I'm giving in to temptation. Politics. Does the unclean subject of conservatives vs liberals, Democrats against Republicans, and left-wing nut jobs opposed to right-wing idiots belong in a blog mostly concerned with writing?
Maybe. I'll let you decide. However, any commentary anywhere about writing also must, by implication if naught else, be about reading. And that is the territory this blog entry is going to explore.
First, I want to reveal myself, purely for fairness. I had thought about writing this with a complete lack of apparent bias...I decided I couldn't. So, I'll confess my own affiliations and let you judge my commentary in that light.
When I first became eligible to vote, I declared myself an Independent. I have never considered changing that and, as the antics of both parties become more reprehensible, I become more proud of that stance and more satisfied that I made an excellent choice.
But I will admit to being generally of a progressive bent. If asked, I tell people I'm a pragmatist or a pragmatic libertarian.
I have willingly engaged in some prolonged flame wars with some raging conservatives so far this spring, and...well...there's still all summer and fall to go, so who knows how many more I'll be involved in?
But I don't get into them because I have an emotional objection to their POV. I object because their commentary indicates that they do not think! They simply repeat the talking points they pick up from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and other assorted conservative sources.
I suggest that Fox News change its name to The Farce because, as Obi Wan told Luke, The Farce can have a strong influence on the weak-minded.
Which brings me to my ultimate point.
I should not expect them to be any different than they are. Why should I expect people that do not read fiction—in fact have no interest in fiction, especially speculative fiction--to think like I do, share the same ideas of morality and practicality that I have, or value the same things I value?
May as well expect a sheep to appreciate the concerns of the sheep dog.
Is it nature or nurture? That question has been asked a thousand times too often to be significant anymore. But do we like to read because we are encouraged to do so, or because we were born that way? Both my parents were readers. My brother also. My wife is not a reader—a trait she shares with her whole family. But that doesn't really offer much of an answer. Is the love or lack of love of reading somehow embedded in our DNA? Or is it a habit we pick up early by watching?
Only one of our kids is a reader. At least one of our grandkids enjoys reading, so all is not lost.
I'm acquainted with a conservative that claims, proudly, that he's read the Bible—the whole thing, front to back—fourteen times. And yet when you ask him to name the one verse in the Bible that forms the cornerstone for Christianity, he can't. Or at least he couldn't last time I discussed the subject with him. He doesn't like to talk to me about religion anymore. I ask too many difficult questions and challenge too many of his "easy" answers. I have no objections to reading the Bible multiple times, but how can he possibly have time to read, or know, anything else?
But no matter what the source of the like or dislike, peoples' brains, and minds, work differently. Not only individually, but individuals form groups and those groups share specific characteristics. If you're wondering if someone is a conservative, ask them if they like to read, and if so, what? I was tempted to suggest that people that don't read tend to be at one end of the political spectrum or the other, but my wife and kids negate that theory.
What do you like to read? Political blogs? News and opinion? Biography? History? Science? Memoir? Essays? Or, if fiction, detective stories? Literary fiction? Adventure or sports? Horror, fantasy or science fiction? Erotica?
I've read all of the above at one time or another. These days I read science fiction and/fantasy for fun and various news and opinion articles just so I have ammunition for those flame wars.
Do you suspect that tastes in reading correlate with tastes in politics?
It might be something to think about.
Maybe. I'll let you decide. However, any commentary anywhere about writing also must, by implication if naught else, be about reading. And that is the territory this blog entry is going to explore.
First, I want to reveal myself, purely for fairness. I had thought about writing this with a complete lack of apparent bias...I decided I couldn't. So, I'll confess my own affiliations and let you judge my commentary in that light.
When I first became eligible to vote, I declared myself an Independent. I have never considered changing that and, as the antics of both parties become more reprehensible, I become more proud of that stance and more satisfied that I made an excellent choice.
But I will admit to being generally of a progressive bent. If asked, I tell people I'm a pragmatist or a pragmatic libertarian.
I have willingly engaged in some prolonged flame wars with some raging conservatives so far this spring, and...well...there's still all summer and fall to go, so who knows how many more I'll be involved in?
But I don't get into them because I have an emotional objection to their POV. I object because their commentary indicates that they do not think! They simply repeat the talking points they pick up from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and other assorted conservative sources.
I suggest that Fox News change its name to The Farce because, as Obi Wan told Luke, The Farce can have a strong influence on the weak-minded.
Which brings me to my ultimate point.
I should not expect them to be any different than they are. Why should I expect people that do not read fiction—in fact have no interest in fiction, especially speculative fiction--to think like I do, share the same ideas of morality and practicality that I have, or value the same things I value?
May as well expect a sheep to appreciate the concerns of the sheep dog.
Is it nature or nurture? That question has been asked a thousand times too often to be significant anymore. But do we like to read because we are encouraged to do so, or because we were born that way? Both my parents were readers. My brother also. My wife is not a reader—a trait she shares with her whole family. But that doesn't really offer much of an answer. Is the love or lack of love of reading somehow embedded in our DNA? Or is it a habit we pick up early by watching?
Only one of our kids is a reader. At least one of our grandkids enjoys reading, so all is not lost.
I'm acquainted with a conservative that claims, proudly, that he's read the Bible—the whole thing, front to back—fourteen times. And yet when you ask him to name the one verse in the Bible that forms the cornerstone for Christianity, he can't. Or at least he couldn't last time I discussed the subject with him. He doesn't like to talk to me about religion anymore. I ask too many difficult questions and challenge too many of his "easy" answers. I have no objections to reading the Bible multiple times, but how can he possibly have time to read, or know, anything else?
But no matter what the source of the like or dislike, peoples' brains, and minds, work differently. Not only individually, but individuals form groups and those groups share specific characteristics. If you're wondering if someone is a conservative, ask them if they like to read, and if so, what? I was tempted to suggest that people that don't read tend to be at one end of the political spectrum or the other, but my wife and kids negate that theory.
What do you like to read? Political blogs? News and opinion? Biography? History? Science? Memoir? Essays? Or, if fiction, detective stories? Literary fiction? Adventure or sports? Horror, fantasy or science fiction? Erotica?
I've read all of the above at one time or another. These days I read science fiction and/fantasy for fun and various news and opinion articles just so I have ammunition for those flame wars.
Do you suspect that tastes in reading correlate with tastes in politics?
It might be something to think about.
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