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Thursday 19 February 2015

Note to self

1/ Don't engage in a battle of wits with someone unarmed.
2/ Avoid arguing about religious view, political view and taste- it's impossible to change or persuade anybody.
3/ Don't debate with people who keep talking about irrelevant, unrelated things, who don't know what others are saying and what they themselves are saying, who talk in circles. It's pointless.
4/ Don't discuss literature with people who aren't really interested in it. 
5/ Don't discuss literature and true art with people who think that there's no such thing as good and bad taste or good and bad quality in literature, insisting "People like different things"/ "The idea of great literature is different from person to person". 
6/ If come across statements/ remarks such as "The Great Gatsby is just an ordinary love story", "50 Shades can be great literature", "Stephenie Meyer's novels will continue to be read in 200 years the way Jane Austen's novels are read now", "The Sound and the Fury is the emperor's new clothes and all of those who claim to like it only pretend to", "Reading is a kind of voyeurism, an attempt to experience life 2nd-hand through the eyes of the artist, therefore it's better to go out and experience life directly for ourselves", "50 Shades is better for sex education than Lady Chatterley's Lover", "Don't fuck with rape and paedophilia unless you're telling the victim's story", etc, ignore and forget.
7/ Don't discuss with people who believe that criticisms of books such as 50 Shades and Twilight are caused by envy.
8/ Don't try to explain to people who equate popularity and sales with greatness.
9/ Don't try to change the mind of people who don't care about the test of time.
10/ Don't have a discussion with people who say "You criticise everything" and "Go ahead, write your own books/ make your own films, etc" only because their favourite books/ films are criticised.

4 comments:

  1. If there are such traditions as making resolutions in conjunction with the Lunar New Year (as in western cultures' New Year's -- Jan 1 -- resolutions), then I should add these two to my outlook on life, especially since I have been creating problems for myself lately: (1) do not argue with anyone about anything; (2) do not sweat the small stuff. And -- just to add something more to my two resolutions -- I would endorse your "Note to Self" as being wise, practical, and optimistic.

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    Replies
    1. We don't have these traditions, haha. But lately I've come across some unbelievable remarks on literature*, and just a few nights ago had a fight with a guy about 50 Shades, which didn't go anywhere, so I had to tell myself to ignore those people.
      Discussion on literature is good, having different opinions is fine, but if 1 person, while attacking an article which considers 50 Shades great literature, points out the horrendous writing, the bad similes and metaphors... and the other person asks "So what?" then there's obviously nothing to say.

      *: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/11/why-50-shades-of-grey-is-great-literature/
      http://radfemale.tumblr.com/post/110538043259
      And others.

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