Libb

none.

I think all of this is a huge problem in the world today.

Always have been a problem. It was just a lot less consumerist-focused in the past.

I just read a text from Pascal that he wrote somewhere in the year 1656 and in which he was discussing how a bunch of people from the Sorbonne university (they were not your average angry lynching mob, they were scholars) were asking for another one to be severely punished for something he had said in favor of some text they deemed heretic (which was no joke, back then). Pascal then explains they refused to change their mind when they were faced first with the fact that all the guy said was that he could not find any occurence of that heresy in said text (they even refused to read the text to see by themselves when he proposed to do so); and then when they were told that this dude they wanted so badly to punishe (for something he did not say) was indeed agreeing with them on the condemnation of that heresy only refusing to blame it on that specific author since he never wrote that. Their reply? He still deserved to be punished because of his attitude. I have grossly over-simplified the thing but that is indeed the core idea: they did not like the dude and his tone and wanted to make him pay for that, they openly said fuck it to any fact demonstrating them wrong. And those people were scholars.

This happened some 370 years ago but it could be happening at this very moment in (too) many universities—one would just need to replace ‘heresy’ with any of the ‘sensitive’ topics we consider so much more important nowadays.

And I have little doubt it will keep on happening under a variety of guises. Probably even much more frequently, seeing the world-wide rise of proud idiocracies, and their proud idiot leaders, and the rise of all those communitarisms that that thrive on hating on one another, almost everywhere.

Edit: typos and a few minor changes.

Every single second. Or never. It depends what ‘Internet’ you look at, and how.

Edit: corrections.

I’m not much of a reader, though I would like to get into the Star Wars lore. I had not even thought of that, thanks! 🙂

You’re welcome ;)

Do you have any recommendations for what to read?

I don’t know what you like so it’s a bit like i I asked you what should I eat tonight?

Imho, if you want to give Star Wars a try that’s a good starting point. I don’t know now much about Star Wars so I’m probably not the person you should ask. I do love scifi though and among my favorite authors I would say Ubik, by Philip K. Dick (the guy was the inspiration for films ranging from Matrix to Blade Runner, and many others). It’s fun, it’s not too hard to read and it’s not too long either. And it’s at least as pertinent today as it was when it was written in the 60s.

That said, allow me one advice if you’re not used to reading: don’t be afraid to not like and not finish a book. That’s OK. You have no obligation to.
I read a lot and I never hesitate to quit reading a book I don’t like. Also, I know that my tastes can change (I now love books I hated when I was a kid or a teen, or even a young adult). The Ubik book I suggested is not a difficult read, but you may also not like it at all, and that’s fine. Just look for something else to read ;)

There is no book you wanted to read?