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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 2, 2022 9:37:58 GMT -5
There is benefit in reading those books for younger people, that same as for reading mythology, fairy tales and tall tales. I have heard the term cultural literacy and that means to me not being ignorant of the past, so for example IMO everyone should read at least a little of every group of literature. it is rare for a poet to be appreciated in their own lifetime, yet for me as a child I fell in love with poetry. Part of schooling should be a wider view of history, not just a few names and dates.
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Post by hengest on Apr 2, 2022 9:41:53 GMT -5
There is benefit in reading those books for younger people, that same as for reading mythology, fairy tales and tall tales. I have heard the term cultural literacy and that means to me not being ignorant of the past, so for example IMO everyone should read at least a little of every group of literature. it is rare for a poet to be appreciated in their own lifetime, yet for me as a child I fell in love with poetry. Part of schooling should be a wider view of history, not just a few names and dates. This is painfully true, as an adult I realize how little I have to say to most people I know because no one is interested in anything. That's an overstatement, but it often feels that way. I have a lot of mini-interests and no time for them, but it seems many people have nothing to do in their free time but consume disposable entertainment that they don't even enjoy. This is a messed-up way of being, if you ask me.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 2, 2022 9:44:12 GMT -5
There is benefit in reading those books for younger people, that same as for reading mythology, fairy tales and tall tales. I have heard the term cultural literacy and that means to me not being ignorant of the past, so for example IMO everyone should read at least a little of every group of literature. it is rare for a poet to be appreciated in their own lifetime, yet for me as a child I fell in love with poetry. Part of schooling should be a wider view of history, not just a few names and dates. This is painfully true, as an adult I realize how little I have to say to most people I know because no one is interested in anything. That's an overstatement, but it often feels that way. I have a lot of mini-interests and no time for them, but it seems many people have nothing to do in their free time but consume disposable entertainment that they don't even enjoy. This is a messed-up way of being, if you ask me. I have spent an hour (when I was about 28) telling fairy tales to about 15 18-25 year olds, because they heard me telling them to some kids and they wanted to know more because they had never heard a fairy tale growing up.
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Post by hengest on Apr 2, 2022 9:55:41 GMT -5
This is painfully true, as an adult I realize how little I have to say to most people I know because no one is interested in anything. That's an overstatement, but it often feels that way. I have a lot of mini-interests and no time for them, but it seems many people have nothing to do in their free time but consume disposable entertainment that they don't even enjoy. This is a messed-up way of being, if you ask me. I have spent an hour (when I was about 28) telling fairy tales to about 15 18-25 year olds, because they heard me telling them to some kids and they wanted to know more because they had never heard a fairy tale growing up. This is monstrous (I mean it's good that you did so, but monstrous that they were in this position). Those tales are like air and water, depriving children of them is extremely strange and in no way acceptable. What strikes me is how scalable many of them are. Cinderella can be told in a few sentences or it can take an hour. But what really bothers me is when fairy tales are not only omitted but replaced by some kind of junk "product" produced by a committee and a computer animation program for children. I watched a friend's kid once for about two hours, the boy was 2, as I recall. He was a pleasant kid, not bratty or difficult, but all he could ask for was "Choo-choo TV." Didn't want to do anything else, I couldn't interest him in anything else. Toys, stories, nothing. I gave in, but couldn't work their television, couldn't even turn it on. Still kept asking for the same thing. Somehow I got through the time and later looked up "Choo-choo TV" (I think it is actually Chuchu TV) just to see what it was. I regretted it. It was, to my mind, so foul and artificial and lifeless, and I could see this after one second, that I could not believe anyone could let a child watch this for any reason. And if you are talking about our YouTube world, there is tons of good stuff a click away, if you have to watch something, you can find something made by human beings. I know many people who see something made for children and they cannot evaluate it at all, they assume if it has bright colors then it's good for children. I evaluate these things at the same speed as I evaluate whether a text is written in English or Chinese. You can just tell if it's garbage. And there are lots of people my age who don't. It's not that they disagree with me, which would be fine, but that they have no ability to judge even by their own lights whether something is good for children. Something has happened in the last few generations, I assume it's the rise of television, but maybe it has to do with parents working, school bloat, and so on. Fairy tales and modern tales good for children (and adults) used to be the pop culture of childhood. Even the "bad" kids knew who Snow White was and basically what happens. I'm having trouble expressing this thought, but it's more than "people should like what I like." I don't actually think that, people can do their own stuff and I know not everyone shares my taste. But not to know the basic fairy tales of your culture (or any culture) is extremely strange.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 2, 2022 12:39:32 GMT -5
hengest , I agree with you. People seem to have lost their taste as to what is the difference between worst, bad, OK, good, better and best. They cannot evaluate anything, they wait to be told what to think about things. All that childhood stuff I took for granted, is IMO crucial to having a good childhood. Also I read recently that the biggest marker of success is how much time did your parents spend reading/telling stories to you as a child.
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 2, 2022 17:20:09 GMT -5
This is painfully true, as an adult I realize how little I have to say to most people I know because no one is interested in anything. That's an overstatement, but it often feels that way. I have a lot of mini-interests and no time for them, but it seems many people have nothing to do in their free time but consume disposable entertainment that they don't even enjoy. This is a messed-up way of being, if you ask me. I have spent an hour (when I was about 28) telling fairy tales to about 15 18-25 year olds, because they heard me telling them to some kids and they wanted to know more because they had never heard a fairy tale growing up. The Perilous Dreamer That's very cool of you! I can vividly remember my Grandmother telling me stories at bedtime. She lived with us for several years. I know she told me Frankenstein several times. I don't know exactly how many times she recited the story but I know it was at least 4 or 5 times; always seemed to be on a stormy night as well. She's long since passed but I do wish she would have been able to spend a few years with my children before leaving us. hengest I know exactly what you mean. It seems like everyone at work talks about those idiots on tiktok doing stupid challenges. We moved a few times when I was growing up. One of the first places I went at a new school was always the library. I know for a face that I was the ONLY young child to look at the mythology section at a minimum of two of those schools. In this modern time, I have only seen 1 or 2 people bring a book to work in a plant with over 1,000 employees.
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