Books for Bigots

 BOOKS FOR BIGOTS

I have decided on a new endeavor to be called Books for Bigots.  This will apply to all, if not most, of the books that I will be reading - - normally novels.  At a minimum,  99.9% of the populace will be unfamiliar with the  named titles.  Now if you don't read books, are you a bigot?  Not necessarily, but there is a presumption.

The many who have recently read a book, any book, are not counted in the army of bigotry populating the planet.  The time allotted to reading a book, in our presumably highly functioning economy, is normally minimal; but with the desire, and if time allows, to read a book is possible and is actually accomplished by those few who attempt it.  So, it can be done.

But what book in the limited time available?  As the recent efforts to ban fiction have had a certain success, it would be appropriate if these banned books were to be selected.  But this is not to be the case.  If a particular banned book is featured in a particular article, it is simply serendipity.  I do not have THE LIST normally available and it is irrelevant in that bigots would ban most books if allowed.

It is the presumption here, and I believe adequately substantiated by statistics, that bigots don't read books.  Therefore, to their mind, an exploratory effort in presenting a book will always be suspect.  The articles themselves will take a mere two to four minutes to read, presuming the average ability to read and will give the reader a quick idea of a few of the pertinent ideas presented in the novel discussed. 

Possibly my effort will encourage a few to actually read the book discussed or to pick up another for a rainy day.  It does take time to read a book and the first hurdle is to convince yourself that reading a book may be preferable to some other activity such as pickleball, corn hole, or ax throwing.

The other often mentioned and presumed downside in reading a book is that you are really not doing much for the economy.  We have convinced ourselves that the economy is very important to our well being.  Books are cheap and they take time - not lucrative to oneself or others - - they don't generate a lot of income.  Depending on your ability to read, a book could take days or even weeks and this is time you could be out making money or otherwise being productive (making money).  Not only are you not increasing the GNP when you read a book, but you are not engaging in a social activity causing others to complain about how you would rather read a book then talk to them, i.e., being anti-social.

Being social, rather than reading, brings up another serious deficiency in our civilization.  Very few people actually know how to have a conversation.  Relating the highlights of the last baby shower you attended does not form the basis of a conversation.  Missing out on a social outing such as a backyard barbecue with the extended family or the neighborhood should not be considered  a social flaw, but a safety device from the fatigue of boredom.  But this topic is for another time.

In short, the Books for Bigots, will be an attempt to convince those who profess convincibility, that reading a book is not a waste if one is at all interested in becoming aware of what one was not previously aware of.  And the hope is that one would possibly become less bigoted than before reading a book.  After all, a novel presents people living on the same planet and often in the same country who are not like us, do not think like us, and do not act like us; something bigots have a difficult time accepting but which would be beneficial to all if they could.

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo