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I was really disappointed with this article. For some reason between the title and the domain name I was expecting insight. The author offers nothing new to the

by dfc 15y ago

I was really disappointed with this article. For some reason between the title and the domain name I was expecting insight. The author offers nothing new to the debate and even provides some questionable complaints. How do you cut and paste from a deadtree book to your blog? I think it is weird that people miss being able to show off to the world how smart and wonderful they are with what they are reading. This is not the first time I have seen a deadtree advocate complain that they can not display what they are reading.

tluyben2 15y ago
I have known this only from US people though; in movies, books and real life, I usually see 'intellectual' Americans sitting with thick, big classics in their hands, more looking to see if people are seeing what they are reading than what is actually in the book. A Doors cover band in the Netherland used to have 'Jim' walking up on stage with a thick copy of Das Kapital open in his hand, but upside down to indicate the fakeness of that showing off behavior. I've had guys quoting from Nietzsche (in horrible horrible German once) and according to every American movie and series ever made with high school kids in it, all people in the US can quote Shakespeare by heart and actually like it and find it romantic. Other countries (UK included) just don't have that kind of show off thing. Going to Paris is not intellectual per se, and holding a big book and learning some quotes from it is neither, so why does the US keep promoting that stereotype in everything it puts out? See a colored person on deathrow; watch carefully if he reads/quotes some crap poetry from some long death famous author and you, as the viewer of this B movie, know she/he isn't guilty! Ugh. Sorry got a bit offtopic, just curious why this is :) I understand the OP point about nothing being able to see and show what people are reading, but personally I would like to keep it that way so I can just read what I want without having to look like 'an intellectual'.
- gnosis 15y ago
  The number of Americans who even know what Das Kapital is or who Nietzsche was is exceedingly small. The number of times Shakespeare is mentioned in American films (especially featuring teens) is also minuscule. If a significant number of Americans were even pretending to appear intellectual, I would view it as a vast improvement over the anti-intellectual attitude that's all too common here.
  - tluyben2 15y ago
    I would like to see a study of that; I think you watch too little bad television :)
    - tluyben2 15y ago
      Looked up some stuff; 90210, Dawson's creek, CSI, numbers; all tons of references to Shakespeare and weird french stuff most EU people never heard of even. All US series have this though; nice example-to-prove-the-rule (if that's an expression there too) ; one of the shows I would expect this doesn't have it; Monk.

by dfc 15y ago

tluyben2 15y ago

I have known this only from US people though; in movies, books and real life, I usually see 'intellectual' Americans sitting with thick, big classics in their hands, more looking to see if people are seeing what they are reading than what is actually in the book. A Doors cover band in the Netherland used to have 'Jim' walking up on stage with a thick copy of Das Kapital open in his hand, but upside down to indicate the fakeness of that showing off behavior. I've had guys quoting from Nietzsche (in horrible horrible German once) and according to every American movie and series ever made with high school kids in it, all people in the US can quote Shakespeare by heart and actually like it and find it romantic. Other countries (UK included) just don't have that kind of show off thing. Going to Paris is not intellectual per se, and holding a big book and learning some quotes from it is neither, so why does the US keep promoting that stereotype in everything it puts out? See a colored person on deathrow; watch carefully if he reads/quotes some crap poetry from some long death famous author and you, as the viewer of this B movie, know she/he isn't guilty! Ugh. Sorry got a bit offtopic, just curious why this is :) I understand the OP point about nothing being able to see and show what people are reading, but personally I would like to keep it that way so I can just read what I want without having to look like 'an intellectual'.

gnosis 15y ago
The number of Americans who even know what Das Kapital is or who Nietzsche was is exceedingly small. The number of times Shakespeare is mentioned in American films (especially featuring teens) is also minuscule. If a significant number of Americans were even pretending to appear intellectual, I would view it as a vast improvement over the anti-intellectual attitude that's all too common here.
- tluyben2 15y ago
  I would like to see a study of that; I think you watch too little bad television :)
  - tluyben2 15y ago
    Looked up some stuff; 90210, Dawson's creek, CSI, numbers; all tons of references to Shakespeare and weird french stuff most EU people never heard of even. All US series have this though; nice example-to-prove-the-rule (if that's an expression there too) ; one of the shows I would expect this doesn't have it; Monk.