I've been reading Mark Ames for years, since the eXiled. I don't always agree with what he writes, but I appreciate the angle that he takes and his willingness to dig for the truth. In an age of mass market media, hard-hitting journalism seems to have died off. As distrust grows, it seems that most media agencies are doubling down on the party lines rather than working to expose important stories. While Mark Ames is far from perfect, I at least trust he writes what he believes and doesn't censor it for fear of upsetting the establishment (whichever side that may be).
This book is a poignant exploration of the suppression of the proletariat, and Corporate America's gaslighting of the every-day working man -- asking for more, while providing less and less. Dead are the values that viewed workers as people to be taken care of, the lifeblood of a company and the connection to its communities. Dead are the social supports which brought workers together, allowing them to better advocate for themselves and the betterment of their families.
Instead, we are left with a system that strips more away from the needy while funneling profits to those who already have, enriching the few at the top at the expense of the many. The narrative of the American Dream makes the failure to rise above an individual failure, obscuring the real reason: unfettered plutocracy, the rule of money.
America is not, and never has been, a free-market capitalist society. It protects the wealthy (and thus, the powerful).
Ames explores this by asking difficult questions about an uncomfortable subject: mass shootings. Looking to truly understand the reasons people felt driven to perform such heinous acts, rather than seeking to put the public at ease and writing the shooters off as deranged solo acts, he digs into the past with a critical eye.
This is one of the few books that I've read where I think the author has gotten it completely right. We want to dismiss people who have committed horrible and seemingly-random violence. It is uncomfortable. It can never be justified. But -- and this is the part that, I believe, lies at the heart of real journalism -- the damning question must be asked: how much responsibility does the system bear? Social norms tell us such a question should never be asked. Unfortunately, if the question isn't asked and isn't studied with an unapologetic eye, we will never know.
Thus, as history has shown in the years since the publishing of this book, mass shootings have only grown, along with disparities in wealth between those at the top and those keeping them there by exchanging more-and-more of their limited time on earth for money that, somehow, buys less-and-less. Say what you will about Mark Ames, he asks the questions other people won't, delivering answers that we need but often don't want to hear.
I just wish it didn't feel so much like pissing into the wind.
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