Libertine: On the Prowl

Vidi, vici, veni -- I saw, I conquered, I came. _______________________________________________________________

Self Censoring Readers

01:45, 2009-Apr-10 .. Posted in books .. 1 comments .. Link

Recently, I overheard two women at work talking about the books they’d read. One mentioned to the other about a novel she’d read where the main plot was about one woman’s adulterous affair. She asked the other woman if she wanted to borrow the book. The other woman declined, stating she didn’t want to read about such things because she thought adultery was immoral.

I rolled my eyes at this, thinking this woman must be very limited if she restricted herself from reading books about topics she didn’t agree with, even if it was fiction. What was this woman afraid of, I wondered. Did she think if she read a story about adultery, that she would suddenly want to have an affair?

People read about things all the time that they’d never do in real life. Mysteries and crime novels are quite popular with a lot of people, but it doesn’t mean that such people approve of murder or will suddenly go on a killing spree because they like reading a good mystery.

It really boggles my mind at how depressingly narrow-minded so many people can be.
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01:19, 2009-May-28 .. Posted by texican
I had to roll my eyes, too. I think it goes back to that "hide-the-poison-from-the-baby" mentality that stays with some people into adulthood. These are the people who just avoid certain situations altogether instead of learning to deal with them. Some religions promote this behavior with their rules and restrictions, but that's for a different post.

This woman was probably worried that reading about stuff like this would trigger some deeply buried lust or something.