What is Radical Disruption?

I eyed Michiko Kakutani's 'The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider' (February 2024) when it was first released, but didn't need to read it urgently. 

The contents are likely a tad too close to what I read at work. I didn't think she's the academic authority on the themes and topics I need to know. Hurhuhur. Finally got around to reading it this month. Wahhh. It's ermmm... disappointing. 

I wasn't expecting it to be this bad. Sure, the nine chapters are well-researched, quoted and footnoted. In fact, she extensively quotes every writer till she's all over the place. I'm like, the author is so out of her depth. It shows in her perspectives and views. At this juncture of her life, she's not comfortable with disruptions. I confess that many of the television shows she references aren't familiar to me because I wasn't even born, or was wayyy too young to know. This book would do better as an opinion piece (of the everyday man) in a news outlet, not as a book. 

Firstly, don't read this book as a guide to American political science. It isn't. It's a normal educated person's comment of global trends and American-centric social trends. It's a collection of the opinions of a Pulitzer-winning literary critic. Michiko Kakutani is a harsh critic who isn't well-liked by many authors. They're definitely going to rip apart this book too. (Reviews here, here, here and here.)

In the book, the author doesn't say anything new. In every generation, we'll be saying the exact words — that we're living in an age of chaos, technological disruption and radical change. It's a tad snobbish in her panning of tech bros, ultra right-wing politicians and even science fiction. She makes sweeping statements that aren't exactly in the realm of an analytical mind. I'm not even sure I want to quote her as an authority or a point of reference in a paper's bibliography. A footnote, perhaps. 

Some skeptics fear that a decentralized web could exacerbate already troubling dynamics, becoming a high-speed conduit for hate speech and racism, and that the lack of centralized authorities would make it more difficult than ever to moderate illegal or dangerous content. Others doubt that a decentralized web will ever supplant the existing internet, and that even if it manages to somehow gain a foothold, it, too, will somehow end up being co-opted by Big Tech or large venture capital firms.  

The book ends at Chapter 9 'Resilience in the Vuca-Verse: Coping with Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity'. She took a meandering trip through history and described how America overcome those obstacles of Great Depression to financial meltdowns, Black Lives Matter (BLM), #MeToo and COVID lockdowns. She brought in Arab Spring, Occupy and even climate change, and quoted David Attenborough. I was thoroughly confused. 

In Jalandhar, India, the smog clears during the lockdown and the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas can be seen for the first time in decades. Such images demonstrate the remarkable resilience of nature, and prod us to remember, as Attenborough puts it, that we still have "an opportunity to rebuild in a new direction" and embrace a more sustainable way of life. 

If that isn't enough, the Epilogue is worse. It links back to the introduction when the author mentioned the inspiration for the title of this book. She talks about Hokusai's 'Great Wave', 'Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji', and wood-block prints, and how Japan weathered great change back then. She ended with tons of lines from Joe Bidden and Irish poet Heaney. 🤨

What I giggled at, are the book's many many references to Donald Trump. LOL The snark. The author clearly doesn't like him, and doesn't mince her words. I find it funny. I think many in NYC's literary circles do too. But equally many won't.