What do you think?
Rate this book
Trigger Warnings: political correctness and the rise of the right
Donald Trump is the Thing-that-should-not-be. The man lives, quite literally, in a building serviced by a golden elevator. Somehow, he presented himself as the scourge of the elites. For decades, he built a persona based on the most conspicuous consumption and the crassest of excess―and then he won the presidency on an anti-establishment ticket. The unlikely rise of Donald J. Trump exemplifies the political paradox of the twenty-first century. In this new Gilded Age, the contrast between the haves and the have-nots could not be starker. The world’s eight richest billionaires control as much wealth as the poorest half of the planet―a disparity of wealth and political power unknown in any previous period. Yet not only have progressives failed to make gains in circumstances that should, on paper, favor egalitarianism and social justice, the angry populism that’s prospered explicitly targets ideas associated with the left―and none more so than so-called ‘political correctness’. If Trump―and others like Trump―can turn hostility to PC into a winning slogan, how should the left respond? In the face of a vicious new bigotry, should progressives double-down on identity politics and gender theory? Must they abandon political correctness and everything associated with it to reconnect with a working class they’ve alienated? Or is there, perhaps, another way entirely? In Trigger Warnings , Jeff Sparrow excavates the development of a powerful new vocabulary against progressive causes. From the Days of Rage to Gamergate, from the New Left to the alt-right, he traces changing attitudes to democracy and trauma, symbolism and liberation, in an exhilarating history of ideas and movements. Challenging progressive and conservative orthodoxies alike, Trigger Warnings is a bracing polemic and a persuasive case for a new kind of politics.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
11 people are currently reading
330 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 31, 2019
My Left Allies Should Read This
This is an indictment on the state of the left and its current obsession with identity politics, thought policing and trigger warning instead of taking up fights against structural inequality and discrimination. My only critique is that the conclusion, where the author offers some hope for us who are the real Left, is that it is rushed and doesn’t go far enough.
This is an indictment on the state of the left and its current obsession with identity politics, thought policing and trigger warning instead of taking up fights against structural inequality and discrimination. My only critique is that the conclusion, where the author offers some hope for us who are the real Left, is that it is rushed and doesn’t go far enough.
February 14, 2019
In a (futile) pre-Christmas effort to rein in book spending, I had borrowed Jeff Sparrow's latest book from the library but it wasn't long before I realised that I wanted my own copy. Trigger Warnings, Political Correctness and the Rise of the Right isn't a book to scamper through and return within three weeks. It's a 'chapter-a-day sort of book, allowing time for thinking in between.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I've been asked if told by people not in the profession that teachers aren't allowed to celebrate Christmas any more. This anti-PC furphy went so far that the education department in Victoria had to put out a circular reminding us what had always been true: Christmas traditions are part of Australian culture. While in government schools which have been secular since 1870 when education became free and compulsory, teachers can't infuse the Christmas story with religiosity, they can certainly tell the Christmas story, decorate classrooms, sing Christmas songs, and of course have the students make presents and cards. Clearly, in a multicultural society like ours, it would be crass for any teacher to ignore other cultural festivals such as Diwali, Eid, and the Chinese and Jewish New Year celebrations &c. Likewise at Christmas my students were always free to make whatever kind of cards they liked. For me, the issue always was about finding a way for the activities to have some educational value. So we would study Christmas and other celebrations around the world (i.e. geography), and when I had Year 5 & 6 classes and they'd done that to death, we did Holiday Safety, at the beach etc. That wasn't being PC, it was to teach something useful at the end of the school year, when the older students were usually bored and restless.
The first chapter of Sparrow's book is about how this term political correctness a.k.a. PC arose. He reminds me that...
... right-wingers portray PC as an Orwellian scheme to end freedom of speech, a deliberate strategy to impose a progressive orthodoxy. In reality, radicals coined the term as a joke. The phrase first emerged within the American New Left as an ironic homage to Stalinist rhetoric, adopted by progressives to mock censorious comrades and to chaff the overly earnest. In Australia and Britain, the preferred term was 'ideologically sound' but the gag worked the same way. (p.12)
Yes, by the time PC had trickled down to usage by ordinary people like us, we used it to poke fun at our own lame efforts to Do The Right Thing. Carnivores at the BBQ teased the vegetarians about ideologically sound 'hayburgers' and The Ex would ask if his tie was ideologically sound before setting off to work in the morning. We still use it: asking friends if they would like some ideologically sound excess vegies from the vegie patch. So it's fascinating to read how in America, what was originally a satire on totalitarianism became, for the right, a signifier of totalitarianism. Key players in this transformation were Ronald Reagan, the Australian political commentator Nick Adams, the classicist Allan Bloom and NY Times reporter Richard Bernstein who wrote an article called The Rising Hegemony of the Politically Correct. (It's paywalled, but you're allowed one free visit each month, though I myself wouldn't waste it on this article).
Chapter Two traces the history of 20th century activism in the great social movements of our time: feminism, the gay and lesbian rights movements, and the struggle against racism. While it wasn't a neat progression, Sparrow characterises the activists of the 1950s and early 60s as 'palliationist', that is, middle-class, speaking on behalf of others, non-confrontationist, and 'respectable'. By contrast, 'direct politics', in the late 60s and 70s, had a focus on mass action, on grassroots mobilisation, on participation and self-organisation by workers, students and the oppressed. Crucially, whereas palliationist politics distinguished between interests, direct politics drew connections between issues so that counterculture, black, women's, student and anti-war movements were entwined and used the same (sometimes militant) tactics. But by the mid 70s, radicalism had moved on to pragmatics, and a once-widespread commitment to revolutionary change had given way to 'the practical pursuit of reforms', with many former firebrands becoming what [Todd Gitlin] called 'crisp professional lobbyists' or devoted to winning local office. This third shift into professional settings is termed 'delegated politics', (and in Australia, you can see it in feminist Anne Summer's career as a bureaucrat in the Hawke government's Office for the Status of Women. See also my review of Damned Whores and God's Police.) It is this shift into delegated politics that makes it easier for conservatives to frame action to protect minorities as a bureaucratic measure imposed by an unrepresentative minority. To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/02/14/t...
I wish I had a dollar for every time I've been asked if told by people not in the profession that teachers aren't allowed to celebrate Christmas any more. This anti-PC furphy went so far that the education department in Victoria had to put out a circular reminding us what had always been true: Christmas traditions are part of Australian culture. While in government schools which have been secular since 1870 when education became free and compulsory, teachers can't infuse the Christmas story with religiosity, they can certainly tell the Christmas story, decorate classrooms, sing Christmas songs, and of course have the students make presents and cards. Clearly, in a multicultural society like ours, it would be crass for any teacher to ignore other cultural festivals such as Diwali, Eid, and the Chinese and Jewish New Year celebrations &c. Likewise at Christmas my students were always free to make whatever kind of cards they liked. For me, the issue always was about finding a way for the activities to have some educational value. So we would study Christmas and other celebrations around the world (i.e. geography), and when I had Year 5 & 6 classes and they'd done that to death, we did Holiday Safety, at the beach etc. That wasn't being PC, it was to teach something useful at the end of the school year, when the older students were usually bored and restless.
The first chapter of Sparrow's book is about how this term political correctness a.k.a. PC arose. He reminds me that...
... right-wingers portray PC as an Orwellian scheme to end freedom of speech, a deliberate strategy to impose a progressive orthodoxy. In reality, radicals coined the term as a joke. The phrase first emerged within the American New Left as an ironic homage to Stalinist rhetoric, adopted by progressives to mock censorious comrades and to chaff the overly earnest. In Australia and Britain, the preferred term was 'ideologically sound' but the gag worked the same way. (p.12)
Yes, by the time PC had trickled down to usage by ordinary people like us, we used it to poke fun at our own lame efforts to Do The Right Thing. Carnivores at the BBQ teased the vegetarians about ideologically sound 'hayburgers' and The Ex would ask if his tie was ideologically sound before setting off to work in the morning. We still use it: asking friends if they would like some ideologically sound excess vegies from the vegie patch. So it's fascinating to read how in America, what was originally a satire on totalitarianism became, for the right, a signifier of totalitarianism. Key players in this transformation were Ronald Reagan, the Australian political commentator Nick Adams, the classicist Allan Bloom and NY Times reporter Richard Bernstein who wrote an article called The Rising Hegemony of the Politically Correct. (It's paywalled, but you're allowed one free visit each month, though I myself wouldn't waste it on this article).
Chapter Two traces the history of 20th century activism in the great social movements of our time: feminism, the gay and lesbian rights movements, and the struggle against racism. While it wasn't a neat progression, Sparrow characterises the activists of the 1950s and early 60s as 'palliationist', that is, middle-class, speaking on behalf of others, non-confrontationist, and 'respectable'. By contrast, 'direct politics', in the late 60s and 70s, had a focus on mass action, on grassroots mobilisation, on participation and self-organisation by workers, students and the oppressed. Crucially, whereas palliationist politics distinguished between interests, direct politics drew connections between issues so that counterculture, black, women's, student and anti-war movements were entwined and used the same (sometimes militant) tactics. But by the mid 70s, radicalism had moved on to pragmatics, and a once-widespread commitment to revolutionary change had given way to 'the practical pursuit of reforms', with many former firebrands becoming what [Todd Gitlin] called 'crisp professional lobbyists' or devoted to winning local office. This third shift into professional settings is termed 'delegated politics', (and in Australia, you can see it in feminist Anne Summer's career as a bureaucrat in the Hawke government's Office for the Status of Women. See also my review of Damned Whores and God's Police.) It is this shift into delegated politics that makes it easier for conservatives to frame action to protect minorities as a bureaucratic measure imposed by an unrepresentative minority. To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/02/14/t...
Read
February 15, 2019In the age of fake news and the seeming triumph of political populism, Jeff Sparrow’s Trigger Warnings is a vital book for our times. With the integrity of political thought and action under threat from social media sloganeering, with Donald Trump holding court in the White House and “political correctness” the catch-all suffocation of dissent, Jeff Sparrow challenges us to respond with intelligence and conviction.
Tony Birch, Author of Ghost River
Standing on the front line of the culture war it’s clear the right are winning. In this new book, Jeff Sparrow draws lessons from contemporary debates and historical struggles to argue for an alternative to the seemingly oppositional binary of class or identity that dominates liberal discourse. Instead, Sparrow calls for a return to a “direct politics” approach that doesn’t rely on mainstream leaders but argues that a rebuilding of an activist left that sees strength in solidarity and strives for liberation is the only answer. In a time that increasingly feels like it’s now or never, this book is an urgently needed intervention. Don’t just read it, do it.
Roz Ward, Co-Founder of Safe Schools Coalition
A crisp, elegant and timely analysis of exactly how the world and everything in it turned to wallaby poop, also whose fault it is and how we might actually be able to do something about it.
First Dog on the Moon, Political Cartoonist for The Guardian
Sparrow writes with a unique combination of dignified sensitivity and a concrete commitment to solidarity and movement building.
Sam Wallman, Political Cartoonist
Hhe’s one of Australia’s most crucial political thinkers … Trigger Warnings is perhaps his most polemic [book] yet, written with clear activist goals in mind: to intervene in the present, he insists we must understand the complex history that led us here.
The Saturday Paper
Australian writer Jeff Sparrow succinctly explains in Trigger Warnings how Trump cleverly skewered his political enemies by appealing to their anger at the elite political and media classes (despite being a member of the elite himself) … Trigger Warnings is a rare book that takes a necessary scalpel to the leftist political persuasion of its author as much as, if not more than, the right-wing agenda he opposes.
Antony Loewenstein, Weekend Australian
Sparrow’s book is a provocative reading of the culture wars that develops a distinction between ‘direct’ and ‘delegated’ politics.
James Ley, ABR’s ‘Books of the Year 2018’
It’s a highly interesting polemic, dense with information, but well written and full of provocative and challenging views.
Graeme Barrow, Horowhenua Chronicle
Trigger Warnings is a brave book, best read as a call for the left to re-examine its strategies during a period of immense danger, to take stock of its key resources and to align itself with the experience of ordinary people without lessening its focus on sexism, racism or homophobia.
Gary Pearce, Overland
Tony Birch, Author of Ghost River
Standing on the front line of the culture war it’s clear the right are winning. In this new book, Jeff Sparrow draws lessons from contemporary debates and historical struggles to argue for an alternative to the seemingly oppositional binary of class or identity that dominates liberal discourse. Instead, Sparrow calls for a return to a “direct politics” approach that doesn’t rely on mainstream leaders but argues that a rebuilding of an activist left that sees strength in solidarity and strives for liberation is the only answer. In a time that increasingly feels like it’s now or never, this book is an urgently needed intervention. Don’t just read it, do it.
Roz Ward, Co-Founder of Safe Schools Coalition
A crisp, elegant and timely analysis of exactly how the world and everything in it turned to wallaby poop, also whose fault it is and how we might actually be able to do something about it.
First Dog on the Moon, Political Cartoonist for The Guardian
Sparrow writes with a unique combination of dignified sensitivity and a concrete commitment to solidarity and movement building.
Sam Wallman, Political Cartoonist
Hhe’s one of Australia’s most crucial political thinkers … Trigger Warnings is perhaps his most polemic [book] yet, written with clear activist goals in mind: to intervene in the present, he insists we must understand the complex history that led us here.
The Saturday Paper
Australian writer Jeff Sparrow succinctly explains in Trigger Warnings how Trump cleverly skewered his political enemies by appealing to their anger at the elite political and media classes (despite being a member of the elite himself) … Trigger Warnings is a rare book that takes a necessary scalpel to the leftist political persuasion of its author as much as, if not more than, the right-wing agenda he opposes.
Antony Loewenstein, Weekend Australian
Sparrow’s book is a provocative reading of the culture wars that develops a distinction between ‘direct’ and ‘delegated’ politics.
James Ley, ABR’s ‘Books of the Year 2018’
It’s a highly interesting polemic, dense with information, but well written and full of provocative and challenging views.
Graeme Barrow, Horowhenua Chronicle
Trigger Warnings is a brave book, best read as a call for the left to re-examine its strategies during a period of immense danger, to take stock of its key resources and to align itself with the experience of ordinary people without lessening its focus on sexism, racism or homophobia.
Gary Pearce, Overland
September 25, 2022
For the longest time I've been frustrated by Australians trying to import American political issues and turn them into points of contention here. I've never understood Australia's Americophilia. Jeff Sparrow does a good job of showing how and why these problems are imported and how Australia is often the tip of the American dog's wagging tail.
It's some wild and treacherous terrain that Sparrow chooses to navigate but he does it like a seasoned mountaineer. Flashes of deep insight and brilliance are padded out with some pretty stock standard historical telling of various culture war events over the past decade. Unfortunately, the back end of the book starts to lose its way, it's almost as if Sparrow could see the end approaching and wanted to make sure he addressed every little warning.
The early parts on the emergence of anti-PC crusaders is truly fascinating and has repercussions for current political and even mundane discourse. Sparrow explains Politically Correct speech as a straw man created by the right to convince the masses they would lose their Freedom of Speech. He does quite a convincing job of it and I have to admit to examining my own life and my occasional derision of political correctness. In saying that I think Sparrow can be guilty of dismissing the arguments on the right using the same high horse methods he accuses the left of using. The dismissal of their case wholesale and in many ways the undermining of the right's intelligence doesn't help to close a gap and create a proper discourse between both sides of the political spectrum.
Sparrow also has a slightly annoying habit, which is to start an argument and then jump the fence midway through and make you feel stupid for believing his original points. He does this quite frequently and occasionally he even jumps back over the fence or finds a nice perch on top of it casting aspersions on both sides.
It should be pointed out that this book will really only appeal to Australians, and arguably only Australians with an interest in both Australian politics and American politics.
The prevailing message of the book seems to be a push to return to direct politics. The power of the unions in Australia in the mid 20th century were impressive but I can't really see that returning. I'm not really sure he gives us an adequate solution. So instead we'll just all be out here fighting the good fight against the Murdoch media alone. Constant Vigilance!
It's some wild and treacherous terrain that Sparrow chooses to navigate but he does it like a seasoned mountaineer. Flashes of deep insight and brilliance are padded out with some pretty stock standard historical telling of various culture war events over the past decade. Unfortunately, the back end of the book starts to lose its way, it's almost as if Sparrow could see the end approaching and wanted to make sure he addressed every little warning.
The early parts on the emergence of anti-PC crusaders is truly fascinating and has repercussions for current political and even mundane discourse. Sparrow explains Politically Correct speech as a straw man created by the right to convince the masses they would lose their Freedom of Speech. He does quite a convincing job of it and I have to admit to examining my own life and my occasional derision of political correctness. In saying that I think Sparrow can be guilty of dismissing the arguments on the right using the same high horse methods he accuses the left of using. The dismissal of their case wholesale and in many ways the undermining of the right's intelligence doesn't help to close a gap and create a proper discourse between both sides of the political spectrum.
Sparrow also has a slightly annoying habit, which is to start an argument and then jump the fence midway through and make you feel stupid for believing his original points. He does this quite frequently and occasionally he even jumps back over the fence or finds a nice perch on top of it casting aspersions on both sides.
It should be pointed out that this book will really only appeal to Australians, and arguably only Australians with an interest in both Australian politics and American politics.
The prevailing message of the book seems to be a push to return to direct politics. The power of the unions in Australia in the mid 20th century were impressive but I can't really see that returning. I'm not really sure he gives us an adequate solution. So instead we'll just all be out here fighting the good fight against the Murdoch media alone. Constant Vigilance!
December 23, 2019
One of the books to read to understand "how did we get here?" with regards to our current political situation. The title might be off putting to some, but Sparrow isn't blaming "political correctness" or "trigger warnings" for the rise of the right.
The book covers the shift from the direct politics of the 1960s and 70s to the delegated politics of the 80s and 90s (which have persisted into the 21st century). While social justice would in the past been achieved through mass movements and direct action, it is now achieved through delegated politics- university administrations, HR departments and so forth.
This has allowed the right to portray social justice as something imposed from above on ordinary people by educated elites. The right have fueled this narrative by redefining class away from its economic definition.
By writing from this perspective Sparrow is able to avoid a conservative-left critique of political correctness that ends up marginalising oppressed groups in favour of an idea of "the working class" that others on the left have allowed the right to define.
In his conclusion, he argues against the view proposed by American academic Mark Lilla, who calls for a "post-identity liberalism" that avoids issues like sexuality and religion, and others proposing a similar strategy, statong it implied that "ethnic or religious minorities were dispensable- and that left (always envisioned as white, male and straight, should cut them loose so as to chat with the prejudiced"
A return to a kind of participatory democracy, a direct politics of mass movements and solidarity, appears to be the way forward for the left. This is a perspective we don't see enough of in commentary about the "culture wars". It's not an easy task, and Sparrow isn't giving us a blueprint, but he does provide historical examples we can learn from, in particular the actions of Australia's militant Builders Labourers Federation who would place bans on work sites in solidarity with marginalised groups.
An important book for those of us worried about the political right being ascendant around the world.
The book covers the shift from the direct politics of the 1960s and 70s to the delegated politics of the 80s and 90s (which have persisted into the 21st century). While social justice would in the past been achieved through mass movements and direct action, it is now achieved through delegated politics- university administrations, HR departments and so forth.
This has allowed the right to portray social justice as something imposed from above on ordinary people by educated elites. The right have fueled this narrative by redefining class away from its economic definition.
By writing from this perspective Sparrow is able to avoid a conservative-left critique of political correctness that ends up marginalising oppressed groups in favour of an idea of "the working class" that others on the left have allowed the right to define.
In his conclusion, he argues against the view proposed by American academic Mark Lilla, who calls for a "post-identity liberalism" that avoids issues like sexuality and religion, and others proposing a similar strategy, statong it implied that "ethnic or religious minorities were dispensable- and that left (always envisioned as white, male and straight, should cut them loose so as to chat with the prejudiced"
A return to a kind of participatory democracy, a direct politics of mass movements and solidarity, appears to be the way forward for the left. This is a perspective we don't see enough of in commentary about the "culture wars". It's not an easy task, and Sparrow isn't giving us a blueprint, but he does provide historical examples we can learn from, in particular the actions of Australia's militant Builders Labourers Federation who would place bans on work sites in solidarity with marginalised groups.
An important book for those of us worried about the political right being ascendant around the world.
January 18, 2019
This insightful book has made me rethink the importance of direct political action. After many years of feeling there is "no point" in physical protests, since none of our represented politicians pay attention anyway, (I was there at the million-strong protest against the Iraq war in London...), I have realised this is too defeatist and we have to keep pushing. Sparrow makes the point that we cannot give up on the direct form of democratic participation - protests, strikes, referendum - or else the right really will win.
July 24, 2020
A complex and well-researched read that challenged my assumptions, gave language to some of my more unformed ideas, resonated with my experiences and broadened my thinking and my sense of hope for Australian politics. Not a perfect book (the chapter on trigger warnings offers, ironically, the weakest of his arguments) but one that has already prompted some of the most interesting political conversations I've had this year. I have underlined it to death and have already lined up someone to lend it to. Some of Sparrow's ideas will stay with me for a long time.
November 13, 2019
It took me a while to start reading this after I got it I wasn’t really sure what drew me to it and the topic isn’t of the greatest interest to me. Surprisingly once I started reading I didn’t want to put it down, it challenged my thoughts and gave start to some interesting conversations with peers.
January 25, 2025
A necessary indictment of the Left and how our fixation (even if well-intentioned) with identity politics, and political correctness is not only contributing to the rise of the Right, but has led us to promoting symbolism over real change. Not that what we are fighting for is necessarily wrong, but more that HOW we have been fighting has exacerbated the political divide in ways that have given way to our current situation, and what many of us are just beginning to acknowledge - we are losing the culture war.
Some of this went directly over my head, especially when he would draw comparisons with Australian politics, which I admittedly know nothing about. I wish the book could be more digestible for the masses and that the conclusion had more actual solutions, but in a time where it feels like everything wrong in our world is a product of the Right, this book provides much needed perspective.
Some of this went directly over my head, especially when he would draw comparisons with Australian politics, which I admittedly know nothing about. I wish the book could be more digestible for the masses and that the conclusion had more actual solutions, but in a time where it feels like everything wrong in our world is a product of the Right, this book provides much needed perspective.
March 6, 2020
Jeff Sparrow presents an interesting explanation as to how political correctness has alienated the progressive left from the very people they have historically aimed to support.
Sparrow traces the rise of smug politics and demonstrates how an emphasis on identity politics and gender theory have played into the hands of the right who have been able to turn political correctness against the progressives and win the support of the so called working classes who they have never supported with their policies.
A recommended read for anyone interested in making sense of today’s political world where an alienated and disgruntled group can vote in a wily buffoon.
Sparrow traces the rise of smug politics and demonstrates how an emphasis on identity politics and gender theory have played into the hands of the right who have been able to turn political correctness against the progressives and win the support of the so called working classes who they have never supported with their policies.
A recommended read for anyone interested in making sense of today’s political world where an alienated and disgruntled group can vote in a wily buffoon.
December 6, 2018
Jeff Sparrow's new book is a long dark ride through the politics of the last few decade, with particular attention to the tactics and styles of both Left and Right. It's frighteningly well-researched, and to be honest, kinda depressing (for a Leftie like myself) for the most part, but unlike a lot of writers in this field, Sparrow isn't satisfied with just asking questions, but also provides some answers - appropriately hedged around with qualifiers and contingencies. It's more shriving than cathartic, but both of those experiences hurt you to improve you, and this book certainly does that.
April 13, 2019
I was fortunate enough to hear the author Jeff Sparrow at the Perth Writers Festival a couple of years ago. This new book gives a nimble explanation of contemporary left and right politics in Australia, the USA and the UK. The question we are dying to ask is: what happens next? If this book cannot make such predictions, I expect that Jeff Sparrow will be on the scene as soon as it happens and walk us through with clear and informed explanations.
October 19, 2019
Reading this book felt tiresome at times. It requires the reader to have some basic information on politics in the US and Australia and can be confusing. I enjoyed learning the terms associated with the topic, reading the historical background of left-leaning politics, and the reasons he gives for why liberals underestimated the effects of their own actions.
October 9, 2018
Highly recommended.
November 25, 2018
A useful survey of recent events, although biased against the right (the rise of which he is trying to explain).
Still, his views are worth considering.
Still, his views are worth considering.
February 5, 2019
In-depth and often theoretical look at the rise of the right, with plenty of examples from Australia, the US and the UK.
August 30, 2020
Enjoyed this read and met the author, great political perspectives..
September 25, 2023
I love u Mr. Melbourne Chomsky
July 4, 2019
3.5 - I really rate Sparrow’s writing so hoped for more out of this book. I was wary of it as the title seemed annoyingly provocative and sneering but was encouraged by others to give it a go. It has some good points for those in the post-election doldrums (the importance of community connection, organising and civil disobedience and smug politics) but overall quite lumpy. Some chapters say a lot, some say very little. He also doesn’t really talk to ‘ordinary people’ and just quotes lots of academics and commentators which kind of seems to be what he derides in the left?! Also the failure to talk about the decline of the union movement and offer current solutions to current problems felt like a pretty big omission.
April 28, 2025
(Copy pasted from the original Escapist review)
Trigger Warnings: Political Correctness and the Rise of the Right (3/5)
TW kind of reminds me of a high school essay I might have written, albeit more eloquent. The type where I was struggling to meet the word limit.
What I mean by this is that, well, suppose I'm asked to write 10,000 words on X. I start writing about X, but am well short of having enough material to reach 10,000 words. Ergo, I start also writing about Y, and try and tie Y in with X. In theory, there's linkage between X and Y. Practically, it meets the 10,000 word requirement. But as a result, the essay feels unfocussed.
That's my feeling on the book. Those three parts of the title could have formed a book by themselves. However, it spreads itself out, trying to tie in these things with neoliberalism, the 60s, and while it remains focused on the United States, it keeps trying to tie the US 'culture war' with what's going on in Australia, and frankly, they're links that feel extremely tenuous. I feel the author should have picked a country and stuck with it, and tried focusing on a more narrow paradigm, because while the book can be interesting at times, it remains unfocused. Because while it has salient points, these emerge almost by happenstance.
Trigger Warnings: Political Correctness and the Rise of the Right (3/5)
TW kind of reminds me of a high school essay I might have written, albeit more eloquent. The type where I was struggling to meet the word limit.
What I mean by this is that, well, suppose I'm asked to write 10,000 words on X. I start writing about X, but am well short of having enough material to reach 10,000 words. Ergo, I start also writing about Y, and try and tie Y in with X. In theory, there's linkage between X and Y. Practically, it meets the 10,000 word requirement. But as a result, the essay feels unfocussed.
That's my feeling on the book. Those three parts of the title could have formed a book by themselves. However, it spreads itself out, trying to tie in these things with neoliberalism, the 60s, and while it remains focused on the United States, it keeps trying to tie the US 'culture war' with what's going on in Australia, and frankly, they're links that feel extremely tenuous. I feel the author should have picked a country and stuck with it, and tried focusing on a more narrow paradigm, because while the book can be interesting at times, it remains unfocused. Because while it has salient points, these emerge almost by happenstance.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews