It’s a common technique among bullies; they pretend that everything that’s going on is just a joke. It doesn’t mean anything. They get away with physical and psychological assault, and everybody turns a blind eye because that’s easier than dealing with the problem.
Enter C. T. Jackson, who turns the technique against its worst practitioners and bests them at it. He is a master of preposterous accusations, sandwiched in between true and partly true stories. He edges you along until you’re believing whatever he tells you. And laughing about it.
He can say the most outrageous things, and make up the most outlandish details, and you can’t really tell whether they’re true or not. Which is the whole point of that form of satire; it’s only a joke, after all. And I’m very much afraid that most of what he says is true, which is not funny at all. Satire must have a bite.
So, what’s it all about? Tongue planted firmly in cheek, away we go.
This book is a romp through modern economics and politics, dipping back into the mists of time for insight into where these awful practices came from. There is a high density of jokes per page, although they’re a bit uneven in quality. At one point or another, he sideswipes just about everything in our society: past, present, worldwide. It makes for a slightly scattered approach, with asides tossed hither and thither like red herrings. But he always manages to get back to his point —whatever it is — and provoke a slightly nervous laugh at the end
The written text is supported by simple and effective political-style cartoons which work pretty much the same way.
It’s hard to tell, but this guy seems to know his stuff. He’s either done a lot of research or spent a lot of time making things up. I’m pretty sure there never was a “Disney East India Company.” But come to think of it, would you put it past Walt…? In style, the book eases from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again, and you’re never sure where you are on the scale. So, we just laugh uncomfortably and move on.
And the bottom-line irony of it all is that I learned a lot about business practices and the economy in general.
Actually, the humour flags when it gets to the section about taking land and water away from people. He seems to forget the intrinsic promise of the book, and instead just continues to dump his wonderful and doubtful research on us.
Fortunately, the humorous tone picks up again and ends, most appropriately, with a section on how not to take it with you because you can’t.
Recommended for Marxists, socialists, democrats, and pretty well anyone who hasn’t got their heads stuck in the sand. Who knows; if you can separate the humour from the research, you might even learn something about the real economics of the world.
4 stars