On Being Unreasonable

June 1, 2023
A study of reasonableness and arguments for when it's acceptable to be unreasonable. Cultural studies scholar Sedgman begins her third book with an anecdote about breastfeeding in public, which leads to a broad introduction. "Just like society," she writes, "this is a book in two halves." In the first half, "Being Reasonable," the author examines the roots and effects of societal and behavioral norms across the world. In the second, "Being Unreasonable," she makes a case for bucking them. Humans, writes Sedgman, are "the only animal whose very survival depends on a complex system of mutual dependence between people who aren't our families, 99.9999999999 per cent of whom we don't know, and whom we'll probably never meet." Therefore, she notes, healthy society is only possible with effective "rules of engagement." The author explores internalized behavioral patterns of which people are not consciously aware, such as kissing on both cheeks as a sign of greeting in certain countries. "Our interactions are shaped by all those supra-conscious mechanisms...but crucially, we aren't beholden to them. We can learn to recognise our harmful urges and instincts, and to alter our response. We get to decide how we live together." Sedgman's voice is engaging, buoyed by incisive humor and the sweep of her details. She delineates, for instance, the racist roots of the terms highbrow and lowbrow, and how theaters, in 19th-century Europe, became places of "silent reverie." The crux of her case is that "we are trying to be together in a world that's designed to pull us apart." While addressing, exhaustively, the question of what it means to be together, she concludes, "In the face of injustice, sometimes being naughty is the only moral choice." The author is sometimes repetitive, but her points are generally thoughtful. At least 100 pages too long, this cultural-studies book is nonetheless entertaining and timely.

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