Mike’s Reviews > Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation > Status Update
Mike
is 60% done
I like this book in part because it speaks to a feeling I've had for a while: that making the world better in big ways is largely hopeless, and that it's only really useful to make the world better in small ways and figure out how to carry yourself through it. I kind of don't want that to be the truth, but Lear seems to feel similarly, and this book explores how that can be okay.
— Jun 18, 2017 09:24PM
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Mike’s Previous Updates
Mike
is 84% done
I like that Lear acknowledges that replacing actual action with religious ceremonies is detrimental, without suggesting that religious activities are inherently illegitimate or false. That's a balance that I don't see enough.
— Jun 22, 2017 02:08PM
Mike
is 72% done
I can't help but wish Lear had used a more well-doccumented, perhaps more recent example than the destruction of Crow culture. The historical nature of this example involves a lot of speculation, and I suspect a lot of that speculation is self-serving.
— Jun 19, 2017 02:55PM
Mike
is 48% done
This is a very good look at what it means to be a part of a culture and why we do things in general.
— Jun 13, 2017 12:34PM
Mike
is 36% done
On one hand, Lear isn't a great writer (he just used an extended analogy that actually makes the thing he was describing more confusing), and I wish he'd stop using the word 'squaw'. On the other hand, this is some damn interesting philosophy. I wonder if he'll bring up Victor E. Frankel - there are a lot of parallels in their ideas.
— Jun 12, 2017 05:58PM
Mike
is 24% done
I don't think I've ever seen such an on-point summary of how central culture is to how we understand and experience the world. It brings into sharper focus how devastating a genocide can be - there's loss beyond the tangible human loss for the survivors.
— Jun 11, 2017 07:32PM
Mike
is 12% done
I wouldn't call Lear a great writer, from a technical perspective. But this certainly is an interesting question. I have no idea how 200 pages is going to be enough to even scratch the surface of everything there is to consider about it.
— Jun 08, 2017 08:55PM
