I have no idea if this is kosher here (it is the Coffee Break section), but since this seems to be a based sort of place, and there might be readers here, I thought some people might be interested in the Based Book Sale. This is where periodically a whole bunch of based authors (like me) band together and put our books (ebooks only) on sale for $.99 or less.
If you’re looking for some summer reading, I highly recommend checking out the sale. Most of them are Kindle books, but I have my book discounted also on Kobo and Google.
I understand your a writer and I respect that. But reading books are just money and time waste. As if that were not enough, the author’s thoughts will be imposed on you. Find your own truths. It’s just a nonsense tradition. You can still be a good person without reading books.
A person chooses to read a book or not, so if the author’s thoughts are imposed on the reader, that is a choice. I often learn a great many things by reading that are factually true, that I did not know before. If they are opinion, I can choose whether I want to believe it or not. Sometimes I believe it (or agree), and sometimes I do not (or disagree). I continue to find my own truths in life. One of those truths is that I don’t find reading books a waste of time and money. Now television, that is a waste of time and money.
Whether you want it or not, those ideas are still imposed on you. Videos, series, films, music, news, social media, games etc. they all are same. But in 2025 It’s nearly impossible to stay away from these things. But It’s still your own life do what you want, I can’t interfere to you. These are my thoughts.
That’s a strange position to have. From the time you were born, you were taught all sorts of things, some of them that turned out to be true, and some of them that turned out to be false. But very few of the ideas you have came from yourself. You just assimilated them. And if from this point on you never expose yourself to ideas other people thought of, you create your own echo chamber and severely limit your potential for growth.
Just wait until you hear about this crazy new form of media consumption called ‘conversation’.
Your concern aboit an idea being imposed upon you is literally the entire point of all forms of communication. I do not understand your argument at all.
If I understand correctly, what you are saying is books, videos, movies, music, news, social media, games, and whatever else takes away your ability to think for yourself. Therefore, is it safe to conclude that if I read the Talmud, I am automatically going to convert to Judaism? Or if I read the Quran, I will automatically become a Muslim? What if I read the Hindu holy books? Do I suddenly become a Hindu because I have no free will? Care to try for any other religion’s holy books? Do all who read the Bible have no choice but to become Christian? Please explain.
I normally don’t toss religion into the mix, but in this instance, the case can be easily made that just because someone reads a holy book, it doesn’t end with the person automatically converting to that religion because “it is written.” I know of a few atheists who know more about what is written in holy books than those who claim to know what is written in those same books. Obviously, they never converted.
But let’s expand this out to music. If I listen to both kinds, country and western (Bob’s Country Bunker in Kokomo, Blues Brothers), does that mean I am going to believe both kinds, country and western, are the only valid types of music? Let’s say I listen to an entire LP of music. Am I automatically going to like everything on the album because I don’t have a choice? Of course not.
Back to the Blues Brothers. Did I think it was a great comedy? Yes. Does everyone else who watched it? No. My parents hated it. “The dialog was too confusing. Why did they crash all those police cars? What is that horrible music?”
Care to do television? How about Monty Python? I encountered quite a few people who watched it and are as confused as the cat. Why do the old women on a submarine want to boil the cat? Why are they on the submarine? What is up with those Vikings and all the Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam. Spam! Wonderful Spam! What is the point of the Ministry of Silly Walks? The show is so confusing!
Social media tells me how to think? That really is a good one. Considering, I got kicked off several sites for offending some snowflakes because I didn’t agree with them. Which is fine with me. They just proved me correct. They were thin-skinned about the subject, so they took my challenge and called the site moderator on me, screaming “I’m offended!” And the moderator promptly banned me for life, validating what I said. Isn’t totalitarianism wonderful when it is served up as “democracy?”
If I listen to the news, according to how interpret what you wrote, I must agree with all of it. That’s funny, because there is extremely little in the newspapers and news broadcasts that I find believable. A good example is that boat that hit bottom off Neebish Island and is now in Duluth at Fraser getting its hull patched up. The news reported it as happening in Lake Huron off Neebish Island. Trouble is, the boat nerds said Neebish Island in the St. Mary’s River, and that location is known for groundings, plus the maps show it being at that location. In addition, the boat nerds live for that stuff. The news media, they live for sensationalism and Lake Huron has no island by that name.
Now, with games, you probably have a point. If you don’t know the rules and follow them, then you have no valid hope of winning.
Now television, that is a waste of time and money. 