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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 1343322" data-attributes="member: 812">What makes you think I'm jaded? What makes you think I have ceased to have fun? What gives you this deep insight into other people's motivations?You don't know. You're attacking a whole class of people, not because you know anything, but for some reason of your own -- but in any event you're doing so without a shred of evidence.Are some people snobs? Yep, they sure are.  It is NOT snobbish, however, to state one's tastes. If somebody says "Borges rocks and King sucks" they're not being a snob, they're just telling you what they like. If somebody says "Only jaded cynics like Borges" then they're being a snob.The difference between Liberals and Tories is that they share different opinions on how political decisions ought to be made. If you want to say that some people enjoy intellectual stimulation and some people do not, I have no argument. But to pretend that you know people's motivations is just silly, because we all know you don't.You don't enjoy intellectual stimulation when you read. Well and good. Like I have said, everybody has their own joys and thank heavens for that.Here's the thing, though. EVERYBODY'S a moderate, in some way, shape or form. Creating artificial distinctions like this only makes it harder to hear what somebody's saying, because now they have to overcome your tendency to lump them into a group. They have to first demonstrate why they don't just fall into one of these categories before they can even get listened to.Categorization (generalization) like this inhibits communication.Exceptions DON'T prove the rule. They do the opposite. A rule that admits to exceptions isn't a rule at all, it's a false generalization.So what? As I have noted, the fact that we're talking about subjective opinions doesn't mean we can't have meaningful debates. Convince me that there really are two kinds of readers and that only one kind reads for enjoyment.Note that I'm not saying NOBODY reads for something other than enjoyment. I'm saying that since it's impossible to know why anybody does anything, using such speculations as evidence for any conclusions is pointless. Much more useful and fun and interesting is for you to tell me what you like or dislike and why. Why don't you like Hemingway? What makes Asimov so great? Those are opinions about which we can have useful conversations.</blockquote>

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