IN DEFENSE OF READING: Ray Bradbury wrote more than one story through which his disgust with television bled. He certainly told us how he really felt: books are good for civilization, television is an apocalypse of vapid and dumb. I think he exaggerated; I think maybe he was a bit grumpy. Yet the more I read, the less I can personally tolerate popular shows and viral clickbait. Instead of being frustrated and cantankerously disapproving, I am thankful, and Id like to tell you about my joy. What strikes me, dear friends, about the Internet bingeing and Facebook-meme-sharing is that, when I read books, not only do they provide an alternative to reading my Newsfeed, they also frequently provide a far more in-depth, well-supported, aesthetically pleasing, and gorgeously relatable take on the same issues that people impulsively blog/fire off memes/snark about. For example (Ive mentioned this), A Room of Ones Own covers more ground in gender studies than the entire blogosphere, and I wonder if perhaps our tendency to spout ideas that have already been gracefully conveyed in canonical literature has to do with a cultural preference for talking and preaching rather than listening and learning. How much better the world would be if we werent each taking on the burden of figuring everything out for ourselves, constantly re-inventing the wheel! There is a healthy emphasis on thinking for oneself, but its foolish to interpret that as a need to think /by/ yourself. Futhermore, the thought of reading books seems like more work than the instant gratification and short attention span involved in web surfing, but I find that its refreshingly simple to follow along word by word, page by page; much simpler than keeping up with varying incomplete, unresearched, and hastily-composed sound bytes, jumping from topic to topic as notifications pop up and the page autorefreshes... We get hooked on television and social media because advertisers are invested in our being hooked. They understand the psychology of addiction, and they exploit is as much as they can. There are writers of books who do the same, and publishing companies that look for brand-name authors or hot topics rather than quality literature, but please: instead of reflexively calling me an elitist for making a distinction between quality literature and shallow entertainment, recognize that youre capable of making the distinction too. Instead of insisting that I am simply smarter than most people and you will never be on my level, give yourself some damn credit. Dont fool yourself into thinking youre not missing out on anything: if you dont read, you are missing out on a great deal, and youre free to choose that, but dont underestimate how much that choice changes your life. There is nothing wrong with entertainment; I like entertainment. Also, no one is required to enjoy or agree with everything expressed in Great Literature - I dont - but theres no harm in trying it. I am so much happier when I read on a regular basis. The slow and steady pace of reading a book covers so much more intellectual and creative ground than the high-speed, highly distracted pace of Internet/channel surfing. If you hated reading for school, join the club: so did I, and I was an English major. I was supposed to love reading, but in reality I spent a lot of time doing anything but, fudging my way through my classes because you can. You can fudge education in the humanities in a way you cant fudge designing a bridge or starting a business. In that sense, a truly enriching education in the humanities requires more discipline than any other field... and we expect that level of discipline from children and teenagers. No wonder so many of us hated reading for class. Now when I read, I find myself settling into myself, getting comfortable with a reasonable and sane pace of absorbing information, falling in love with stories rather than being addicted to a show. Do you know how nice it is to fall sweetly in love rather than being, like, totally obsessed? Whatever the form of media, it can be so much more than quick and dirty cultural appeal. In conclusion, I dont think Im better than other people for reading. I think Im better than I would be if I didnt read: more healthy, more whole, more understanding. Do yourself, me, and Levar Burton a favor: read. Read good books, read celebrated works of genius, give the genius within you some soul food; most of all, stop being so self-conscious about what you are reading, and what you think of it. Read because you love yourself, read the same way you would treat yourself to an ice cream or a mental health day.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 01:43:25 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015