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/lit/ - Literature

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16973239 No.16973239 [Reply] [Original]

Why do Americans hate reading?

>> No.16973246

they're dumb

>> No.16973250

>>16973239
I love reading

>> No.16973251

Because they do not share the European tradition of BILDUNG.

>> No.16973264

>>16973251
>European tradition
Bildung is specifically German.

>> No.16973265

>>16973239
only faggots read lmao
real niggas get head from the local thot while binging netflix

>> No.16973288

>>16973264
French also put a lot of emphasis on being responsible for one's education outside of school and university.

>> No.16973292

I don't mean to absolve America of its general silliness, but I don't think that the schools do a good job teaching an appreciation for literature. The way they teach it you don't need to read the book at all, just the sparksnotes. As long as you've identified the rising action, climax, and denouement that's that matters.

>> No.16973321

>>16973292
To be fair, when books are made mandatory to read, there is a negative connotation associated with reading. A lot of people grow resentment for reading because it's seen as an assignment due to that experience.

That's not to say reading should be removed, but that's just what I've heard.

>> No.16973356

>>16973321
Well there's no other way around that. They have to read the book to discuss it in class. But they can teach the material in a way that makes it more enticing. Otherwise the kids just scan through the book checking off a list; yup there's the protagonist, yup there's the climax, yup there's the Christian symbolism, and so on. Literature is an artform and shouldn't be taught the same way as mathematics.

They also could recommend some easier and more entertaining books. I realize curriculums vary from school to school, but an example would be giving a 10th grade On The Road instead of Tale of Two Cities. And to be frank, many of the books they do make us read like Grapes of Wrath and Old Man and the Sea, while not being overly difficult, absolutely cannot be appreciated in fullness by a teenager with such limited life experience. Books that might bore a 15 year old would make that same person weep reading it at 30, because now they understand and before they didn't.

Understanding a book runs so much deeper than understanding surface level things like plot structure, or the definitions of words, or the relationships between characters, but there is no consideration beyond surface level things in our schools.

>> No.16973385

It’s because teachers of literature in American high schools stomp out any interest in it whatsoever. They’re the ones who shape the perceptions of literature and reading in young people and they’re the reason young people don’t take an interest in it.

>> No.16973396

>>16973239
I mentioned 1984 to my old man boss and he told me that he read it soon after it was published and was a big fan of Orwell. Most of all, I was just surprised to find an older Midwestern man who actually read books.

>> No.16973410

>>16973292
It’s not even about the way American school teachers teach literature desu. It’s simply that they do everything possible to conceal the many and varied appealing aspects of literature and instead present it as one very specific cultural product for one very specific type of person who can only read or write very specific things.

>> No.16973473
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16973473

I literally never learned how to read.

>b-but that’s impossible you need to know how to read to function in modern society wtf are you talking about

No you don’t. Just fake it until you make it. I’m literally working a 120k a year comfy desk job and when I get emails from the company I just tell my girlfriend (body measurement: 38-25-38 in) to deal with it.

>b-b-but how did you read and respond to the OP

Shut the fuck up normie.

>> No.16973482

>>16973473
The plot twist is that this post is 100% real and you're a blind man using text-to-speech software.

>> No.16973655

>>16973473
ok, this guy fucks

>> No.16973670

>>16973265
Is this written in English?

>> No.16973680

>>16973239
Newspapers are trash though? Lol.

>> No.16973791

>>16973239
they like to make $$$$ instead

>> No.16974115

>half of americans haven’t scrambled their brains with propaganda or voooted in sham presidential elections
holy based...

>> No.16974264

>>16973239
Who reads a newspaper these days? I only buy them so I have something to cover my desk when I paint.

>> No.16974291

>>16974264
You can usually get them for free at grocery stores or truck stops.

>> No.16974346

Why would I read the Lügenpresse?

>> No.16974513

>>16974291
Or find them in toilets

>> No.16974591

>>16973239
>Why do Americans hate reading?
Because english is a jew/lego language. They will never get at the same level than italian, latin, spanish, french or romanian; they can only get close to german, but not even closer to greek.
English, and english speaking countries are just catle for jews and other kinds of degenerate capitalist scum.

>> No.16974886

>>16973239
We don’t you obsessed faggot

>> No.16974894

>>16973239
Why read when I can listen to podcasts while shitposting on /lit/

>> No.16974921

>>16973239
>(((newspapers)))
>(((voting)))
Did this quote just age poorly or was a deeper meaning was being implied all along?

>> No.16974932

>>16973239
availability of various entertainment forms creates competing markets. The catch is that reading takes effort, regardless of its virtues over television or video games. Just try to pick up a book and finish a chapter after binge watching 4 hours of netflix. Burgers just get trapped in low effort reproduction value

>> No.16974954

>>16973239
One hopes it is the other half.

>> No.16975185

>>16973239
How is Gore Vidal more than a pseud celebrity intellectual?

>> No.16975197

>>16973239
reading newspapers equalling being informed or intelligent is the biggest lie and meme of the modern age.

Just thinking about the economics of the news corporations should enlighten one regarding the functions of that industry.

>> No.16975200

>>16975185
Have you read his work? His essays are great and his series on American history is outstanding - give Burr or Lincoln a try.

>> No.16975216

I haven't read a newspaper in years. There is nothing of value in them. Its 20% propaganda and 80% boring content that even the people who read the newspaper forget within 3 days.

Imagine thinking that reading about the latest floods in Bangladesh somehow makes you intelligent or informed.

>> No.16975235

>>16973239
>reading newspapers is good
there is no bigger brainwashing devise than media

>> No.16976381

>>16975185
He's a great essayist and his novels are fantastic.

>> No.16976690

>>16973239
>half of the people in 1960 have never read a newspaper
I'm expected to believe this? That and if you read the newspaper and you don't vote then you're entirely based and that cuck vidal can get bent

>> No.16976958

If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.

-- Twain

>> No.16977017

>>16973239
Gore Vidal was either a naive fool for thinking the newspapers weren't subverted to carry the narrative of whoever had the most money, or he was a psychopathic globalist who knew, and hoped to benefit from it.

Consuming infotainment products does not correlate to knowledge on any issue or topic. It only correlates to level of programming supporting the product manufacturer's preferred opinion.

>> No.16977217

>>16976958
if you think twain wrote this, you're mis-informed

>> No.16978042

>>16977217
I wrote it

>> No.16978181

Reading a newspaper fills your head with noise. News items are bizarre outlier events that will make you think the world works very differently than it really does.

>> No.16978214

>>16977017
I feel the same. “It was a different time” and he perhaps changed his mind later. I donno.
Not sufficiently leftist for me, I haven’t read any of his nonfiction yet. I let it slide

>> No.16978348

While newspapers may spread misinformation, they are still one of the few ways to stay informed on contemporary issues. So I have to agree, even if I don't like the reverence the media is sometimes given.

>> No.16978549

>>16973239
>If I were a father and had a daughter who was seduced, I would not despair of her. I would hope for salvation. But if I had a son who became a journalist and remained one for five years, him I should give up.
>t. Kierkegaard

>> No.16979001

>voting for president
This guy

>> No.16979021

>>16978549
Based

>> No.16979064

>>16973239
tldr