Dumb and Dumber

Have you ever picked up an old fairy tale book? If you have, did you remark upon anything different? I am not talking about the incredibly un-Disney like endings, but upon the diction used. I felt a drop in my stomach when I realized how much we have diminished our language.

The book industry is also in a crisis. People are leaning toward parking themselves in front of a television, or cruising the net, instead of setting down with a book. There is conjecture on whether or not we will even be using books in the next hundred years, considering everything is starting to be digitalized. A step in that direction can be found in new technology that resembles an ipod, except for novels. It’s probably better for our planet but I know that I would miss holding a book in my hand and turning the crisp pages.

Everything feels like it’s coming too fast and easy. Instead of actually reading “The Tragedy of Richard the Third”, why not just read the spark notes? Sure you wont get any of the lyrical value but I am sure you’ll be about to quote, “A horse, a horse! my kingdom for a horse.” I know that this entire post seems haphazard and misshapen, but I hope that I am getting across the general feeling that we are losing parts of our culture to expediency.

I guess I just want to leave you with this quote from Ray Bradbury, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”