The Why Axis

Back when I regularly did the Twitter thing, I visited the Freakonomics Blog frequently. One day, the guys passed on a favor asked of them by their colleagues Uri Gneezy and John A. List, who weren't sure of what to title their pending publication with the subtitle: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economic of Everyday Life. They told their readers to submit names and they could win a few bucks for the winning submission.

I eventually saw they settled on The Why Axis as their title, and figured that I'd read it once it got released. J put me on hold for the pre-publication and I got it sometime in October. It is dull reading, so I got a few sections read but had to return the book since it had holds on it. Before J went on maternity leave, she got The Why Axis back out for me, and I have been slowly reading it to about the half-way point.

The main reason for my speed hindrance is the asinine commentary made by the authors Gneezy and List. They go out of their way to make the case that the world is bigoted only to expose themselves as the bigots.

Their bigotry is highlighted on p.123 in their defining George Zimmerman as "a half-white, half-Hispanic neighborhood watch captain," while previously stating on p. 115 the "Americans even elected a black president twice." Given the fact that President Obama is as white as George Zimmerman, Gneezy and List expose themselves as bigots.

Though, I'm merely halfway through this sometimes numbing text, I have found the book to be mostly filled with condescension towards the poor by depicting them primarily as minorities and women, thus victims of a white dominated man's world. They should have called the book: The Whine Axis.