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I rarely participate, I just lurk around, but this got me aggravated. Would it be OK for me to condemn a car I never drove? I never drove a Subaru, but I have friends who own it that said it's a put-put car. Is it OK to go and express their opinion as my own? Are ideas different?
I would NEVER, and I mean NEVER condemn a book I did not read. I would never express an opinion on a book I did not read. How could I? Why would I? Why would anyone? In order to have an opinion, I need to familiarize myself with whatever it is I want to have an opinion on. If my friends have opinions, I am happy for them. But no matter how well informed they are, it is their opinion, not mine. It is their condemnation, not mine. I think you have to have a pretty low self-esteem to be a follower like that, without even attempting to be your own person, with your own point of view.
If the book content is repulsive to you, don't read it. But don't review something you have not experienced first hand. That's just dishonest. And if you do make it clear that you are reviewing/condemning something you did not read - think first. How much weight does you review carry? "I did not read that book, but I think it's repulsive"? Why even bother?
As to the people the ideas might (or might not, really) hurt, who's to say. I am hurt and offended by people who drive 40 inn 50 mph zone. Others are not. Some people take fiction personally, others don't. I guess Darwin in his time hurt a lot of feelings. As a matter of fact unfortunately he still does. Different sensibilities. Different strokes. Why make a world a smaller and poorer place, depriving us of ideas? Why not let us browse and graze? I don't want to be saved from myself.
Anyhow, my 2 cents. Maybe I just do not understand the need to be a part of a movement no matter what. Maybe I just don't feel the need to save the world against the wishes of all concerned.
dki
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