The biggest one I can think of is The Catcher in the Rye. It is a good book, and if someone likes The Catcher in the Rye it means they are well-read. If someone says it is their favorite book then they probably identify with it too much and missed the point.
What are some other examples of this that you know of?
Storm of Steel.
counterpoint, they see it as their favorite cause they understand the point.
If someone says it is their favorite book then they probably identify with it too much and missed the point.
How could you possibly conclude that from the simple fact of it being their favorite book?
All the Ugly and Beautiful Things
Some of Dawkins’s stuff and similar entry-level atheism works. People occasionally manage to build their entire personality around them, and it’s not a good look. If you want to promote critical thinking, being a condescending prick ain’t it, chief.
You had me on your side until “…ain’t it, chief.”
Anything by nietzsche, sartre, or camus.
Three of the most famous philosophers? How would read their works be “problematic” or make you a bad person?? People literally study them in school and university.
Imagine saying , let’s not study anything than Einstein ever did because he was problematic.
What a stupid thing to say.
I really don’t see having read Catcher in the Rye as being well read, just young and probably male.
I am a bit tired of people that make books their own personality or that attribute personality traits based on books read.
Books that you read and like don’t imply you’re a bad person or a good person. If that were the case, all religious people that read the Bible/Quran/Torah/ etc would be the quintessential good and altruistic person.
If someone read Mein Kampf it doesn’t mean they’re a raging nazi, same as reading books where horrible things happen doesn’t mean you are a killer/rapist/whatever . And it doesn’t even mean that you condone violence.
Books don’t make you gay, they don’t make you evil, arguably we can say they don’t even make you smart - they can increase your knowledge, but that’s not the same as being smart.
Associating a book with a personality trait, or thinking that they can cause X and Y it’s such a simplistic and distorted view that can only stem from lack of critical thinking.
If X book = bad person/good person we wouldn’t need psychologist now, would we? Or police, for that matter. We could weed out the bad apples before they committed crimes, just arrest anyone that buy and read forbidden books.
The fact that banning books is a thing , again, in the US, speaks volume on how incredibly stupid this notion is.
Agree, but I read the prompt to be less of a literal value judgement and more of a playful exercise. Mein Kamf was required text in one of my classes in school and IMO should be read and studied, for obvious reasons. That being said, would you not be a little suspicious if someone cited it as their favourite? 😂
which class required mein kampf??
It was a multidisciplinary course focused on the history of fascism, totalitarianism, ultra nationalism, etc. taught through a combination of history, literature, and philosophy. I should have clarified that the entire text was not mandatory, however we did read and study a significant amount of excerpts from it. I went to a ‘college prep’ school on a needs scholarship, if that helps provide any context.
In my case German class, in University. Together with “The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origin of the Third Reich” by George L. Mosse.
I wish more people were like you. Man just because i am reading something doesn’t mean i am liking whatever is happening in the book and want same stuff to happen with me.
Right. I love horror movies. Especially slashers. Am I an aspiring axe murder? Pretty sure the answer is no.
If I had an award to give it would be yours. 🥇
Blood Meridian 🚩🚩🚩
What a strange thing to think a reader would embrace such a narrow concept.
dumb post and (mostly) dumb responses…
That’s a narrow point of view, to judge someone by the books they like.
Books are supposed to help broaden your perspective and process complex emotions. Sometimes a book will resonate in unexpected ways. This is not a tell to a person’s morality.
This mentality is what leads to book shaming and book bans.
This question is stupid. Liking certain things isn’t a red flag that someonenis a bad person. Sure, people can be edgelords and have messed up interpretations of certain books and films, but they’re few and far between so I don’t really care. What’s more common is that I find fans of certain books/series annoying (e.g. harry potter adults), but being annoying doesn’t make someone a bad person, they’re just obnoxious.
Love watching these karma-farming posts get increasingly convoluted. What’s a book where it’s a bad thing if someone likes it, but if it’s their favorite book it means they are probably a good person?
Unless your favorite book is like Mein Keimpf or something I think it’s shitty to judge. I remember I was reading the Host by Stephenie Meyer once at the pool and my brother was like don’t you want to hide that cover ? No, this book is entertaining and that’s why I’m reading it. It doesn’t say anything beyond that. Maybe someone’s favorite book is just something that really struck them at the time, or has some theme that specifically resonates with them. No need to judge!
Maybe thus spake Zarathustra then. Just based on the contribution it made to mein kampf