Scott Rhee's Reviews > Why We're Polarized

I must preface this review by saying that I made the mistake of "reading" this book as an audiobook. Don't get me wrong: It wasn't a mistake reading the book at all. On the contrary, it's excellent and one that I highly recommend.

What I mean is that, unless you are a very careful audio learner (and I am not), listening to the audiobook version of Ezra Klein's "Why We're Polarized" may not be the best way to read it. I am a visual learner myself, which means that the best way I learn is through seeing words or graphs or pictures on a page. I am also someone who prefers reading/writing as a way to learn, sometimes called "verbal" learning. Audio is probably my least successful way of learning, but I still listen to audiobooks anyway, mainly as a way to build up practice in audio learning.

This is all a rather verbose (see what I mean about preferring verbal?) way of saying that Klein's book probably would have been better served by me if I had read it in actual book form.

Part of the problem is that the book is so dense with information, it's hard for me retain some of the fascinating facts he's spouting because there is so much. It also doesn't help that Klein (who narrates his own audiobook) has a very conversational narration style. It "reads" like he's just talking to you informally, at a coffeehouse. He also talks pretty fast, so a few times, I had to rewind and re-listen.

It must be stated, though, that this is an important and extremely useful examination of the state of politics in this country. It's one of the better ones I have read, and it's a book that I will probably go back to and re-read. I stopped buying books years ago (libraries are good!), but this is one that I probably would not mind having on my bookshelf permanently.

In a nutshell (and I feel I'm doing a disservice by reducing it to a nutshell, but I also feel that I've wasted enough of your time), Klein is saying that our political landscape has always been polarized, and, for the most part and for most of our history, that hasn't been a bad thing. It has only been in the past several decades where our political polarization has become dangerous. Across-the-aisle compromise and partnership is virtually nonexistent, whereas in years past, such compromise was essential for the government to get things done.

As to why we're polarized, Klein's main take-away is that identity politics has become too extreme. Race (and specifically racism) has always been an issue in this country, but people are polarized by religion, socio-economic status, gender, age. Going further, people polarize themselves by region, sports teams, favorite soft drink, whether you like Harry Potter or not, Swiftie or anti-Swiftie. There used to be a time when people simply joked about whether they loved Star Wars or thought Star Wars fans were nerds. Now, people are bloodthirsty and mean. Klein gives convincing reasons why this is so, and he also provides some common-sense solutions. (Hint: give social media a fucking rest.)

Anyway, this is a great book that should be read by anyone and everyone who has skin in the political game. Whether you like it or not: that includes all of us.