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> it just bothers me when people paint reading as always some wholesome activity I'll actually take this position, I think reading (at least narrative) is alwa

by Spivak 3y ago

> it just bothers me when people paint reading as always some wholesome activity I'll actually take this position, I think reading (at least narrative) is always wholesome because it's necessarily an incomplete work of art that requires the reader to do a very real act of creation to make it whole. For some reason people decided that art -- drawing, dancing, making music, storytelling, writing poetry isn't just a thing humans do for leisure unless you're trying to get good at it. But reading as guided imagination and leads you to create whole worlds at every level at or above magic treehouse and flex those muscles. And in exactly the same way because reading is an artistic endeavor you find people arguing that the only value in reading is to get better at it. Why? To what end? Do you talk about people's painting level being at a 7th grade level as telling of societal decline No, that's absurd but that's nonetheless the argument. And I guarantee your ability to understand and interpret fine art is at a grade school level but we've just decided that that's fine and you don't get judged for having art on your walls.

hotnfresh 3y ago
Are people taking my posts as judgmental? Maybe I’m writing them very poorly. It’s entirely fine to mostly or only read books that one finds comfortable and easy. That’s what most people do for most things, not just reading, as you point out. Most people are bad at most things. That’s how… things work. And it’s OK. [edit] and, moreover, not everyone who can deeply appreciate acid jazz or whatever avoids listening to top 40s hits. That might even be most of what they listen to. To be clear, not everyone who reads easy books can’t read more challenging ones, and preferring easier ones is fine. My entire point was just that reading-is-necessarily-better is both wrong and a bit snobby, and that failing to read in a way that lives up to that cohort’s suppositions is entirely OK—reading can be taken off that bizarre pedestal and it’s still a fine activity.

by Spivak 3y ago

hotnfresh 3y ago

Are people taking my posts as judgmental? Maybe I’m writing them very poorly. It’s entirely fine to mostly or only read books that one finds comfortable and easy. That’s what most people do for most things, not just reading, as you point out. Most people are bad at most things. That’s how… things work. And it’s OK. [edit] and, moreover, not everyone who can deeply appreciate acid jazz or whatever avoids listening to top 40s hits. That might even be most of what they listen to. To be clear, not everyone who reads easy books can’t read more challenging ones, and preferring easier ones is fine. My entire point was just that reading-is-necessarily-better is both wrong and a bit snobby, and that failing to read in a way that lives up to that cohort’s suppositions is entirely OK—reading can be taken off that bizarre pedestal and it’s still a fine activity.