I came across this article during my nightly news article that I found interesting and worth sharing, specially with the timing of it, and the rise of wokeness.
Absolutely. I agree totally. I see this problem around me, and it is dramatic.
And then it's hard to find someone to have a sensible conversation with. Sometimes an elderly person, and in my opinion, an elderly person is more interesting to talk to than the rest. But the rest, the people I spend time with, are incapable of discussing serious matters, incapable of reasoning, of expressing their ideas, and incapable of listening. On the subject of Putin, they only know how to repeat the nonsense on TV, the propaganda. In fact, the pandemic has not only succeeded in making them crazier, but also more ignorant, more fearful, more sheepish. But all this, despite everything, suits the powers that be because ignorant people, people who don't read, who aren't curious, who are addicted to propaganda, are a gift from heaven, for them.
Why don't people read good books anymore? Reading requires concentration, silence, willpower, a taste for learning about oneself and others, and for exercising the imagination. For most people, it's better and easier to binge-watch series, one after the other, like eating junk food.
Of course, this article isn't about us, people like us who reflect on what's happening, who read, who aren't addicted to TV or social media.
It's interesting to see how badly people don't know how to count, for example. You go to a store and the machine tells the employee how much money to hand over. Everywhere, machines decide for us. We've reached that point.
We, who are no better but a little different, must face all this with compassion and curiosity, as if we were Persians, à la Montesquieu. And continue to read, reflect, and evolve, despite all this.
