careless people by sarah wynn-williams | december bookclub
So, for this month in the Gazette book club, we voted to read "Careless People" by Sarah Wynn-Williams, and boy do I got some shit to say... naturally.
At the start, the thing that sent me was her fucking parents. Sarah detailed her traumatic experience with a shark attack. After nearly dying, she gets emergency surgery. Afterwards she's allowed to leave, but the doctors, in their infinite wisdom, tell her parents "she may be a little dramatic for a while" due to the shock. Boy, did her parents follow THAT one to a T. It took her eyes rolling in the back of her head before her big fucking dope of a mom finally clued in that she wasn't bullshitting. They rush (and I use that term VERY loosely) to the hospital, but the dad STOPS TO LOOK OUT AT THE LAKE FOR THE FUCKING FISH. WHAT. I'm starting to notice a correlation between dads who fish and dads who are complete bumbling morons. Seriously, what doorknob-licking, smooth-brained, cousin-fucking, imbecile with their daughter bleeding out in the back seat SLOWS DOWN to STARE OUT AT A LAKE FOR FUCKING FISH.... sigh
Anywho, the rest of the story follows Sarah's journey from a bright-eyed United Nations diplomat from New Zealand wanting to change the world, a idealistic Director of Public Policy Facebook (functionally creating the job for herself), to end up burned-out and disillusioned. What a journey it was.
She lays out the character of a couple of key people. Of them, the most notable being Marky-Mark Cuckerberg and Sheryl "The Cunt" Sandberg.
The Bitch Incarnate
Let's start with Sandberg, what a hypocritical bitch. Look there's probably nothing that I can say that the Wicked Witch of the West probably hasn't heard herself... but I can sure try. These #girlboss types are so lost in the sigma sauce. Sandberg needs to quickly find a proctologist to have her head surgically removed from her own ass before she dies of methane poisoning from sniffing her own farts. Her book "Lean In" is chock full of all the masturbatory "look how great I am and you can be too" bullshit that is typical from privileged grifters who are so out-of-touch they're practically ghosts, but people still drink the Kool-Aid and lap up the champagne-flavored piss of these elites.
It's a marvel that this woman was at one point considered a feminist icon, hell even Sarah herself admitted her own fangirl tendencies. She reminds me a lot of my former boss, the one who got busted fucking the CEO to keep getting promotions. Had all this talk about working hard, and blah blah blah, which really was just code for "I have no life outside of work, and I'm neglectful of my family, but at least I'm rich!". All they do is make other women feel worthless for not being like them, which I feel like nobody should want to be such an emotionally unstable manic tightwad like Sandberg.
The thing the weirded me out about Sandberg was her wanting Sarah to come to bed with her in the private jet... given the predatory aspect of the other members of Facebook leadership, I half expected Sheryl to want to be Sarah's pillow princess, but I can't say for certain. It was... odd, all around. Especially to then give Sarah the shaft for not wanting to hop into bed with her boss.
Rich people are fucking weird man. It's all weird power plays that are just so nonsensical, then they get irate when you don't play into their bullshit.
Zucc
There's a lot of interesting stuff about Suckerberg in this book. It was weird seeing him oddly humanized. The fact he sweats profusely when he's nervous, dorky, it's oddly charming? I was surprised learning how he actually wanted to stay in his lane, being the man in the back, and not wanting to have any part in politics. Sarah pushed for him to try and get Mark in with these heads of state, ultimately for that to come around and be probably the worst thing.
Zucc is revealed to have this hardon for legacy, and seems to goon for the Roman Empire, because of fucking course he does. Side tangent; what is it with these quirked up white boys and the Roman Empire? As if these dudes would be the soft, supple bottom boys in the days of the Roman Empire. Which I mean, if that's what you're into, by all means, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Zucc probably isn't aware of the M&M play (damn you Psycheoma for bringing THAT into my vernacular) in ancient Rome.
I was never really big on the Berg, I always thought he was this alien cosplaying as a skinwalker cosplaying as a human. Now he's just your average cryptobro, AI-shilling, tech-douche. I still find it interesting see the side of him that doesn't look like a stick got wedged firmly up the ass of a robot with a human prostate.
Joel "Dirty Sanchez" Kaplan
Joel Kaplan is a fucking creep and I hope he gets what he deserves whether it's getting #metoo'd into the center of the sun or losing his power idc. Fuck that guy. The absolute depravity of this dude asking where Sarah was bleeding from after surgery from her 2nd pregnancy absolutely floored me. But he's also a Republican politician, so him being a pervert who likes to wield his power to sexually harass women isn't exactly breaking news. When that fucking weasel kicks the bucket of a painful stroke induced from a coke bender, I hope that when he reaches the 7th layer of Hell there is a conga line of all the women he's ever wronged waiting to kick him in the balls for a millennia. FUCK JOEL KAPLAN, and for that matter fuck ANYONE who does this shit. Too many of these fucking creeps keep getting away with it, people like Joel deserve some shit that for legal reasons I won't say.
Other notes
Ava posted her article for the book club and made note of some criticisms from readers, it honestly made me think that the people critiquing this book have the reading comprehension of a slug and a pension for victim blaming.
You have people giving Sarah for not just quitting, as if you're just going to put your entire family at risk, both healthwise and financially. We don't have social safety nets, what the fuck was she logistically going to do?
There was another about her "downplaying" her involvement, which seems odd considering the whole book was about her involvement, what she wanted to do differently, and getting the shaft. I see it from Sarah still believing that she could do a lot of good inside of Facebook, is it naive? Maybe, but she's doing a lot more than these chucklefucks trying to blame anyone else but the people actually in charge.
We often hear people say that unless you can do the thing yourself perfectly, you shouldn’t criticize others who do badly in it, and that without a plan forward, your criticism is useless or just “hating
I'm with Ava on this in thinking this is a stupid fucking philosophy. I don't know how to do plumbing in a house, but I know when the plumber is at least doing a shit job because my fucking pipes are leaking. The "well let's see you do better" retort is just a low-effort comeback by neanderthals that don't understand the concept of "you don't need to be a Michelin star chef to know that the chicken is raw and shouldn't be served to people".
I think Sarah spent a lot of time explaining to us what should have been done differently, she literally details in numerous occasions what the better alternative she was fighting for was.
I-It was you, Mark! Y-you were the Careless People all along!
The absolute lack of shit-giving these yuppy pricks exhibit throughout this book is almost exhausting. From the complete apathy as Myanmar gets thrown into turmoil because of the lackadaisical attitude from the people in charge to the aforemention bumbling dickhead of a dad looking at the dumbass fish.
It's kinda tragic to see Sarah's idealism slowly die. It's a tale as old as time, people with big hopes of changing the world, or trying to be part of something bigger than themselves ultimately to watch it crumble due to people being selfish and petty.
It didn't have to be this way
Sarah's right, it didn't have to be this way. There were so many things that could have gone differently had these uptight weirdos taken a step back from jerking each other off with their Harvard diplomas and took a step out from their ivory tower.
I remember when Facebook was starting out in the 2000s. I think I fully joined in 2012(ish?), and had a lot of fun with it. Playing CarTown with my dad, chatting with classmates and seeing what they were up to. Instagram was similar. Now it's a hollow, vapid shell of it's former self. It, like all social media ran by these tech giants, do a lot more harm than good.
I don't hate social media, I hate what the Corporatocracy and the "Must Grow at All Costs" mindset turn it into. What's stopping us from making a better MySpace? Or a better Facebook? That isn't set out on gouging us for every dollar and trying to sell our souls.
I see the indieweb, and I see what people can do when the focus is on the passion and the connections formed. I see the Melonland forum, I see Bear, I see my friends I've made through these small niche communities. It didn't HAVE to go this way.
We can do better, we just have to try.
tl;dr - Rich people fuck everything up, good book, would recommend.
Pirate is wearing black joggers and American Idiot Saviors Tour tee
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Pirate is reading The Catcher in the Rye
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