No, I know what you mean. Most of us are readers, so it’s like people really have to go that extra mile to really stand out. “I * always bring a book to appointments." "Well, * I always bring five books with me.” “Yea, well I had several books grafted onto my palm, so I’m not even capable of forgetting *my * reading material.”
Now that’s just the feeling I got from that thread, but perhaps people didn’t mean it that way (and I love reading, so I didn’t take it as a personal insult).
As someone else said, reading can be a struggle for some people, so they might look at it as a chore instead of a hobby. Most people here wouldn’t look down on the clumsy kid that would rather die than play sports.
(Moot/mute is not a spelling issue but a homophone issue.)
I’ll take up for the folks who don’t read a lot. Outside of innerweb and class stuff, I don’t. Doesn’t do a lot for me. Back in the day, it did, but now, not so much.
If I were going somewhere that potentially called for a lot of sitting and counting hairs, though, I would probably bring something with which to occupy myself.
First off: I am an English teacher. I am a professional reading evangelist.
That said, I don’t think that’s what the OP is saying. You don’t have to justify that you love to read, but there is something uncouth about having a smug sense of self-satisfaction that somehow a love of reading in and of itself makes one a better person than anyone who doesn’t.
Which isn’t to say that everyone who talks about how much they love to read feels this way, but that attitude is certainly out there and it’s offensive when it occurs.
**Thudlow Boink[/b} said something really profound earlier:
Visual art does very little for me, and what it does do for me I have to really work to get. It’s always exhausting, even when it’s rewarding, and whereas reading for me is energizing. It’s a shame, really. I watch my friends who “get” visual art, and I have no doubt that they are getting a great deal of joy and meaning that just isn’t avalible to me. But I’d be pissed as hell if they talked about my non-visual art appriciating self the way people sometimes talk about non-readers.
To sum up, in my experience intelligent, passionate people like complex, subtle, nuanced things. Reading is one of the places where you find those nuances. Visual art is another, math and science and game playing also have these qualities, and there are many more. As a teacher, I do a much better job when I find the ways my kids already relish complexity and show them how that same complexity is found in great literature than if I think that somehow reading is has a uniquely powerful moral standing over those other pursuits.
One of my co-workers, a high-school dropout and huge wrestling fan, is always talking about how he never reads books. Hates 'em. Reading for pleasure? The way he talks about it, it’s like root canal for pleasure. With one exception: he read one book once that he really liked. I asked him what it was, thinking (somewhat smugly) that it’d be an autobiography of The Rock, or something similar.
I knew a guy in college (friend of a friend) who was really into computers, and pretty much nothing else. One time at a party, he was bragging about how he didn’t like to read books:
Him: I haven’t read a book in years. Reading books is so boring and there’s nothing they could possibly tell me that I need to know.
Me: Wow, when someone tells me they don’t read books its like someone telling you they don’t use electricity.
A bit rude in hindsight, but we were all wasted, I doubt he remembers.
Thanks for actually addressing my question, Anaamika. Not that I don’t expect to get kicked around a bit; I made a pretty insulting generalization and didn’t even write it well, so I knew the pain was coming. This is the pit, after all. It’s all good. Still, it’s nice to get a response to the actual content if my statement.
You don’t get why people feel the need to complain? About this or in general? Let’s call it commenting as opposed to complaining. It baffles me more than it bugs me, and as I said, I’m not exactly sure *why * it bugs me
To be honest, I don’t even care if you have a lesser opinion of readers because of all this. I kept meaning to come and say that you have every right to feel like we’re boasting or whatever.
I was just trying to say that to us, it’s sort of a reaction. All my life I’ve come across people who turn into complete snots when I tell them how much I read. My own mother was like this! And she got me turned onto reading in the first place.
I don’t really have a problem with people who don’t read - there’s naturally going to be a little distance between them and I, only because it’s so vital to me. (I wouldn’t date someone who didn’t read at least 4-5 new books a year. That’s all I’m asking. But obviously my dating pool is going to be smaller anyway.)
What I do have a problem with is people who think reading is somehow inferior!
Sorry, I didn’t realize you had responded within the quote box! Let’s see…
Ok, the only other thing I have to add is this:
[quote]
I think what got me going most about that thread is the title, “How can you NOT bring something to read?” Not “Why don’t people bring something to occupy themselves when they know they’ll be waiting?” And no, I’m not the thread title police, I’m just saying the wording caught my eye because of this phenomenon I’ve already noticed in other threads. Then it kind of turned into a contest to see who’s carrying the most reading material around with them.]/quote]
I agree with this…it was phrased somewhat poorly. But I’ll defend myself by saying that we would no sooner think of not bringing a book then not bringing our foot, say. It’s so ingrained it’s hard of us to think of it any other way.
Crap. Upon reconsideration, hompohone argument retracted in favor of something that actually makes sense: the OP tried to spell mute and was successful, but should have typed moot. So it’s a word choice issue, I think, rather than a spelling mistake. Flaunt/flout is another example of this phenomenon.
I agree with the OP here. I read the thread and while I’ve never been in the situation that the OP in the original thread was in (6-hour waits at a scheduled appointment with nothing to read…?) I was really astounded at the … hate “readers” seem to be spewing at those who don’t keep a paperback lodged up their nose 24/7 just in case they may be bored.
I like what Manda JO and Omega Glory had to say here too.
I read. I used to do nothing but read when I was a kid. Then I stopped reading so much. Now I will read maybe 10 books a year, usually in the winter. I can’t really read non-fiction, either. It just wooshes right over my head. My business partner is the kind of guy who can pick up one of those fat hardcovers on the programming language du-jour and read it in a week, come back and be a pro on the subject. I envy that a lot.
Lots of posters here too amaze me when some really obscure question comes up in GQ and they respond with “I just read a book on that subject, here’s what it says.” Not in a bragging way, though. I am excited that there’s so many readers out there who are here to enlighten us all. That’s way cool.
But bragging about how you always have a book at your side (or “no less than five” in your purse)? That’s pretty lame.
Reminds me of when we all go to visit grandpa at his farm and my cousins bring books and spend the entire visit sitting in another room reading. That’s not so much expanding their minds as it is RUDE.
I’ve never even thought of reading as a stigma. Maybe it’s because a lot of my friends are “readers” and it’s normal - near envious - to me. But you know, if people have problems with those who read then maybe it’s not so much the fact that you’re reading so much as WHEN and WHERE you are reading, or how you react to people who DON’T read.
Guess you could say that I read something every day for work, but I’d rather read a textbook than a novel. Just kind of lost interest in reading fiction. Don’t really know why. Besides, I read “Brothers Karamazov” and “War and Peace” about 10 years ago and am still milking those at parties, why would I need to read anything else
I do find it amusing when people start bragging (not that everyone brags about it of course) about how many novels they read. Kind of like people who act like uber-nerds because they know how to write some html code.
I felt the same way as the OP after reading the “What Unshakable Predjudices Do You Have?” thread. It made me feel like Dopers are a lot less enlightened than they make themselves out to be. I know the thread was for fun, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
If we are here to fight ignorance then why is it acceptable for us to be so judgmental about every little thing people do or don’t do? It’s none of my business if someone I meet doesn’t read, and it doesn’t make me any better than them. Their priorities are obviously different than mine, but that’s ok with me. I guess I’m in the minority of people who actually like being around those who are different than me, in whatever way that may be.
