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Zusammenfassung von How to Be Right

Name: How to Be Right
Rating: 4.1 (113 reviews)
Author: James O’Brien

James O’Brien

In a World Gone Wrong

4.1 (113 Bewertungen)

19 Min.

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What’s in it for me? Find out how a professional talk show host takes down misguided opinions.

James O’Brien’s radio phone-in has over a million listeners. Over the past 14 years, he’s been in a unique position to hear from a wide variety of British citizens and listen to their concerns. One thing he’s come to realize is that many people these days are taking what they read online for granted. They’re not questioning or challenging the opinions they’re exposed to.

In talking to a wide variety of callers, O’Brien has gained a great deal of experience in getting people to look at the bigger picture. In fact, many of his conversations have gone on to become viral sensations thanks to O’Brien’s ability to tear apart a flimsy argument.

For many of today’s most pressing issues, from immigration and Brexit to feminism and Trump, O’Brien has a few memorable callers. Each of these conversations perfectly reflects the ongoing problem of unchallenged opinions. The conversations also show just how easily badly formed opinions fall apart once someone begins to challenge them with logic, reason, and facts. In these blinks, we’ll analyze some of O’Brien’s conversations and discover how to uncover the truth behind the news.

In these blinks, you’ll also find out

how pro-Leave arguments can quickly fall apart;
how arguments against political correctness can be a reaction to a false rumor; and
how examples of a “nanny state” are often worthy fights against corporate greed.

The treatment of Islam in the press has led people to embrace dangerous ideas that threaten human rights.

When the author was growing up in Britain in the 1970s and 80s, there were extreme tensions brought on by IRA bombings. At the time, his father was a reporter, and because of the apostrophe in his last name, he received letters accusing him of supporting the Irish militants and “having the blood of murdered children on his hands.”

Unfortunately, the kind of logic this demonstrates hasn’t diminished over time. Only now, rather than every Irish person being looked at as a potential terrorist, it’s every Muslim. In fact, thanks to online comment boards and social media platforms like Twitter, it would appear that the willingness for broad generalizations has only increased.

But perhaps even more disconcerting is that news and media outlets like the Sun, the Daily Mirror, Fox News, Breitbart, and even the Daily Telegraph, have used fear-mongering tactics to grab readers’ attention, stoking tensions even further. The Sun, which is the best-selling newspaper in the UK, ran commentary under the headline, “If We Want Peace… We Need Less Islam.”

As the host of a radio call-in show, the author has spoken with people who’ve clearly been influenced to categorize all Muslims as being somehow guilty of terrorist acts.

One such caller was Richard, from the town of Marlowe, who felt that Muslim people owed an apology for the attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo. After all, those responsible for the attack claimed to be acting in the name of Islam. The author spoke with Richard for some time about how it was far from reasonable to ask someone who had nothing to do with the attack to apologize because a person claiming responsibility invoked the word “Islam.” To make his point, O’Brien raised a scenario where someone committed an act of terrorism in the name of Richards everywhere. Surely, Richard the caller wouldn’t feel the need to apologize, right?

Unfortunately, in the years that followed, people continued to call with similar views to Richard. One caller by the name of Martin suggested that Muslims as a group need to be better at “weeding out their own bad apples.” Indeed, it seems the fact that even though there are multiple, very distinct and different branches of Islam, such as Sunni and Shia, too many still stick to the popular idea that all Muslims are the same.

Many Brexit supporters were seemingly fooled by a deceitful Leave campaign that went largely unchallenged.

These days, it’s all too easy for an idea to enter the mainstream without being properly scrutinized. So, one of the things the author tries to do on his radio show is to challenge the opinions that are being lazily retweeted and shared on social media.

Often, he simply asks the callers to defend and support their positions with details and facts. This was certainly the case with callers who accepted the reasons pro-Leave spokespeople gave for wanting to break from the EU. One of the more popular reasons was that Britain was being forced to obey unfair or somehow hurtful EU laws.

When people oppose homosexuality on moral or religious grounds, their argument doesn’t bear scrutiny.

Unlike other issues that become topics of public debate, no one is making the claim that homosexuality is taking away jobs or eating up public tax money. Indeed, the argument against homosexuality often comes from a moral standpoint, though the origin of that morality is usually dubious when questioned.

Take for instance, the persistent belief that homosexuality is a personal lifestyle choice, which, it bears pointing out, is a belief that has so far only been voiced by male callers on the author’s show. Whenever this line of argument comes up, the author has a standard reply: “So when did you choose to be straight?” This often cuts right to the absurdity of the argument since it implies that everyone is equally attracted to all sexes and makes a decision. The caller may then get flustered and bring up religion.

The phrase “political correctness” has become politicized and used to incite anger over non-issues.

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four envisages a future dystopia that continues to impress with its insights into modern society. One such detail is what the book calls “Two Minutes Hate,” in which the people are prodded into a daily ritual of getting angry about abstract and unclear matters. It doesn’t matter what the subject is – just that people feel enraged. In fact, the point is that people can easily redirect that rage anywhere.

This anger is exactly what the tabloid newspapers in Britain excel at. Every day, they give people some vague and often nonsensical reason to be angry. Often, these excuses to get enraged are framed as an example of “political correctness gone mad!”

In conversations about feminism, people have revealed a desire to return to troubling traditions.

When people complain about immigration and political correctness, they often say they’re worried about the erosion of traditional values. But the truth is, many traditions aren’t necessarily worth holding on to.

Consider the troubling fact that in 1984 UK courts wouldn’t consider it rape if a married man forced his wife to have sex. And it was only in 1975, with the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act, that husbands and fathers were no longer asked to step in as guarantors when women sought money loans.

Arguments about a “nanny state” are often a cover for feelings of selfishness and superiority.

Like the dangers of Islam, immigration, political correctness, and feminism, you’ve probably heard libertarians complain about “nanny states.” This is the term often invoked whenever a nation’s tax money gets put to use in order to protect us from ourselves.

More specifically, arguments about this topic arise because certain advocates or politicians have taken steps to try to protect us from rampant capitalism, where there’s no limit to what corporations can do in the name of profit.

Trump reveals just how effective it can be to provide people with scapegoats and get them to shut off their brains.

If there’s one thing that the political rise of Donald Trump has taught us, it’s that politicians can go far by telling people what they want to hear. In this case, it’s appealing to a sense of entitlement and offering people a scapegoat for their anger. In particular, Trump appeals to the white people who carry the notion that they are of a higher status, and he uses very simple slogans and catchphrases like “Lock Her Up” and “Fake News,” that allow those people to turn off their brains.

From early on, Trump excelled in blurring the line between lies, truths and alternative realities. This is essentially what Trump does when he uses the term “fake news” to describe facts. At the same time, he puts out lies, like having the turnout for his swearing-in be described as “the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration.”

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Worum geht es in How to Be Right?

How to Be Right (2018) looks at some of today’s most divisive issues through the unique lens of author James O’Brien. As the liberal host of a radio call-in show, O’Brien has gotten into plenty of arguments with people who’ve tried to convince him of one point or another. Using some particularly memorable conversations as examples, O’Brien shows how many of today’s popular opinions can be dismantled by applying some scrutiny and sticking to the facts.

Bestes Zitat aus How to Be Right

Caller: Its against nature. James: Not their nature. Anyway, flying thousands of feet in the air in a giant tin can is against nature, but you dont get your knickers in a twist about that.

—James O’Brien

Wer How to Be Right lesen sollte

Anyone trying to cope with opinionated friends
People with Trump-supporting family members
Fans of liberal-leaning news programs

Über den Autor

James O’Brien has been the host of his own current affairs radio call-in show on the London-based talk radio station LBC for over 14 years. He’s also had his own daily talk show on ITV and has been a presenter on BBC Two’s Newsnight. As a journalist, he’s contributed to a variety of news outlets, including the Daily Mirror and TLS.

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