When I heard about the OSU college professor feeling unsafe and personally threatened by the prospect of someone reading The Marketing of Evil, curiosity got the better of me. Judging by the reviews here, the book obviously has some learned, thoughtful, and articulate readership. I was moved enough myself by the book to try and add my two cents worth.
First, I'm very impressed with how well written and edited the book is. Most non-fiction that is any good might make a worthwhile point every few pages. With this book, it's more like every couple of sentences. It's short and easy reading, but fully packed. And not one of the topics raised is a puff piece. Each is big, really big, and poignant to today's society. The author discusses ten issues, one per chapter, and I expect any one of them dropped among a random group of people could start a heated argument in about 15 seconds. You can't do a "search inside the book" so here's the 10 topics/chapters:
Gay rights
Myth of church-state separation
Selling of sex
The 60's generation
Destruction of marriage
Sexual revolution based on fraudulent science
Hijacking of American school system
World of illusion created by press
Selling of unrestricted abortion
Role of Christianity in America
Like I said, heavy-duty stuff. And the author addresses each topic head-on without sarcasm, hyperbole, or sensationalism. He is also very consistent to his theme, i.e., how the radical elements within our society have successfully, and with intent, marketed their particular view to the rest of us. To those that doubt the author's premise, all I can say is I was in college in the 60s and the evidence presented seems right on target to me. And if you don't believe it, then read the admissions of the very people doing the marketing in question. Do some fact checking. Read some of the source material. It is eye popping, depressing, and maybe even scary.
The book is not up lifting, nor intended to be. Reading it is like turning on a bright light in a smelly flophouse. We had a good idea the roaches were in there, but we'd rather let someone else deal with it. (Unfortunately, there's no one else living here but us).
It seems the book's first chapter, gay rights, gets most of the attention from detractors. None of the other chapters are any less weighty or volatile. It's not a book about the evil of gay rights, it's a book about successful marketing. There is much irony here for both the left and the right. The radical left, the avowed enemies of Wal-Mart, capitalism, Christianity, traditional morality, etc. make use of the very tools of the society they condemn, and very much to their personal profit. Meanwhile, those on the right have allowed themselves to be sucked into the moral abyss by the very same tools they hold in such high regard. Nothing to be proud of. It's terribly sobering and thought provoking. That the book might be recommended reading for an incoming freshmen class is the height of sanity to me, definitely not something to be condemned and investigated.
I also find interesting how unenthusiastic and ineffective the negative reviewers are for this book. When Al Franken or Ann Coulter write a book, we can count on the negative reviewers getting in some good shots and collecting a reasonable momentum of fellow reviewers. Not so with The Marketing of Evil. Why not? A couple of reasons, I think. First, the author treats each subject and his readers with deep respect. There is no attempt at humor or provocation. He just presents his evidence in a professional and effective manner. Second, the evidence results in a pretty much iron clad case. Detractors just come off looking petty and infantile. The best recourse for those on the left is to not draw attention to this book.
I have a better understanding why the college prof acted the way he did. The act of people reading this book could very well be a threat to your worldview because there is almost no defense against the enlightenment contained. The radical left worldview is built on such an illogical house of cards, the prospect of removing just one (let alone 10!) could indeed be terrifying. All you can do is scurry under the refrigerator or flip on your back and waggle your arms and legs in a fit of mortal hysteria.
Finally, no matter what the subject, I really appreciate books that are well written, succinct, and cut through the fog of muddled, conventional dogma with sincerity and honesty. There are so few! (In the last year I've only come across two ... this one, and Hunicutt's Joe X). Yes, The Marketing of Evil may be a bit of a downer (though the last chapter is a good counter balance), but it's also highly clarifying. It's an outstanding book, and an important one to read.
