On Being Unreasonable

Manners, order and respect... these are all ideals we subscribe to. In opposed positions, we ought to be able to 'agree to disagree'. Today's world is builtfrom structures of standards and reason, but it is imperative to ask who constructed these norms, and why. We are more divided than ever before - alonglines of race, gender, class, disability - and it's time to question who benefitsthe most. What if our propensity to measure human behaviour against rules and reason is actually more problematic than it might seem?

Kirsty Sedgman shows how power dynamics and the social biases involved have resulted in a wide acceptance of what people should and shouldn't do, but they create discriminatory realities and amount to a societal facade that is dangerous for genuine social progress. From taking the knee to breast feeding in public, from neighbourhood vigilantism to the Colston Four-and exploringideas around ethics, justice, society, and equality along the way-Sedgman exploresnotions of civility throughout history up to now.

On Being Unreasonable mounts a vital and spirited defence of why and how being unreasonable can help improve the world. It examines and parses the pros and cons of our rules around reason, but leaves us with the rousing question: What if behaving unreasonably at times might be the best way to bring about meaningful change that is long overdue?