... that something you read (a book etc.) or saw (a film etc.) made you change your mind about something or someone? I certainly can't remember. I think that in most cases we tend to navigate towards books and films that at some level reflect our preformed opinions, and that even when they succeed in jolting us out of our mindset, their "success" is short-lived and we very quickly return to "normal".
My view is that by the time we reach adulthood, and perhaps well before, we are already set in our ways, and that it would take a relevation or event of road-to-Damascus proportions to fundamentally shift our way of thinking.
Another thing is that we don't actually have a particular point of view on many of the issues swirling around us today - Syria anyone? - although we might pretend we have. Or again, we may have completely forgotten that a particular issue ever existed even though it is still with us. For example, when was the last time we thought about Wikileaks? Weeks if not months ago?
My view is that by the time we reach adulthood, and perhaps well before, we are already set in our ways, and that it would take a relevation or event of road-to-Damascus proportions to fundamentally shift our way of thinking.
Another thing is that we don't actually have a particular point of view on many of the issues swirling around us today - Syria anyone? - although we might pretend we have. Or again, we may have completely forgotten that a particular issue ever existed even though it is still with us. For example, when was the last time we thought about Wikileaks? Weeks if not months ago?
This is so very true. I can tell within a few pages whether an author is going to prove "one of us", and if not the book is discarded.
ReplyDeleteAnd regarding Syria and Afghanistan, I'm ashamed (though obviously not enough) to not even wanting to think of them, and thus avoid having to have a point of view.
Good to see (from another very good/ish book) that Gran and Aunt Mabel are enjoying themselves and their colds in Bruges.
Although you wouldn't think so from my "edited" version of her diaries, it is very clear that Gran's three sisters and Reg were absolutely central to her life, in particular "Mab"! Quite a lot of schadenfreude involved no doubt - who is the seediest of us all - but great affection and love too.
DeleteTwo that stand out for me: Steven Pinker’s The Blank Slate and Andrew Sullivan’s The Conservative Soul.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that, Michael. I know of both authors but am ashamed (well, not really!) to say that I haven't read either of the books you mention. I looked up The Wikipedia entry for The Blank Slate (incidentally, how do you manage to generate italics in your comments?) and read the following:
ReplyDeletePsychologist David Buss stated that "This may be the most important book so far published in the 21st century."
Perhaps, but there's a long way still to go!