"The Lost Art of Reading"

My former pastor sent me a link to this article "The Lost Art of Reading". I thought many of you would find it interesting.

Tim Reynolds

 

I think it is more serious than "one-line answers". People don't seem interested in discussion or even in conversation about serious topics. Also, here on the BB among other places, many do not seem to be able to accept that the other person can legitimately hold an opinion different from theirs. The one-line comebacks are usually designed to shut down debate.

We suffer from a prejudice against intelligence. I can remember going to high school awards ceremonies (40+ years ago) where students who received academic awards were booed by a portion of the student body. I have a friend who was raised by his father to be an intellectual. He has not made that public knowledge. Like me he is in residential construction. I was not raised that way specifically, but I do have some graduate work but no degree. Many of the people we work with would not understand and might well be suspicious of us because of it.

There is also an element of being willing to settle for low common denominator things whether it is some sort of product or service or idea. This carries over into the idea having to settle for low quality in products and services. I see this in the houses that I work in where cheap and sloppy work abounds. Older houses, even inexpensive houses, have a higher level of quality in their workmanship than the newer houses. Caulk covers a multitude of sins.

It is a mindset that is analogous to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's concept of "cheap grace" in which professing believers settle for less than the whole gospel. If it persists, we will be poorer for it.

I have more to say in direct comment on the article, but I'll save it for tomorrow or Tuesday.

Tim Reynolds

 

A current more explicit version of this is Rush Limbaugh's tag line "We'll do the thinking for you." Just as we should be taking personal responsibility for our own situation, we should be thinking for ourselves.

Tim Reynolds