Charlemagne Tha God (aka, Lenard Larry McKelvey), cohost of iHeart Radio’s The Breakfast Club and cohost of the podcast The Brilliant Idiots, uses Get Honest or Die Lying to rant about the dangers of Small Talk. Charlemagne hates small talk which he defines as “a symbol of our lack of authentic communication. Both as individuals and collectively.”
Charlemagne finds most people waste much of their lives engaged in “Blah, Blah, Blah” conversations with no real meaning. And marinated in those small talk conversations are rumors, Fake News, exaggerations, recriminations, snide remarks, and outright lies.
Meaningful conversations today seem to be a rarity. Charlemagne provides dozens of examples of false claims in political conversations–both conservative and liberal. Our culture accepts lies as “normal” and inflated claims–both Good and Bad–as just the way business and commerce is conducted today.
Charlemagne concludes his book with a desperate entreaty: “Now I want to encourage you to make rejecting small talk a priority in your life,” he pleads, “because small talk is killing us as a society.” How do you feel about small talk? GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: no more small talk —xi
Small talk to you nice — 1
Put some respek on the tortoise — 9
The pursuit of ignorance — 15
Father time — 23
Evolutionary revolutionary — 29
DEI (not that one) –37
The language of politics is dead — 45
Self-destruction– 51
Tree-hug the block — 57
Astronaut kids, featuring Elliott Connie — 65
Funny or die — 71
The lying game — 77
World wide nigga net — 83
Listen to the elders, bro — 91
Small minds — 101
Death of a nation, featuring Aaron McGruder — 107
Talkin’ loud and sayin’ somethin’ — 119
Same-day service — 127
Ego strength — 135
Headlines — 143
The point! — 151
I hear dead people — 159
Small town, small talk — 167
The gossip files — 175
Time 4 sum aksion — 181
Imposterism — 187
Echo — 197
True intentions — 205
The blessed don’t beef with the miserable — 209
Acknowledgments — 215
I’m here to tell you Honesty can kill a person dead if you don’t know how to use it right. Small talk is the social lubricant that lets us ease into honesty.
Dan, well said! I know from personal experience that telling the Truth and being Honest can lead to disaster!
What Dan said. Small talk is NOT the same as political/religious/personal talk; it is, rather, a way to be a social individual while maintaining some (often much-needed) social space. I think this guy (who I’ve never heard of) is conflating two different things: small talk versus the insidious way lies & fake information get incorporated into the general conversation. Because the whole premise of his book is based on (at the kindest interpretation) a misunderstanding, I feel no need to read it.
Deb, Charlemagne Tha God shows up on THE DAILY SHOW on Comedy Network from time to time. He–like almost everybody else–also has a podcast.
Once one gets past his ridiculous moniker, he’s usually reasonably intelligent. But, yeah, insisting on solely discussing trivia is detrimental in the long run, but mislabeling or misperceiving trivia for propaganda is another thing, including even when the trivia is resorted to to avoid a useless argument.
Though for me, the notion that all political positions are Liberal or Conservative is the kind of oversimplification that he’s railing against. Particularly since so many, like Drumpf and his lackeys, use it to attempt to camouflage their offenses and crimes…there’s a Huge difference even between the kind of reactionary (and in dad’s case, embezzler) the Cheneys are, and the neofascist Drumpf is…much less the conservative, by reasonable definition, and either.
Todd, and there’s the whole attack on language with Fake News and “Alternate Facts.” The Russians are polluting our Election with Deep Fakes while other countries work to undermine our faith in Free and Fair Elections. Charlemagne Tha God stresses the importance of Honesty.
What Dan said. Small talk lets you feel out what might be an acceptable conversation and with some people there just isn’t one. So do we cut them off when we meet them at the grocery store? And small talk is better than no talk, which is what a lot of people seem stuck with. I have had lifelong relationships with people I have never had a meaningful conversation with and that’s okay.
Patti, Diane can talk to anybody about the weather (she watches a dozen weather reports each day!). I can talk sports and make jokes. But once Politics and Religion show up, things can go south quickly.
Me three – what Dan said. I found out in 2016 that a number of people that I had a pleasant (if superficial) relationship in our building were voting for Trump. I’d much rather talk about the Yankees or the weather with them.
Jeff, I’ve learned over the years that people with closed minds are impervious to reason and facts. It’s just a waste of time trying to get them to change their minds or confront Reality.
By the way, while watching the World Series game last night, this guy (of whom id never heard until yesterday morning) popped up on a grossly transphobic pro-Trump ad. Another reason to avoid his book!
Deb, Charlemagne Tha God has some J. K. Rowling tendencies…
CTG on a pro-Trump ad? Wow. If actually the case, goodbye my mixed level of respect for him.
Todd, I think Trump will face the wrath of Puerto Ricans!