I understand that slogans have a purpose and are not inclusive of all ideas, but the call to "read books" as some sort of inherent defense against fascism nags at me. Which books! Reading is not in and of itself a virtue!
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For years people have been say this about tech folks and it's like... they are reading books! They think the villains are the heroes! They are making the torment nexus based on the books they are reading! Simply reading does not fix them!
There are of course fascist and right wing books (which are implicitly excluded from the intent of those slogans). I do think being "well read" in the way those slogans are meant in spirit promotes empathy which provides a salve against individualism and right wing thought in general.
Some of them are even fascist! I'd be more forgiving of the sloganeering if it didn't reflect that very 2015 Twitter fetishization of books/librarians/etc that I think is just genuinely unhelpful!
"Read more books!"
"OK, how about the Turner Diaries?"
"Uhhhhh..."
Yeah, some serious clarity's in order there. Especially since "theory" evokes academic writing that turns most people off, whereas something more accessible that makes the same points could be a stepping stone to left radicalization
I’m kind of naive and over-educated so it actually really ruled and mattered to me when I heard Stavros Halkias say “you can be dumb as rocks and not want homeless people to die, I’m never gonna read political books but I trust my leftist friends who do read them or whatever”
Clearly the sulution is to read more books, until like an active ingredient in a homeopathic tonic, the original problem book is too dilute to do anything.
"Boris Trump combined the two greatest natural tones: orange and platinum blond. The orange was his skin and the platinum blond was his hair. His private areas were the same, especially his arsehole. How did I know that? A lady doesn't kiss and tell!"
Reading a lot expands your perspective on things but you kind of have to want that to happen. It is very possible to read 100 books a year and not learn a damn thing.
i love reading a review from someone who completely misunderstood a book and then at the end they have like "63/100." slow down! give your brain some time to chew on it!
Not to mention. Reading or any consumption without exposure means nothing. There were people who watched Wicked and thought the wizard was Trump and some who thought it was Biden. Leftists thought it was all of them.
We don’t just need people to read. We need people to get out of their bubbles and read. That’s why when people leave their cities/states/countries and go to college, their politics shifts.
Strong endorse, I personally read so many books a year that people always seem jealous but the secret is they are 99% the trashiest most garbage books you can imagine
Yes, it definitely makes a difference. "Mein Kampf" "Das Kapital" "1984" "The Prince" "Hillbilly Elegy" "Fahrenheit 451" "The Quran" "Miracle at Philadelphia" "The Audacity of Hope" "Cosmos" "Farewell to Manzanar" "Summer of The Big Bachi"
This is like when someone tells me they “love comics.” The venn diagram of what “comics” means to me and that person is just two circles with Calvin & Hobbes in the overlapped sliver.
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"OK, how about the Turner Diaries?"
"Uhhhhh..."
Yeah, some serious clarity's in order there. Especially since "theory" evokes academic writing that turns most people off, whereas something more accessible that makes the same points could be a stepping stone to left radicalization
Or the nazi is buried under a paper mill.
Resist oppression! Daub slogans on the undersides of manhole covers!
Cleanse society! Refuse the concept of beef wellington!
Upend norms! Wear tweed underwear!
"Boris Trump combined the two greatest natural tones: orange and platinum blond. The orange was his skin and the platinum blond was his hair. His private areas were the same, especially his arsehole. How did I know that? A lady doesn't kiss and tell!"
"...if I have seen further (objectifying women and devaluing people), it is by standing on the shoulders of giants (Louis L'amour novels)"
Or just full of junk ideas. Some of the most dangerous people just now are powerful individuals who only read glib facile business books.