though - these two chapters are not as good as the others because I feel like the story is stretched out too far. The Bilderberg Group are not a group of people I find interesting and whatever has been "proven" about them seems to be exactly the same as the theories everyone had in the first place - which makes me sceptical that this is actually a thing. I am not easily swayed by conspiracy theories of large over-arching groups not because I don't want to believe in them but because even if I did believe in them, I really couldn't do anything about it if these people are as powerful as everyone is making them out to be.

As the chapters go on, there's more talk of these 'middle men' ruling the world and conversing behind closed doors. Jon Ronson doesn't believe it and honestly, I'm glad he doesn't because if he did it would make for a really boring story. When it comes to these groups, I think he does a great job at making the theories around them look ridiculous whilst not twisting what the truth about the conspiracy theory actually is. Ronson reports fully with honesty and truth as the main goal, but littering it with anecdotes of his travels and thoughts makes the reader think as well - and we too will realise that these conspiracy theorists are actually pretty pathetic to believe such things.

All in all, it may not have been as good as The Psychopath Test for me, but it is the book that put its author on the map for nonfiction. I think it is nonetheless an excellent narrative of defining what an 'extremist' actually is and, makes sense when we look at the wider world. And by god, we know we should be.