The Last Book I Read

I first came across Matt Taibbi's writing in an alternative newspaper he helped found in Buffalo some years back called The Beast. His writing there (and in fact that of the other contributors as well) served as a wonderful antidote to the mainstream media's general lack of spirit in covering the Bush administration and the devolving political discourse (from all sides) that it seemed to engender. Eventually Taibbi moved on to Rolling Stone, where he has been the primary political correspondent for the past few years. His move to RS (which these days is closer to the rest of the mainstream than they'd probably admit, and in some respects worlds away from The Beast) luckily didn't dampen his perspective or style, which remains cooly analytical, hypersensitive to institutional hypocrisy, and leavened with just enough biting humor-- often at his own expense-- to avoid the the pitfall of self-righteousness. His book, The Great Derangement exhibits those characteristics as well. It chronicles Taibbi's efforts to come to grips with the broad social disconnects that mark so much of our current politics, whether from the right (notably through the evangelical megachurches whose pastors use Jesus as cover for their own naked power grabs) or the left (represented here mainly by the 9/11 Truthers and their allies in the peace movement), and occasioned by the almost complete abrogation of civic responsibility on the part of Congress in particular. Taibbi recognizes that the success of these "deranged" groups in becoming the primary faces for certain positions in the national debate belies their inherent silliness. But at the same time, he recognizes that their appeal to followers, who are deeply troubled by all manner of problems, is perhaps inevitable-- any port in a storm, so to speak-- and he demonstrates some real sympathy for those caught up in wanting to believe that there are answers for seemingly insurmountable questions, both public and private, that confound so many Americans. I was impressed that Taibbi was able to balance his analysis of the problem while remaining conscious of the human scale of its effects. Here's a quote that more-or-less summarizes that perspective: "All along I couldn't help but see the [9/11] Truther movement as a symptom of a society whose political institutions had simply stopped addressing the needs of its citizens. When people can't trust the media, and don't have any real political choices, and are denies access to the decision-making process, and can't even be sure that their votes are being counted--when even their activist advocates are lunching with the Man in fancy restaurants in Georgetown-- they will eventuall act out on their own. And when they do, who can blame them if the cause they choose to pursue is a little bit crazy?" It's a sad commentary on our body politic (and that word "sad" comes up often in Taibbi's narrative) that we've been reduced to this situation, and one can only hope it isn't to late to turn things in a more constructive direction.