| json_metadata | "{"app":"Musing","appTags":["books"],"appCategory":"books","appTitle":"Why does reading make you free?","appBody":"<p>It does not do it. There is a similar phrase: Arbeit macht frei - work liberates - was written in the Nazi gates of the extermination camps. The point is that both are only phrases that can easily be falsified if read in absolute terms. Reading is a fairly neutral act, like walking, but it depends on the circumstances in which it is done. If I read a propaganda text in an indoctrinating context, it is highly unlikely that it will result in my freedom of decision and thought. It is also quite established by psychology that we ourselves have our cognitive deviations, which results in the reading of related texts, as opposed to those that could cause discomfort; thus limiting our own choices and possibilities. Hitler, Mussolini or Stalin were avid readers, of what they liked. They were even writers. Can anyone be considered free to bend others? Are they not rather the antithesis of freedom? They are the dark side of reading, if you will. So reading in absolute terms has little to do with freedom.</p>\n<p><br></p>\n<p>Read in relative terms, the phrase can be interpreted as \"reading gives more freedom than not reading, or not being able to read\". In this sense, obviously an illiterate has many more difficulties in daily life and work, which results in their lower capacity of choice. Even in relative terms the happiness of the phrase has its limits. Once someone has an acceptable reading competence and reads regularly, it does not mean that they are free. His life has endless limitations that often can not be solved by itself. And to try to solve them, it would be necessary to opt for other actions to read.</p>\n<p><br></p>\n<p>I think happier phrases \"reading makes you a little bit more free\" or better \"reading what you like and do not like, what interests you and does not interest you, with a little distrust, makes you a little bit more free\". They are not so laconic, but they are more modest.</p>","appDepth":2,"appParentPermlink":"p3ve57lex","appParentAuthor":"sidraww333","musingAppId":"aU2p3C3a8N","musingAppVersion":"1.1","musingPostType":"answer"}" |
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