When did reading become a thing to hate?

[RonaldBakbacon]

Going back to the Shakespeare thing (who I agree can be very vulgar and HILARIOUS), a few years back in High School, in California, we were studying Othello and reading parts of it in class (apparently that was the only place some people would read it at all). My teacher stopped after the "beast with two backs" line and wryly asked the class if anybody knew what that meant. Surprisingly, NOBODY ANSWERED. At this point the teacher was astounded nobody had made any inappropriate jokes. He called on a random name and asked this student what he thought it meant. The student, and I swear to God this is true, thought Shakespeare was talking about a camel.

People in America are so stupid now THEY CAN'T COMPREHEND DIRTY JOKES.

I think I may move to Canada soon...

 

[Projekt Spartan]

Probably around the same time when RAP came onto the music scene...

 

[RonaldBakbacon]

Probably around the same time when RAP came onto the music scene...

I am so tired of hearing that. I like rap, and I am not an idiot. It's not the music that causes stupidity, it's stupid people making the music.
There is intellectual rap if you are willing to look for it.

 

[Projekt Spartan]

Probably around the same time when RAP came onto the music scene...

I am so tired of hearing that. I like rap, and I am not an idiot. It's not the music that causes stupidity, it's stupid people making the music.
There is intellectual rap if you are willing to look for it.

Youre right, its mostly the image that the music industry gives rap, as a genre for gangsters, who, from what i have heard, dont read much...

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c192/awmperry/NewPC003.jpg

There are many more books to go up. (Actually, quite a few more have gone up since that picture, and I've completely reorganised the bookcase, but yeah.)

I work in a cheap bookshop. That's just one of the rooms in my house.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Probably around the same time when RAP came onto the music scene...

I am so tired of hearing that. I like rap, and I am not an idiot. It's not the music that causes stupidity, it's stupid people making the music.
There is intellectual rap if you are willing to look for it.

Youre right, its mostly the image that the music industry gives rap, as a genre for gangsters, who, from what i have heard, dont read much...

well rap used to be smart an intellectual, about 20 years ago, you had bands like bdp, public enemy and ice-t, that were putting out a msg to think and stand up for yourself but then around 93/94 the record industry looked at records to see what was the biggest sellers to determine #1 hits and then rap exploded and you got a ton of ppl singing about popping caps in mofo's and getting jiggy with their bitches and hoes while they count their duckets and count their benjemans

as for that beast with two backs question, i'm both shocked and not at the same time that kids don't know that phrase. there's a lot of phrases we don't fully understand or have fallen out of use. i've said one or two and then kinda had the deer in headlights look because someone didn't know what i was saying

 

[cleverlymadeup]

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c192/awmperry/NewPC003.jpg

There are many more books to go up. (Actually, quite a few more have gone up since that picture, and I've completely reorganised the bookcase, but yeah.)

I work in a cheap bookshop. That's just one of the rooms in my house.

if you do have that many and haven't done it yet, here's 2 good programs for organizing collections

http://www.getlibra.com/ (free as in beer, does more than just books, but has some annoyances, only uses amazon as a source)
http://www.collectorz.com/book/ (pay for program but they got a few other programs that you can bundle and get a deal, uses it's own site and amazon and others too)

i'd suggest ordering a usb cuecat scanner from ebay, they're about $20 or so.

i use libra but will probly go to the collectorz stuff, i use dvd collector right now, would get cd collector but i've already cataloged my collection 4 times and sitting at 1450 cds i'm not doing it again

 

[darthzack79]

Ow! My Balls!

"Idiocracy" is becoming more and more prophetic.

Hahaha, Idiocracy is such a good movie...Mike Judge is the man!

To the topic though, I read a ton of everything. I'm currently reading Slaughterhouse-Five and I indulge in as many monuments of contemporary literature as I can but I've also never shied away from a good Star Wars or James Bond novel. 1984 is my personal favorite book.
A large number of my friends are also avid readers so I don't consider reading a social gaffe at all.

 

[_daxter_]

I was playing xbox live on CoD4 yesterday when I encountered one of the less than lovely people who seem to be the main inhabitants of it.
(This section is me bragging ok so if you want to skip thats fine...) Anyway I was on a pretty good win streak in free for all, got about 10 matches in a row going 25 to 6 or 7 every time, like 5 headshots every match, hehe it was epic sometimes.
Back to the point, this guy I met was doing pretty badly, then during one pretty awesome kill where I jumped out of a window landed in front of him and nailed him to hell with my AK47, I hear over the mic "Great job killing a guy with broken fingers!". I think to myself that he could hardly have avoided being killed there even with mechanical super fingers.
So I ask him, "why are you playing with broken fingers? Surely that won't help them heal?". He replies "I'm bored nothing else to do", I ask him "why not read a book?". With a tone of incredulity "read a book?? books are for losers". To save me typing we get into a bit of a debate where every time I list something good about books he shouts "fuck you fag" or "you're a gayboy".
After I won the match I had to sit there for a second and marvel at his attitude to literature. He even asked me to ask everyone else in the lobby if they read, nobody answered, although after he left one guy did say thank god they stopped arguing...

Anyway my fine Escapistians(?) when do you think reading books became a shunnable offence?

Books are THE medium that enables self-discovery. When reading you are most open to reflection and there can be all kinds of meaningful revelations about the world and oneself. Not mostly good things as in games and less many as in movies. That is something to be afraid of for some people - obviously. It would be hard to have a constructive conversation with somebody using the word "fag" anyway. They're probably even afraid of gay people.

So when did this start? That's hard to answer in short. I think it was somewhere around the time when people started to abandon their emotional intelligence and submitted to hybris. Especially since capitalism has grown ever more powerful with the advent of computer technology and human life became more and more devaluated - to me somewhere around 2000 - that is a possible starting point.

Apart from that, there is always a phase in our lives when we abandon our feelings. It is a question of experience, wisdom and faith to finally rediscover it and find out who we truly are. Maybe that's what many people are afraid of these days, because frankly often we're not who we think we are.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Books are THE medium that enables self-discovery. When reading you are most open to reflection and there can be all kinds of meaningful revelations about the world and oneself. Not mostly good things as in games and less many as in movies. That is something to be afraid of for some people - obviously. It would be hard to have a constructive conversation with somebody using the word "fag" anyway. They're probably even afraid of gay people.

So when did this start? That's hard to answer in short. I think it was somewhere around the time when people started to abandon their emotional intelligence and submitted to hybris. Especially since capitalism has grown ever more powerful with the advent of computer technology and human life became more and more devaluated - to me somewhere around 2000 - that is a possible starting point.

i'd have to agree with you that some of the are afraid of catching "teh gay" or what ever. tho i don't always think ppl saying the word "fag" are always afraid of gays but yes some are.

as for a date when reading became bad thing, i'd say it's closer to jan 21 2001 or so

 

[Geoffrey42]

i'd have to agree with you that some of the are afraid of catching "teh gay" or what ever. tho i don't always think ppl saying the word "fag" are always afraid of gays but yes some are.

as for a date when reading became bad thing, i'd say it's closer to jan 21 2001 or so

The date for when reading became something for the un-educated to ***** about was the day the bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia stopped denying the right of education to the proletariat after years of telling them that they couldn't, and weren't supposed to. Then they decided to turn around and IMPROVE the proletariat by forcing reading and education upon them, at which point the lazy and dumb began to complain. (I made all of this up, and it has no historical significance or basis: look past the words and get my point. You're literate, after all, right?)

So really, this started the MOMENT WE STARTED TALKING TO IDIOTS ABOUT READING. The only possible significance I can imagine for Jan 21, 2001, as it relates to reading, is that it was the first time the bullies gave you a swirly for using a word they didn't understand. This phenomena is not new, as best as I can tell, it is not growing... Little boys being afraid of 'teh gay' is not NEW, it is simply different from whatever the equivalent was 50 or 100 years ago.

I allow for the potential that I'm overreacting: I am, after all, only 24, so given my limited 20 years as a reader, having experienced 0 change in the last two decades, I could be extrapolating, incorrectly, that the current state has been going on even longer. In addition, I don't care about "kids these days" sort of statements. If they aren't your peers, you probably don't 'get' them. Stick to what you know. Have your peers, in the last 20+ years, begun treating books and book readers differently? If so, how?

 

[cleverlymadeup]

So really, this started the MOMENT WE STARTED TALKING TO IDIOTS ABOUT READING. The only possible significance I can imagine for Jan 21, 2001, as it relates to reading, is that it was the first time the bullies gave you a swirly for using a word they didn't understand. This phenomena is not new, as best as I can tell, it is not growing... Little boys being afraid of 'teh gay' is not NEW, it is simply different from whatever the equivalent was 50 or 100 years ago.

well why don't you look up what day jan 21, 2001 and you'll get the joke for what is it. tho i guess i could have said jan 20, 2001 but i was busy praying to the powers that be to have the weather bad so a special book couldn't be tainted

and as for bullies giving me swirlies that never happened, then again telling bullies with a straight face in a low whisper i've raped bigger guys than them worked wonders for keeping them away. fear is a great tool if you know how to use it and pull it off well. also being friends with a bunch of their gf's helped too, only takes them being cut off sex once to leave you alone

I allow for the potential that I'm overreacting: I am, after all, only 24, so given my limited 20 years as a reader, having experienced 0 change in the last two decades, I could be extrapolating, incorrectly, that the current state has been going on even longer. In addition, I don't care about "kids these days" sort of statements. If they aren't your peers, you probably don't 'get' them. Stick to what you know. Have your peers, in the last 20+ years, begun treating books and book readers differently? If so, how?

well in the time i've been reading and being read to, which is longer than you've been alive, i've seen changes, not with my friends but with peers i have. peers and friends are different things.

the older ones of my peers have other things to do, such as kids and family crap and work and such. the younger peers weren't taught to read as much growing up, their parents sat them in front of a console or the tv and that's it, if they weren't lugging them around to every god forsaken thing.

now my friends' kids, it's a toss up, some read a lot to them and try to get them to read and some don't. really depends on the person, most who read/read (both forms of the word) a lot, tend to get their kids to read, those that didn't don't read with their kids

 

[JakubK666]

Mind clearing this up a little? Even Mr.Google doesn't know about a book that was released on Jan 21 2001.

 

[The Reverend]

I think they're arguing about reading. Oh dear.
And In response to the original post, reading became "shunnable" around the time we stopped having to do things for ourselves. TV, Internet, Games, are the new Gods (Niel Gaiman ftw) and reading is one of the old. Plus reading takes more effort than just sitting there, and if you put effort into something like reading you are obviously uncool.

 

[Geoffrey42]

well why don't you look up what day jan 21, 2001 and you'll get the joke for what is it. tho i guess i could have said jan 20, 2001 but i was busy praying to the powers that be to have the weather bad so a special book couldn't be tainted

I still don't see how Bush's swearing in had anything to do with the populace's attitude toward reading, unless our act of electing him is somehow representative of a collective loss of intelligence at the national level?

well in the time i've been reading and being read to, which is longer than you've been alive, i've seen changes, not with my friends but with peers i have. peers and friends are different things.

the older ones of my peers have other things to do, such as kids and family crap and work and such. the younger peers weren't taught to read as much growing up, their parents sat them in front of a console or the tv and that's it, if they weren't lugging them around to every god forsaken thing.

now my friends' kids, it's a toss up, some read a lot to them and try to get them to read and some don't. really depends on the person, most who read/read (both forms of the word) a lot, tend to get their kids to read, those that didn't don't read with their kids

Thank you for pointing out about peers and friends. Someone was apparently confused?

What I take from your bit about younger peers (a term I find somewhat confusing) is that more recent generations have had a wider variety of entertainment available to them, and as such, individuals without a particular predilection to the written word have spent a lesser percentage of their time reading. It seems like these individuals probably weren't that enamored with books to start with, even when that was their only choice. Potentially a difficult case to make in the face of the advent of these alternative forms of entertainment (TV since as early as the '40's, and radio since the '20's) compared to the level of literacy in the general population (especially "literacy" versus "reads books for entertainment" demographics).

That last bit seems to me the way it has always been. People that like to read try to pass that enjoyment to their children. People that don't, don't. It wouldn't seem to have any impact on the general population's acceptance of reading, since (I posit that) it hasn't changed, but the population's attitude toward reading, supposedly, has.

 

[Sib]

Argh I remember seeing this thing on amazon which is like a little portable TV but when you connect it to the internet you can buy books and store them on the thing, it has a library of thousands of books too and is apparently a marvellous space saver. I'll be damned if i remember the name though.

EDIT : Bit of research and here it is the amazon Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Device/dp/B000FI73MA

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Thank you for pointing out about peers and friends. Someone was apparently confused?

What I take from your bit about younger peers (a term I find somewhat confusing)

i do have a job and i do work with ppl that are younger and older than i am, i also belong to a couple groups with older and younger ppl in them, not all are friends of mine but we are all part of the social group or work place, so they're peers

Mind clearing this up a little? Even Mr.Google doesn't know about a book that was released on Jan 21 2001.

jan 21 is the first full day bush was president of the united states. along with others i spent jan 20 hoping the weather was bad so they wouldn't bring out the george washington bible from new york, which they didn't

 

[Sib]

Mind clearing this up a little? Even Mr.Google doesn't know about a book that was released on Jan 21 2001.

jan 21 is the first full day bush was president of the united states. along with others i spent jan 20 hoping the weather was bad so they wouldn't bring out the george washington bible from new york, which they didn't[/quote]

why wouldn't you want them to bring out the george washington bible?

 

[cleverlymadeup]

why wouldn't you want them to bring out the george washington bible?

well look up the history of that particular bible and you'll have a better understanding why i wouldn't want him to touch it

simply put he shouldn't touch it, it's very improper

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I work in a cheap bookshop. That's just one of the rooms in my house.

if you do have that many and haven't done it yet, here's 2 good programs for organizing collections

OR-GAN-ISING...no, can't say I've heard of that.

When I've finished the book, if it's good, then it stays on the 'good' shelf, otherwise it's down to the Charity Shop.

Seriously we have at least 2 full bookcases per room.