Why the Reviews?
“Ughhh reading”…I hear this sentiment almost everyday, whether it be in regards to reading work handouts and protocols, course readings, newspapers and journals, or in casual conversations overheard in public. I think this sentiment has one thing in common: The growing misconception that reading has become mainly scientific and subjective in its content and substance, therefore becoming more inaccessible to the general public and making concepts harder to understand, discouraging readers from picking up literature and instead relying on technology and media to inform them on current events, politically, economically, and culturally.
While I do believe scientific readings such as studies, lab reports and business/economic/marketing strategies are important in the socio-economic Western capitalist society we live in, I also strongly believe that young people’s ability to read critically is declining as reliability on technologies and media to “think” for us, increases. I believe the danger lies in this: people who do not read critically cannot form their own opinions and ideas, making them easier to manipulate and maleable to what the general public, often biassed to a certain viewpoint, believes to be the “truth” of something.
As the stability of the Western world and its democratic European allies seems to be under major strain as of now and the future seems difficult to comprehend, I think it is important for our generations young adults, soon to be main contributors to our country’s economy and future, to be able to critically think about topics and come to their own conclusions. Whether it be regarding policy changes in government, government candidates political campaigns/agendas, or the importance of society’s social issues, thinking critically of the sources given to us (or pushed upon us)for ourselves is one of the founding pillars of democracy, the reigning ideology in the West for the past century as it encourages diversity, free speech, and proves the possibility of co-existence with people who we may disagree with.
While this rant comes off as scary and intimidating, I do not expect the average university student and young adult to upend their life and read every source detailing the current events of today and what it means for our country’s future, I am simply stating what I believe the power of everyday reading has the ability to do for us in this endeavour. “Simple” books that have nothing to do with our current day politics can still hold lessons from different times, places, and people that are applicable to our lives everyday struggles and help us feel connected to our past and the shared aspects of past struggles with current ones.
I have decided to simply pick my favourite books, (you will note, not one has anything explicitly to do with the current events happening today that plague my brain with what to do or if I am correct in the “right” way to think about something going on in my community or my life), and pick out parts within the books that made me truly think about a concept for the first time, first in its book context, and then how it relates to my life and the struggles of today. Through reading various books from authors coming from different countries, cultures, regions, family values, and traditions, I have learned the power of perspective and empathy, for I have learned through reading that each one of us is constructed though “historical materialism” in that our cultures, religions, government institutions and practices, and beliefs are created by the context in which we live and the material circumstances around us, such as the lessons and values our parents install in us since childhood, our morals and ambitions in life, and ideological loyalties. Reading does not erase this, I am not simply removed from the historical reality of my life and the beliefs and cultural values I have derived from the material society I was raised in, but through reading I can step outside of my life to see how I may be influenced to think a certain way or uphold a certain belief by those in power, such as government officials and community leaders. This power, to think critically, I believe, acts as a shield against manipulation and coercion in the increasingly technological-dependent world we live in and will raise our future families in, which will allow us to have an active role in the decisions made for our world’s future.