Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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57 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just a Fair Warning, August 18, 2000
...The picture Mander paints has a vast, web-like look andfeel to
it, extending from the vastness of the Canadian Northwest Territories,
into the boardrooms of the major oil conglomerates, the programming
chambers of the television studios, the daily lives of
once-free-roaming, nomadic Indian cultures, governmental "Think
Chambers", the back rooms where the exploitation of the moon and
the possible resources of Mars is being planned, and of course, the
burgeoning internet about which many have scarecly a clue as to its
worst and greatest potentials. And, surprisingly, your
bedroom. Highlighting several points won't get the point of the book
across because on any one of them, the reader of this review could
say, "Well, that one doesn't much bother me." or "Well,
I can't do much about that." or "Gee, that's too bad for
those poor indians, but what could I possibly do to change that? I
have so much going on already.", and the important message of the
book would be completely overlooked. ("Well, what's the
point?" you might be asking. Please forgive me. I swore not to
spoonfeed the answers.) I strongly suggest that you -do not- read
this book if you are living a comfortable lifestyle, or at least hope
to live one. There's no point in upsetting yourself if you're not
willing to be different in order to make a difference in the future of
the world. We might want to be different, or imagine we would be
different if we were certain it would help things, but what this book
speaks of isn't on the level of 'conspiracy theory', it's about what
is actually happening right now... Again, it doesn't pin down any
one thing. It pulls in everything starting with the most basic
elements: lack of truth in advertising; exploitation of humans as
consumer addicts; corporations as -real entities-, composed of people,
that share a single-pointed focus on accomplishing a -central aim-
(and not necessarily their stated one) at all costs; and many other
elements that add up to a "web" that we humans have
unwittingly become tangled in. The web tangles those who know about
it, and those who don't know about it equally, but the one's who think
they know about it sometimes imagine that they are better off than
those who don't know about it. So, what does one do? The book
addresses this question. This reviewer believes that any attempt to
diminish the ideas in the book by associating them with some existing
philosopy such as Neo-Ludditism (broadly : a philosophy of being
opposed to technological change) would be a misdirection. The
underlying motivation behind this book is not to increase paranoia and
resistance for resistance's sake, but to introduce the = reader, to as
full of an extent as possible, to the conditions and circumstances
under which she currently lives and must become aware of if any
lasting change is to be possible.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Critical For Understanding Where We're Going!, October 4, 2002
No one could accuse author and scholar Jerry Mander of sitting on the fence regarding his position concerning the so-called "Third Wave' of technological changes cascading through our society and culture. Indeed, this book has been described as a powerfully written broadside against the headlong rush into what Mander terms to be "Megatechnology", which is the combination of a number of particularly dangerous aspects of technological innovation, creating synergistic effect he believes will ultimately will be dangerous to us as individuals, consumers, and citizens. Many of the ideas he uses so effectively here were first broached in an earlier book, "Four Arguments For The Elimination Of Television".The author uses a variety of examples to show how the public has been deliberately manipulated and misled by a variety of boosters and cheerleaders for technological innovation, ranging from corporations, the media, academics, and even the government. This, he contends, has led to the emergence of several particularly dangerous predominant technologies such as television, genetic and molecular engineering, and computers. What is surprising is the amount of evidence Mander produces showing clearly adverse aspects of each technology, evidence which heretofore has been deliberately omitted from public scrutiny by the aggregated sponsors and cheerleaders of the technology, who obviously have a vested interest in stacking the deck in favor of their particular interest. While he sometimes strains the reader's patience with arguments that use of a technology such as computers benefits the rise of corporate globalism more than it does individuals, Mander still manages to prove why we must be more aware of the meaning of these technologies in terms of our own self-interest, and in the interest of the community at large. At base, what the author is really arguing for is a return to greater personal responsibility through the restoration of more traditional attitudes and values about our connection to the wider community and to an ethic of social responsibility. To the degree we allow ourselves to continue to be isolated and segregated from the community and its human-oriented interests, the more we play into the hands of forces that wish to fragment this orientation in order to better control resources, social patterns, and participation in the global economy by more forcefully orienting us toward lives as material consumers. Indeed, Mander argues, every aspect of the so-called "New World Order" is designed to acquaint and socialize us into adopting a new orientation that defines citizenship ever more exclusively as enthusiastic consumerism. If Mander sometimes seems a bit shrill and even romantic in his approach, urging us to return to more traditional orientations in small human communities, moving toward more sustainable lifestyles, he counters by reminding us that having the degree of faith evident in contemporary society regarding the outcome of the hell-bent thrust toward economic globalism is also quite a romantic orientation, especially given our almost medieval understanding of just what this new technologically-oriented corporate-ascendant society would look like, or what it would be like to have to live in a world where corporate economic imperatives significantly influence every aspect of our lives. Given the events of the last year with Enron, Tyko, Global Crossing, and other corporate conglomerates, who can have much faith in either their vision or their integrity? Thousands lost their life savings due to nothing less than unbridled corporate greed! This is hardly the pedigree one wants to recommend for our collective futures. We would do well to heed his warning and to each become much better informed. This book can help! Enjoy!
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
opens your mind !, April 1, 2002
By A Customer
This book should be required reading for every American. This book will take years of corporate and government brain-washing out of your newly enlightened skull. The next time our president calls another nation "evil", you may want to take a good look at our nation's past, present, and possible future. Mander describes Indian cultures that base current decisions on how they will effect childred 7 generations from now. Imagine our short sighted, consumption driven society, even attempting this. The book confirms what I already feel, that unless society changes the way we live and view the natural world, our future is grim. The Indians see the errors in our ways. They know our fate. The question is if we will listen to them in time to save our greedy little selves.
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