Comments on: ‘Unreasonable’: E-book hate detracts from The Age of American Unreason

By: Brian Carnell

Brian Carnell — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:26:38 +0000

So a smug intellectual writes a book arguing that there aren’t enough smug intellectuals in her part of the world. Those darn kids with their Facebooks and their videogames and their fancy iPods just aren’t like the good old days when we sat around the junior high playground debating Sartre and Eisenhower’s foreign policy.

She blames Xbox’s and TV. Personally, I blame that damn rock n’ roll.

By: Liviu

Liviu — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:25:58 +0000

I am disappointed that an interesting blog like Teleread spends time discussing worthless bs like that book.

The only comment I have for all such junk peddlers is to show us when there was that mythic age of enlightenment and rationality…

By: Nate the great

Nate the great — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:32:21 +0000

One question I would like to ask: Why does she hate her own culture so much?

If she denies the question, then I would ask her what evidence did she have that suggested American peasants were any more ignorant than peasants at any time in history? Honestly, that’s what most people are, peasants. This is not bad, only a statement of fact.

Here’s the thing: if a person doesn’t regularly use a peice of knowledge, that knowledge will be forgotten. This is normal; it’s how minds work. Ask yourself how much of your high school EnglishLit/Math/Civics class do you remember? (Pick one you don’t use everyday.)

What use does a peasant have for the names of countries in Europe? For the most part, very little. So when that girl demonstrated that she knew less than a fifth grader, it was normal.