Our Shared Shelf discussion

I keep forgetting that this book was published in 2000...are you sure she's not talking about the present election in the U.S.A. and its main points of contention?

I know that politics is a touchy subject, but I believe that this community is a place where we can have a respectful and productive conversation. What are your thoughts on applying hooks' teachings to current affairs in the U.S.?

The fact that we have made so little headway in addressing the issues hooks puts forth has me feeling a bit dismayed.

What country are you in? And which election? This is a global group :)

Aglaea wrote: "What country are you in? And which election? This is a global group :)"

Sorry! You are so right. My bad! I'm in the U.S. and I've edited the original post to include that information.

I think this didn't just describe the situation in U.S now but China too! while maybe now it spoke the problem happened all over the world!

This quote from page 108 popped out at me as if bell hooks wrote it about the current US presidential election - "In keeping with this shift in values from a people-oriented to a thing- oriented society, the rich and famous, particularly movie stars and singers [let's add in reality stars here too], began to be seen as the only relevant cultural icons. Gone were the visionary political leader and activists."

It's almost scarily appropriate really and sad that nothing has changed in the past 16 years, just gotten worse!

I can't tell you how many times I've finished reading a sentence, put the book down and closed my eyes while willing Donald Drumpf to become clairvoyant, see the light of bell hooks' words and change his entire moral infrastructure and political campaign.

With bell hooks' help, it's easy to articulate my frustration that, in this culture of domination, so many who have been elected (or hope to be) by the people have forgotten they are duty-bound to govern FOR those people, and not bring the government to a standstill to maintain stark party lines with blatant disregard for negotiations and compromise.

I completely agree with all. Just FYI for all, I also just finished "Strength to Love" by MLK Jr and I found it just as relevant, engaging, and thought-provoking. Highly recommend! It gives me hope how easy it can be to find literature that promotes love and not hate.

The US politics but I think current affairs in the world as well. I just finished the section on the worship of death and read it again this morning in light of the explosions in Brussels. Primarily starting on pg 192 in the paperback. This quote rings out this morning but the whole section is relevant, "Our cultural obsession with death consumes energy that could be given to the art of loving." That kind of message surely needs to be spread.

I agree, and sadly the current trends say that this won't change down the road. One of the factors between now and then is technology. From what I've read so far, it seems Hooks hadn't predicted our fixation (mine included!) with gadgets. We'd rather spend time online than our relationships and self-improvement.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Only a chapter or two in, I found myself checking the publication date, because I was thinking, wow, this is so relevant. I actually think in some ways it is even more relevant now than it was when it was published- especially the stuff about greed, I just see so much of that with what is going on in our political landscape right now, as well as the fear.