Read as part of CBR14Bingo: new. This book just came out a week ago and it was the newest book in my personal library once it arrived at my house.
One of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life was to get off Facebook.
There were numerous reasons I did it, most of which had to do with personal mistakes I made and not wanting to subject myself to it anymore or be forced to have an opinion when I didn’t. But another reason is how much Facebook fed into the conspiracy-addled horror show that was the height of the covid pandemic. I still laugh when I think of that meme of Luke Skywalker screaming “The Sacred Texts!” in response to Yoda setting the Jedi manuals on fire as a stand in for Facebook being down due to maintenance.
All that to say, I’m tired of wrestling with the conspiracy minded. I make a point to know as little as possible and part of that had to do with the murder of Seth Rich, a death that the right built into an anti-DNC monster.
However, when I saw this book listed, I eagerly preordered it, wanting to know more about the man and what exactly happened around his murder. Andy Kroll, an acquaintance of Seth’s, does a great job breaking down how his death traveled from the ripple it made in the DNC to the febrile Reddit message boards that were overactive in the summer and fall of 2016, and launched all the way to FOX News and the mainstream wing of the Republican Party.
In fact, he does such a good job that I had to set the book aside. Ever since January 6th, I really haven’t had the energy to read about the Trump years. I start and stop stuff after thirty pages, thinking of exhausting Facebook arguments at home and Charlottesville, covid, Qanon, etc. outside my doors. I went back to it and I’m glad I did: the book’s strength is focusing on the person that was Seth Rich and how his family fought to restore his humanity. It’s painful but it’s essential to see how these conspiracy theories ruin people and their loved ones.
That alone was enough to help me power through the rest of it. It’s a good book but it is exhausted having to remember all the ways that the worst bad faith actors this country has to offer moved from the margins to have a permanent stranglehold on American politics.