M&D truthtelling, history & I.F. Stone(WAS Publisher's Weekly (fwd)

[Sojourner]

At 10:09 AM 8/15/97 +0000, Mark Smith wrote:

>Sojourner wrote:
>> I don't care what the book is about, even "Romance novels", with
predictable
>> plots and fill-in-the-blanks mentality, it is still a book, which means the
>> action
>> and characters take place SOLELY inside your brain, and even the most
detailed
>> description does not fill in every blank, so your mind blooms and soars to
>> meet the gaps, ....
>
>I don't think so.  There are people who read books in the same passive
>way that they watch T.V.  Think about it.  What percent of your brain do
>you need to devote to reading some of those page turners?  It's like the
>literary equivalent of watching Matlock.   
>--

I don't think I and you (pl.) will ever agree on this.  I have a bias against
TV and movies and I admit it openly.  Yes there are merits to TV and
some TV shows and movies and some movies.  But to me it is almost
like defending the honor of white men on TV commercials, where they
are made to look for the most part like incompetent bumbling fools,
spilling juice and tracking mud, getting lost etc. and then getting "saved"
by some product, whether Armor-All or stain remover.  Yes, white men
get discriminated against in these commercials but its ok, because it
doesn't really remove their power.  If every person of color was made
to look like a fool on TV, it would be an issue, because it would contribute
to their loss of empowerment and status in society. 

I will continue my assault on the viewers of TV and movies precisely
because it is VIEWING, a passive verb and action.  Reading is active,
even the dullard reading a "page-turner" which is of the absolute
"lowest" (what a fucking bastard thing that is) quality, which is written
by a half-wit, in rambling and incoherent sentences and structure.  

Essentially, my belief is this:  reading makes you think, always, 100%
of the time, without exception.  TV and movies allows you to if you 
want to, but does not force you to.  

I respect and admire and value people who read more than they
watch, who do more than they talk about, who walk more than
they drive, who think more than they preach, who stand more
than they sit, and who listen more than they hear.

I'd trade a nation of TV watchers for magazine readers in a second.

In response to the PG-13, photography makes you think, ala
the ancient proverb "a picture tells a thousand words".  Well guess
what folks, WHO provides the one thousand words?  You do.

It's not the percentage of the brain you use which determines
what is a more moral act, it is the deliberate act of doing which
is more moral than the act of receiving.