03-28-2023, 04:58 AM
Just finished "The White Pill". Here's my quick review...
Malice does a great job at running through a blurring history of the Soviet Union and the geopolitical factors in its rise and fall. You don't really get a complete picture (how could you possibly in under 400 pages?), but what you do get is a synopsis with lots of interesting details you've probably never heard before. The story that Malice is telling is different than a historical tale, though. It's a portrait of how misplaced ideologies coupled with the lust for power and human self-interest can make people do unspeakable things. And how groupthink enables those things to flourish.
It's also a tale of how those that were thrust into leadership weren't especially bright or had any real master plan for what they were doing. They were playing it by ear and responding to their own incentives - but for some reason there is a sense that powerful people must be "smarter or wiser" than the rest of us - otherwise, how did they manage to gain and retain such power?? The book also demonstrated how quickly alliances can shift when the incentives change. Or when the personal impulses of certain leaders create unpredictable changes in perceptions by the masses. Finally, there's the "white pill" that these things can crumble extremely fast as soon as people realize what they're doing doesn't make any sense. People will engage in all sorts of horrendous crimes and usually with a clear conscience. But when their consciences start to awaken to the reality around them (and they sense that other people are awakening, too), they will do a complete 180.
All-in-all, it was a good book and I'd recommend it. If nothing else, to gain a little more insight into the Soviet Union and how human nature is involved in central planning. However, there are negatives. First and foremost is DON'T GET THE AUDIO VERSION! It's a mess. Hopefully, he'll reissue it with a new reading. The other thing that bothered me was the last chapter. This is where Malice finally introduces the white pill. He makes his point, but ironically in "anti-Ayn-Rand-fashion", he undersells it. Rather than a thorough explanation of how the shifts can and have occurred throughout history, he kinda gives a little glimmer of hope and optimism and leaves it there. I really wished that chapter was twice as long, or better yet had another full chapter to fully close the loop. Maybe in a second edition?? One can hope. Like the audiobook, the end of the book felt very rushed. You can tell Malice spent a great deal of time researching interesting events and cataloging them... I wish he would have spent more time developing his thesis and reason for writing the book.
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