Outraged

Why Everyone is Shouting and No One is Talking

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Pub Date 9 Jul 2020 | Archive Date 9 Sep 2020

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Description

'Funny, nuanced and wonderful'  Jon Ronson 

'A book that had me hollering, nodding and questioning at the same time'  Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie 

'A witty, ever-so-thoughtful guide to getting our outrage back on track' Pandora Sykes 

‘Everyone with a social media account should read this book’ Bella Mackie


Presenter and DJ Ashley Dotty Charles explores our age of outrage, and how it's debasing civil discourse.

Ours is a society where many practice provocation, the tactless but effective tool of pedalling outrage - and we all too quickly take the bait. If outrage has become abundant, how can we make activism more effective?

There is still much to be outraged by in our final frontier - the gender pay gap, racial bias, gun control - but in order to enact change and become more effective online, we must learn to channel our responses.

This is the essential guide to living through the age of outrage.

'Funny, nuanced and wonderful'  Jon Ronson 

'A book that had me hollering, nodding and questioning at the same time'  Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie 

'A witty, ever-so-thoughtful guide...


Advance Praise

‘Funny, nuanced and wonderful’

Jon Ronson

‘Outraged is as hilarious as it is smart, and as insightful as it is provocative. A book that had me hollering, nodding and questioning at the same time'

Candice Carty-Williams

‘Outraged is a timely reminder to keep perspective. To question who we actually help when we rush to yell online. Dotty writes with humour and measure, always keen to explore rather than condemn. Everyone with a social media account should read this book’

Bella Mackie

‘Books about wokeness are typically written by a very specific type of conservative figure. Dotty rips up the rulebook in order to write a thought-provoking but never provocative book about the Outrage Era: how did we get here? Where have we gone wrong? … A witty and ever-so-thoughtful guide to getting our outrage back on track’

Pandora Sykes

'This superb polemic is a penetrating exploration of the sorry state of outrage in our culture. Through interviews with Rachel Dolezal, Katie Hopkins and others, Charles shows that by so quickly leaping on the outrage bandwagon, we are actually debasing the quality of our civil discourse . . . I underlined something on almost every page'  Bookseller

‘Funny, nuanced and wonderful’

Jon Ronson

‘Outraged is as hilarious as it is smart, and as insightful as it is provocative. A book that had me hollering, nodding and questioning at the same...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781526605030
PRICE £14.99 (GBP)
PAGES 272

Available on NetGalley

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Average rating from 31 members


Featured Reviews

I came across this book during the aftermath of the death of George Floyd when the world is ruled by #blacklivesmatter #blackouttuesday and many others. In the times, when I knew my couple of followers on Instagram would lynch me if I dared to post something during blackout Tuesday, and when I was afraid I will get lynched for not posting the black square. Despite knowing, most of these people posting black squares actually don’t care and are racist themselves. Not saying I agree with police brutality, just drawing parallels.
Great use of case studies, interviews, different opinions, and humour. I don’t think I have agreed so much with a book I have read, and I felt like I should highlight a lot of things I read. This book made my laugh, made me nod, made me try to remember to excerpts of it and discuss the power of online movements with my friends and family.
Wonderfully written and could be seen as controversial. Saying things just the way they are, this book is a must-read for everybody getting outraged just about everything and sharing each social movement hashtag on social media. It’s for everyone blindly reposting and not actually thinking about the issue, and for everyone like me, who gets annoyed on people blindly reposting.

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This book is an easily-accessible, thought-provoking read on outrage in a digital age with real-life examples, case-studies, academic findings and influencer interviews from those at either end of outrage and vitriol. It most importantly provides insight into how we can focus on important issues and how we can effect real, lasting change.

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Outraged is a magical combination of enlightening and entertaining. The potential minefield of a subject is made easier to chew on because of the great use of humour and straight talking approach,

The examples used are interesting and unpacked from all angles. Each example I read helped me think through my own beliefs and past actions.

Ashley Charles asks us to consider carefully when we use our outrage - her approach makes me think we have a reserve of outrage that is difficult to replenish and so we should use it wisely. This is a guide to social justice that will lead to real change.

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In a world where it seems that there is a new source of outrage every day, Ashley 'Dotty' Charles takes an insightful look at performative outrage.

Featuring interviews with Rachel Dolezal, Katie Hopkins, Richard Wilson (founder of Stop Funding Hate), and Stephanie Yeboah (@NerdAboutTown), Charles takes an in-depth and balanced look into outrage.

The final chapter succinctly sums up Charles' proposed approach to outrage, addressing that we should not be outraged but that we should be more deliberate in our outrage and seek tangible change.

This book was not quite what I expected. I think I went into it expecting either a saucy dissection of significant moments of online outrage or a very specific set of steps of how to turn outrage into action. Whilst both of those things are touched on, this book asks the reader to evaluate their outrage in a much more individual way.

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Eight stars out of five? Screw it. Twelve stars! Please take all of my stars!!

I was rolling, physically rolling with laughter (and sympathy, if one can roll with sympathy?) from the first chapter. It’s quite a short read - I finished it in around 3 hours - and yet packed full of personality from page one. I already want it read it again.

What I love about Dotty is that she can hold her hands up and admit to having fallen into the many ‘outrage traps’ herself, so this book in no way feels like a lecture or a swipe at the reader. Rather, it investigates why we behave in the ways that we do and analyses how we’ve ended up so damn offended all the time. ‘We don’t need to care less; we just need to care better.’

Somehow we spur each other on, keep awful newspapers in business and put food in the mouths of outrage-hungry celebrities we actually wish would die slow and painful deaths from starvation. In all seriousness, it really opened my eyes to how self-serving a lot of public outrage actually is.

I find it truly fascinating to learn about our behaviours and motivations. I also have to take my hat off to Dotty, that she managed to interview such awful people and remain so totally calm and professional throughout. Even when interviewing a White woman con artist who had been branding herself as Black to get ahead in her career and homophobic outrage-mongers like Katie Hopkins (Dotty is both Black and homosexual).

Picking just one favourite quote is so difficult here, because I have to choose between laughter-gasps and life-changing realisations, but I feel this one represents the tone of the book so well and I couldn’t stop laughing during a very serious topic of discussion:

‘There’s loads of different ways,’ he says in a measured tone that convinces me he wears his hair in a side parting,…

An absolute masterpiece of a book, I honestly cannot sing its praises loudly enough. More please!

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This is hands down one of the best books I've read in 2020, and without doubt the best non-fiction book I've read.

Dotty explores some of the most interesting instances of social media outrage of recent years and just how ineffective it can be. So many of us are guilty of jumping on the current social media outrage bandwagon, causing real societal issues to be overlooked.

This book is insightful, well-researched, and absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend it.

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Early reader opinions seem to suggest that this book is more controversial than I expected, or indeed experienced. Like the ouroboros eating itself, "Outrage" seems to be eliciting that very response in some who feel the content isn't anything they didn't know already, or that the author's (funny, observational) commentary is questionably offensive. Hilarious! I suspect that those who choose to buy the book won't be those who need it most. Personally, I admire Ashley 'Dotty' Charles's plain speaking and writing style. I found the book informative, well-researched and a good resource for anyone attempting to navigate the minefields of social media. "Outrage" presents a collection of ideas and observations that made perfect sense to me and allowed me the space to consider my own behaviour - past and present. My biggest take away is that I will consciously try to ensure that I continue listening to those with whom I don't always agree and strive to keep my timeline diverse, in order that I don't fall into the trap of the self-important echo chamber. I've already learned from experience to choose my battles wisely. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

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A thoughtful and insightful book about the culture of outrage (particularly online) and the way that collective fury over relatively insignificant events can make genuine outrage less impactful. The author explores a range of people and situations that have provoked mass outrage, and unpicks the ways in which we use hashtags and online petitions to present ourselves in a certain light without actually taking any further action. This isn’t a book about giving up or letting things slide - it’s about focussing on the issues that are truly important.

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Synopsis
This is a non-fiction book in which the author, Ashley ‘Dotty’ Charles explores the concept of outrage and how this is currently demonstrated in our culture. Speaking to both people who have experienced the backlash of the public’s outrage such as Katie Hopkins as well as others who have orchestrated outrage both intentionally or unintentionally such as Stephanie Yeboah (don’t worry if you don’t know who she is-I didn’t, however, she was the women who first questioned H&M of their use if a black child in the monkey top). Throughout the book she questions her own outrage and in her discussions encourages this of the reader too.

What others have said
“Funny, nuanced and wonderful“ — Jon Ronson, Journalist.

“A book that had me hollering, nodding and questioning at the same time” — Candice Carty-Williams, Author.

“A witty, ever-so-thoughtful guide to getting our outraged back on track” — Pandora Sykes, Journalist.

What did I think?
I found this book as a result of Netgallery and as soon as I saw it I knew that it was one I should probably read it. I have been offered the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review and for this I am hugely grateful.

So why did I feel like I definitely had to read it. Whilst, I am naturally a happy go lucky type of person who can see the good in nearly everyone, I am someone who is quite prone to outrage and am quick to whip up an Instagram post about it, share a Facebook article or generally shout and scream about anything I feel is unjust or ‘bang out of order’. I love this part of my personality and would never want to change my desire to promote the rights of others or highlight discrimination or oppression. However, in the last few months, I have found it exhausting and have really been thinking about the impact my outrage actually has! Am I having any actual impact and creating change or am I just adding to the noise? My recent fear has been it has been the latter, hence the reason for the changes in my Instagram posts to focus upon education rather than just shouting.

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more!! I found it to be thought provoking, considered and insightful in its discussions. It is a non-fiction and therefore, it doesn’t have the story line or characters that encourage you to engage with the book but I found that throughout reading the book I was committed to what Dotty had to say and it really got me to consider my own positioning and those around me.

As a non-fiction book I felt that it was well-researched and all those that Dotty spoke to were well placed to highlight their views or research. It taught me a lot but in an approachable format that felt easy to read and consider. It’s broken down well so it does not become overwhelming.

One review by Bella Mackie (Author) has highlighted that everyone with a social media account should read this book and I am inclined to agree. This book highlights the ‘mob mentality’ of outrage on social media and how really the use of hashtags impact our own responses to events within the world as we can so easily post but aside from this don’t take action. Are we really now only #outrage rather than outraged enough to take any positive course of action? I am concerned that we are!!

It has certainly caused me to think about my own action and how I respond to my outrage. I will continue to be the same passionate advocate I have been but I has helped me to realise I can’t be cross about everything as I become exhausted and ineffective. It’s demonstrated that whilst it’s important to share the outrage actually I need to also think about the follow up action I am taking (that explains the information posts that are being shared on Instagram and this blog) to ensure that my outrage helps change narratives and opinions rather than just being extra noise in a subject. I am also reflecting on #takeactionwednesday and whilst I will continue to sign petitions and write to my MP I will also ensuring that I follow these up, I will ask for the updates on the petitions, I will be reading what has been said in the debates about them and I will be following up with my MP if I do not feel they have kept to what they have said to me.

The rating
Star rating: 4* (out of 5). It dropped one star just simply because at points it was a little hard going due to the wealth of information and this makes it slightly less accessible to all.
Will I read it again? Yes definitely and I think I will probably get just as much from it. I will also be recommending it.

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I love Ashley Charles's perspective on how we live our lives online these days and the way we expend our energy there: outrage without any thought to the benefits that energy expenditure will provide. Also, considering the interlinking of outrage & activism and thinking of outrage as a currency to be spent or something that should turn into action. She has such a fresh, practical, well thought out approach to this most frustrating part of modern life - it made me feel much better about how the future could be!

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I wasnt too sure how this one. A lot of things went over my head and lost my interest. Some parts of it made sense and let mr see some things from a different point of view and I learnt some bits from it. The case studies throughout the book were a good insight into the things that happen within the world.

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