Hater, John Semley
Hater, John Semley
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Hater
On the Virtues of Utter Disagreeability

Author: John Semley

Narrator: John Semley

Unabridged: 4 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Viking

Published: 10/23/2018

Synopsis

A timely manifesto urging us to think critically, form opinions, and then argue them with gusto.

Hater begins from a simple premise: that it's good to hate things. Not people or groups or benign belief systems, but things. More to the point, it's good to hate the things everyone seems to like.
    Scan the click-baiting headlines of your favorite news or pop-culture website and you're likely to find that just about everything is, supposedly, "what we need right now." We are the victims of an unbridled, unearned optimism. And our world demands pessimism. It's vital to be contrarian--now, as they say, more than ever. Because ours is an age of calcified consensus. And we should all hate that.
    In this scathing and funny rebuke of the status quo, journalist John Semley illustrates that looking for and identifying nonsense isn't just a useful exercise for society, it's also a lot of fun. But Hater doesn't just skewer terrible TV shows and hit songs--at its core it shows us how to meaningfully talk about and engage with culture, and the world. Ultimately, Hater is what we actually need right now.

About The Author

JOHN SEMLEY is a pop culture and media critic who regularly writes arts features and reviews. He is a film and TV columnist for CBC's q, and frequent contributor to The Globe and Mail and Maclean's. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, The A.V. Club, Salon, Now, The Walrus, Toronto Life, and more. He is the author of This Is a Book About Kids in the Hall. He lives in Toronto.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeff on December 18, 2018

This is a brave undertaking, and it gets points for gumption. But if you’re going to write a book about being a curmudgeon, it seems especially important to ensure that it doesn’t suck. This book, regrettably, sucks. There are easy vectors for criticism here. The prose is clumsy, vacillating between......more

Goodreads review by Chris on February 06, 2023

2nd read: I just read this book for the first time a few months ago, and I had to read it again. It’s such a great book that I can’t recommend enough. Recently, I’ve started creating new content in a community that is very reluctant to critique literally anything, and this book just kept popping in m......more

Goodreads review by Dave on June 24, 2019

Loquacious but written well. While I enjoyed the book, it is definitely not written in the same vein as other, more sycophantic, pop-philosophy books on critical thinking. Verbose, or to avoid what I see as the trap the author fell into, overly wordy, the book reads like a critical essay from a pape......more

Goodreads review by Natverse on March 19, 2019

The concept is really interesting but not sure if this was executed in the best possible way. I thing this in tandem with the topic of public shaming would probably go hand-in-hand, as in it doesn't discuss the dangers of of being a hater in enough depth. But I like the concept of being a contrarian......more

Goodreads review by Ayesha on July 08, 2019

An articulate and well written guide to navigating consensus culture, the democratisation of public forums, and understanding the benefits of discernment and constructive hating. A very enjoyable and engaging read.......more

Quotes

“[A] reminder that contrarian opinions can motivate us to think about what we’re consuming and what we’re taking for granted.” —Radheyan Simonpillai, NOW magazine

“Well-argued and warmly rendered … an unmistakable call for a new scepticism, a disciplined interrogation of one's own ideas and courage to express them despite the crushing pressures of conformity or indifference.” —Brent Bambury, CBC’s Day 6

“In this clarion call to turn down the suck, John Semley turns up the good. Do hate the player, do hate the game, and do read Hater to do so decently." —Benjamin Errett, author of Elements of Wit

“In an age where pop-culture opinions are evenly sorted between rigid agreement and insubstantial trolling, John Semley makes a fierce case for the dying art of informed criticism. Hater is necessary reading for the modern misanthrope.” —Andray Domise, Maclean’s Contributing Editor

“Defying the relentless pressure to stay positive, John Semley stands up for the righteous cause and dying art of ruthless critique. From predictable commodified culture to phony corrupt politics, there’s a lot to dislike these days. This is a scathing guidebook to hating in good faith.” —Astra Taylor, Writer and Filmmaker

Like a lot of manifestos, [Hater is] also a passionate broadside, a clarion call to wake the sheeple from their slumbers… the message of a book like Hater is more important than ever.” —Literary Review of Canada

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