Counterculture turns the gun onto itself

Reviewed by jennifer messier, 2005-08-11

Kurt Cobain did it. This book demonstrates that counterculture has now chosen to negate itself. It would help if it aimed to overcome itself. A cautious start to this process is proposed here.
Joe Heath and Andrew Potter paint a scathing portrait of the counterculture as a movement by identifying it merely as a market segment which particularly drives capitalism and the pro-corporate world.
This isn't news to anyone. One might imagine Kenneth Lay and the Enron execs as glorious anti-heroes in the tradition of Easy Riders if they weren't so stinking rich. Screw the man. Screw everybody if you get a chance.
What this book fails to do is to address the most important issues it only skips through: social injustice and environmental destruction. The two academics offer very little in terms of solutions, concentrating on attacking the very trend they have epitomized with this book, and thus we witness the counterculture countering itself.
As such they are merely selling an entertaining book. Let's rebel against rebellion, yeah that's the ticket.
This being said they are helpful in having us reconsider politics seriously, rather than trying to change the world through pop culture, which in the end only serves as entertainment. The Canadian documentary The Corporation offers a potent political starting point without beating around the bush: let's make corporations accountable to all stakeholders, not only to the shareholders.
It's refreshing to see a discourse evolve in the direction this book takes us. But to those seeking solutions to the problems plaguing our kind, this is fluffy entertainment.

Don't trust anyone over 30 (ish)

Reviewed by Trevor Parry, 2005-06-27

I found the book to be quite an interesting stroll down consumerism lane. The authors do an excellent job of providing examples of consumerist interaction in daily life to bolster their argument that trying to remove oneself from "the system" to be different or to avoid participation in what is viewed as a flawed social contract, further promotes capitalism in the end.

Of course one can argue the degree of generationally contextual analysis they apply is a criticism, attributable to the generation in which they find themselves, I suppose all the more evident if you are an older person who does not hold with their viewpoint. However, I am a gen exer myself, and found much of the themes expressed in the book refreshingly familiar and evocative.

I must confess I have not read Ms. Klein's book, to which the authors make several references as an elucidated opinion worthy of a good intellectual bashing. Then again a good intellectual bashing never hurt anyone...so I think I'll now turn to her book for an amble down anti-globalization avenue & see if its warranted.

Ultimately vain, tedious and unnecessary

Reviewed by Anonymous, 2005-06-07

I don't know why anyone would bother writing something like Rebel Yell. If you're intelligent enough to follow the argument, it doesn't offer anything to think about, nor anything for which the book will be remembered. While I agree with the Books in Canada review, I don't know why the reviewer wasted his time in writing such a detailed, and yet passionate, attack. It bordered on the ad hominum, which would be excessive, I think. While it is insulting to encounter the cheapened thought contained in this book (they theorize as their reader a complete moron, not realizing that most who will read this book are familiar with the thinkers they use), perhaps the reviewer should level his criticisms at the source of the problem--an academic community that in its hypocrisy polishes its Derridean, Marxian and Platonist knives on mundane problems so that each can believe in his/her own relevance in the burgeoning popular culture analysis enterprise (a sad state of affairs). But the best result (for those who don't have to read it) is found in taking a deep breath as one passes it on the shelf and ignoring it, for it will be forgotten. Let the academics have their fun. I haven't talked about the book. What's the bloody point (read the B in C review)? If the sort of thing this book promises intrigues you, read Frederic Jameson's Postmodernism (again).

An important work, but too heavy-handed

Reviewed by Curtis Vos, 2005-04-07

This book is challenging with many excellent points on the shortcomings of counter-cultural thought and I would recommend it for all the lefties that think they know all the answers. I also liked the reworking of Kant's Moral Imperative, namely, is my striving for individualism something that all people should do or it is it actually harmful to others?
On the negative side the relentlessly polemic tone irritated me and is off balance by neglecting many of the excellent contributions made by the progressive left. Like many rants, both right and left, it is easy to set up a straw man and bash it to pieces, piñata style.
One clear example is their diatribe against free-range chickens. As someone who has raised free-range chickens and turkeys, their argument that these birds actually prefer being caged to being outdoors is truly preposterous.
Another problem is ranting about Eastern philosophies. Doing more with less, and showing compassion towards all life is a central message of Eastern thought and many members of the counter-culture. Buddha's 8-fold path, for example, is sound both intellectually and ethically, in a way that the promise of a blissful afterlife via faith is not.
While short on solutions and overburdened with simplistic examples, this book is still a compelling read, and serves as an effective counter-point to many of the flaky and ultimately narcissistic ideas of today's counterculture.

PS: If the authors care to reach me for a fruitful debate, please write me at curtisvos at hotmail.com...

A Tonic for Thoughtful Progressives

Reviewed by Jim Preston, 2004-12-12

Nietzsche once said there is nothing worse for your position than to have someone argue for it poorly. As a progressive, I felt that way for a long time about the counter-culture wing of the leftist movement and their strident railing against "the omnivorous System." Fortunately, this book nicely defangs one of the most wrong-headed and unhelpful political movements in the last 50 years.

Rebel Sell starts by destroying the sociological and moral psychological underpinnings of the counterculter movement which are generally housed upon Marx and Freud respectively. The authors point out (and Chris W seems to have missed this point), that both Marx and Freud have been largely chased out of the world of philosophers and theorists, even though the ghosts of these thinkers still haunt the minds of the amateur intellectuals that make up the ranks of the counterculture.

After that, the rest of the book is a lively and often very amusing discussion of the silliness of the counterculture ideology (thank you, India!) combined with a complete debunking of most of its claims, and a damning critique of any real substantive solutions to legitimate problems. For liberals such as myself who are tired of being embarrassed by the pseudo-rebels in Nike shoes, this book is a welcome relief.