Dear reader and friend,

Thank you for your book recommendation and opinions on that author. I’m glad you liked the book you recommended me, and truly hope you got value from it. However, the author you have recommended me is one I know well enough to know they are significantly to the right of me politically. While I disagree with this person’s politics, please know that:

1. The person you recommended to me is a good person, is a person that I respect, and I believe that they are doing what they believe is the right thing.

2. This individual likely gets many racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and other hateful attacks from the alt-right. I stand in full solidarity against those attacks.

3. The book in question is most likely very well written, and the author succeeds in being informative, relatable, charismatic, and/or funny.

In case you would like to make future suggestions, here are some authors I like that are closer to ideologically agreeing with me: Naomi Klein, Cornel West, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and more!

If you want further context into why I am more selective in the recommendations I choose to read, I have provided a more elaborate explanation if you are interested:

1. Fiction vs Non-Fiction Approach

So here on booktube, people are nice, people are cool, people are generally understanding. However, after the grotesque murder of George Floyd and others in the black community, many white and non-black booktubers started asking themselves serious questions about the books they consume and why they choose to consume those books. And when you ask those hard questions, you quickly realize that the implicit racism and racism by outcome is just as prevalent within booktube, publishing and the bookselling industry, as it is in the rest of society. I, myself asked these difficult questions. Are the books I’m reading too white? Are the books I’m reading too deeply based in American and European history? Are the books I’m reading to male centered? And honestly, the answer to all these questions was yes, at least as far as the fantasy genre goes. Upon this realization, I have since been trying to self-correct.

However, in the non-fiction and news consumption space, I’ve been hyper aware of the news I consume, and the race gender and ideology behind the people bringing me the news. What I realized around 5 years ago was if I listened to and read mainstream news outlets, I would rarely if ever get news that portrays war negatively. I would never get news about the climate crisis, poverty, ending world hunger. I would never get news about the student loan debt crisis or the medical bankruptcy crisis. I would rarely get news about black lives matter, racial justice, or police reform. Central and South American news was so sparse that I hadn’t heard the term Pink Tide until 2017. The media would never talk about income inequality, but perhaps most lacking, I would never get news from a pro-labor perspective. The bottom line is, this person does not challenge the oppressive systems of power.

And to be reiterate, the person you mentioned is I’m sure a phenomenal writer, doesn’t deserve bigoted hate, and is someone who I respect. But I am aware of this author and I have observed they don’t talk about many of the things that I care about politically or ideologically. Or perhaps they do talk about them, but are inactive when it comes to bringing about change.

2. Family and Friends:

So as much as I love the people in my life, I have many friends and family who are opposed to my leftist ideology (I’m sure many of you can relate.) My father’s news of choice is MSNBC. My lovely and wonderful mother watches PBS NewsHour most nights, and sometimes I will watch the program with her. Although PBS NewsHour is not a bad source of centrist news, it comes at things from a vastly different worldview than I do, which leads its contributors to say things that are objectively not true (EX: a universal healthcare system would cost more per capita than our current healthcare system). They also sometimes completely omit important current events, like the Chilean feminista movement, which recently electorally overthrew their constitution implemented under a US backed military dictatorship.

I often ask my wonderful parents, what socialist media you consume. Their answer is always none, or I sometimes watch Bernie Sanders be interviewed. While I love my parents, and completely respect their choice for the media they consume, I differ from them strongly. I simply don’t think it’s healthy to consume only capitalist media. I would also tell a socialist that it is not healthy to consume only socialist media. Consuming the centrist media with them is how I connect with them. It’s what I watch with my dad when we aren’t watching sports. It’s what I watch with my mom when she is kind enough to cook me a wonderful meal. All that said, I can only handle so much centrist political commentary. It’s honestly very sad for me to consume media which is so opposed to what I believe. I want someone who preaches love like Cornel West, or optimism like Naomi Klein. While some centrist preach hope and change, too often I have found those very centrists practice war and serve the stock exchange.