No, no, no.
I’m not saying to kill your TV. Or that I’m a conspiracy theorist.
This little art-POS I made today via MS Paint is simply an amalgamation of my ideas along with internet icons and popular images floating around. I don’t generally cling to icons of any kind (just admire from a safe distance); but whether or not you believe a flipped cross is satan’s doing, that your TV is hypnotizing you to “keep calm and carry on” when you should really be preparing for Z-day, or that all politicians loosen their ties and tighten their mason aprons after 5 to enjoy a nice blood sacrifice, it’s all the same to me: irrelevant.
The point is… well…. What I wrote, there.
And since it’s art, you can interpret the inverted color bar shape to be an overturned all-seeing eye, or just a rotated greater-than sign saying “Read More” – more than you watch T.V., more variety, or just more than you are currently. If you fall into the former category, here’s the thing: You’re not likely to convince the world of your assorted ideas about a New World Order by calling them sheep or idiots. That’s why I don’t mean my message in some highfalutin tone many assume, either. I find invectives generally don’t work when trying to change one attitude, much less a mass of them. What you can do is preach a positive message, like, “Read, also!” The whole snobbery thing is just as bad to me as obsessing over how bad a given Kardashian’s face surgery looks. Why? Because judgment is judgment. If you really want people to read for their personal edification, why would you demoralize them into it via judgmental glances or other assorted assholery? It makes no sense. People shouldn’t reluctantly grab a book because you made them feel shitty about themselves. They should read because it’s awesome, they should revisit classics because the themes tend to repeat themselves in reality, and you shitting on their lack of literary inclinations doesn’t make you awesome.
It just spotlights your insecurities and inability to communicate civilly.
Don’t get me wrong. I like shows or films as much as the next chick. But you know what bores me? Anything with a lack of interaction. A good film – or even a good T.V. show – will draw you in, make you notice themes, symbolism, etc., and let you work out the denouement in your head a bit. A good book will do the same. For a long time, I stopped reading… and I can’t for the life of me figure out why! It’s the ultimate, most self indulgent entertainment there is because you get to manifest the details. You’re the director. Now that I’ve re-read the classic Crime & Punishment, getting back into the habit makes each chapter feel like a new episode of your favorite show. The themes take on new meanings as you relate the soliloquies and epic one liners to things happening in your life… or maybe even that show you like.
For example, I couldn’t help but compare Dexter Morgan to Rodion Raskalnikov: I mean, both are made out to be these paradoxically conscience laden and kid-loving sociopaths, both harbor the vigilante mentality of “Oh, well my murder is justified because I’m this Übermensch taking out the trash”, both speak about their drive to kill as being some dark and separate entity, and both love intimating these long, repetitive, and drawn out internal soliloquies.
(Do you thinkkk Rodionnn talks like thissss… in a perpetual descending inflectionnnn toooo?)
The answer? You get to decide. That’s actually why reading is even better than watching, because it’s your show. You run the game. Want to play casting director to the entire story? Boom! Just like that, Johnny Depp is your Rodion Raskalnikov, we’ll resurrect Marilyn Monroe and make her play Sonia, and then cast Christina Ricci as Dunia (but don’t ask why – I think she’d just make a believable -albeit more hydrocephalic looking – sister to Depp).
Oh, and I lied about Raskalnikov possibly sounding like Dexter Morgan.
Rather, the entire tale (especially the violent bits) will be narrated by none other than Morgan Freeman’s cozy, Southern, gentlemanly voice.
Because irony is fun.
xoxo
<3~A