We Become What We Normalize: What We Owe Each Other in Worlds That Demand Our Silence

Reviewed by:

G. Connor Salter, Professional Writing alumnus from Taylor University, Upland, IN.

Title:

We Become What We Normalize: What We Owe Each Other in Worlds That Demand Our Silence

Author:

David Dark

Publisher:

Broadleaf Books

https://www.broadleafbooks.com/

Publication Date:

November 14, 2023

Format:

Hardcover

Length:

210 pages

OVERVIEW

What does it mean to stand for good values in a time when everyone has opinions—and loud ones, at that? Can we encourage a return to civil conduct in uncivil times? David Dark draws on a range of examples, from Tank Man at Tiananmen Square to Patti Smith asking an interviewer what he meant by “everybody” says she’s a punk rocker, to illustrate what it means to challenge the crowd in a graceful but effective way.  As he explores these examples, and considers how we can push back against narratives that encourage us not to think, to just follow the crowd and keeps, he argues that it’s possible to change our culture. mean to develop a countercultural graceful but truthful approach to challenging the crowd to produce something healthier.

While books about how we deal with polarization aren’t new, they are rarely this well-written. Dark crafts every sentence, deploying anecdotes with maximum efficiency, and coining terms to describe his main ideas. For example, when he talks about the need to seek new relationships and culture that give us healthier values, he talks about how we all must learn to “decolonize our imagination.”

At times, the writing is so good it’s disappointing that Dark is so focused on being topical. Most of the examples of things we need to consider—news scandals from the 2020-2021 pandemic’s peak period, shocking moments from the 2016 and 2020 elections—are interesting and well worth discussing. However, it’s hard to say how many of them will be interesting to readers at the end of the current election cycle. In some ways, We Become What We Normalize is not unlike reading G.K. Chesterton’s cultural commentary books like Heretics: beautifully written observations on a cultural moment that came and went.

Granting that Dark’s book may not age well because cultural commentary books rarely do, and that not all readers will share his slant on certain political views, his message remains fascinating and important. Readers on both sides of the political spectrum can learn from his discussion about how we can stop behaving poorly, and seek graceful but truthful methods to challenge narratives that cultivate power imbalances.

An exceptionally well written look at countercultural living without becoming delusional.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5 stars):

4 stars

Suggested Audience:

While Dark doesn’t primarily use a biblical history discussion to explain his points, it’s fairly clear that the values he discusses emanate from a gospel-based perspective on what it means to live for truth. In that respect, the book can be seen as a discussion about what it means to live out Jesus’ model of speaking truth that shocks people but brings them to the heart of an issue.

Christian Impact:

Christians interested in books that challenge them to consider the difference between speaking the truth and making noise, and what it means to have a graceful yet honest approach to fighting polarization.

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