While reading some historical account of how reading is evolving. In addition to many other interesting ideas, one idea that I could not get out of my mind – and hence this short musing on a really serious topic – was that at one time books like War and Peace were considered great books but really very people read it – if they were not forced. I can think of many examples like that. It appears that what is considered important, what people like, and what they become loyal to depends a lot on availability (or should we say supply) and the norms that society imposes based on that.
If at a particular time, you only have very few options, in the limiting case only one, then you are forced to like it and over time start becoming loyal to it. As time progresses you become so loyal that any challenge to that ‘idea’ becomes kind of blasphemy to you.
Maybe this explains success or arranged marriages as well as loyalty to a local sports team or even to local leaders. Yes I know these issues are not as simple as I make them here, but I just wanted not to lose these thoughts so decided to scribble these here.
I think we can also state that once we begin to read the same text over again continuously that in a way we get programmed. I can see how the conclusion of blasphemy can relate.
short but very penetrating insight into an array of modern day issues.
Thank you for sharing
Jem
Reading a post of yours after a really long time.This one made for a great read.Yes you are right.Loyalty towards a particular thing depends a lot on it’s availability..and that holds true for anything.Thanks for scribbling your thoughts.Look forward to hearing from you soon again.
yes, you did make it qiote too simple in your article, but I think you have neglected one important fact. The amount of data available in so many forms these days is also denying people access to it if they don’t really need it.
let me explain.
for example take the book you mentioned, war and peace, I cannot imagine a sane person reading it in our day an age unless it becomes a movie or a pdf file on a computer on which you may use a text reader, we have become too lazy to do simple tasks and we expect machines to do the hard part, even in blogs people don’t really comment anymore, they either cast a vote or share it on facebook.
This face is significant when you analyze how people choose topics\products\service, if you present it well enough – you may get enough people’s attention even if you dont have the best content\product or service.
just my 2 cents