the inherent political nature of books and reading

[@Nagchampa765]

I have just started the video but I wanted to push back (kindly) against the idea that illiteracy breeds bigots. It’s nuanced, because absolutely there is an ignorance factor. But the majority of people who are illiterate are disenfranchised and marginalized people, or people with disabilities. bigotry is not a lack of education, but an OVER education of white supremacy. Liberals I have interacted with who have masters degrees still will avoid reading any sources or articles that people share with them, or even if they do, they avoid all parts except what can confirm their already established bias. I just have been seeing so many people blaming illiteracy, when that’s just not the case. It’s really just ableism and an easy scapegoat that allows people to avoid looking at the root of the issue, which is just bigotry.

[@WURLDSTAR]

you are a thousand percent correct about this and i should have clarified that in the video. thanks for taking the time to explain this further!

[@Nagchampa765]

@ thank u for receiving this well and with kindness 🫶

[@crazychadmb]

Guy like me? 29, never gone to college. Thought I was a liberal. I've read cool books like The Real Terror Network by Edward S Herman. Only vote third party, shout out Jill Stein and Cornel West. I don't know what being liberal is or was, I just continue to do me. Tend to the part of the garden you can touch - Jack Kornfield.

[@Nagchampa765]

@@crazychadmb we gotta get more radical. No politician will save us, they only look out for the expansion of empire and nothing else.

[@MargaretBurmingham-qm5dx]

That´s interesting because I´ve had the complete opposite experience. I´m considered a liberal and all the leftists I have interacted with refuse to interact with any sources a cite, even if they cited something from the same source a few minutes ago. For example, I´ve had tankies unironically argue that the Uyghur genocide isn´t happening, even after I show them a wealth of evidence including coverage by Al Jazeera, even though they themselves use Al Jazeera as a source for coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The same thing goes for anything bad the USSR or China ever did. They simply shut off and accuse me of being a nazi.

[@SunlightHugger]

Texas librarian here: our library has managed to keep our banned books despite last year's fund-hostage situation, but the trolls are still out there. One lady stole three witchcraft books, thinking we wouldn't replace them. One guy took a lingerie sewing guide into the restroom and destroyed it. There's this whole thing about sexual content not being proper for public libraries... but all the Amish erotica we have is totally fine??? If it weren't so horrible, it would be funny.

[@carpetbathroom]

i genuinely never even considered that some of these bozos would have beef with fancy underwear…..fucking unbelievable

[@MorenaDeRena]

...y'all got witchcraft books? Gimme sum :( That'd be so intersting.

[@CupcakeSans]

That's fucked up, the amount of brainwashing in someone for them to do this

[@mirimariana]

​@MorenaDeRena Yeah, apparently Harry Potter ( saw it getting banned for witchcraft ) is a witchcraft book so you can start with that ig 😭

[@arbyswitch5580]

​@@mirimariana okay so like, this isn't the first time Harry Potter books have been banned for that exact reason. I don't endorse censoring or banning HP, but I was literally a kid the first time it got banned for being occult/anti-christian due to its themes of witchcraft. What I'm confused by is why you're acting like it's weird to consider the book about a boy's journey through his education at a school for *checks notes* WITCHCRAFT and wizardry to be about witchcraft...it's literally about witchcraft dood Like did you read the words "she's the brightest WITCH of her age" and think they meant it metaphorically? I don't think Harry Potter is anti-christian, and I don't think books with occult themes should be challenged or banned, but I DO think that the Harry Potter books might be about magic. Please excuse the audaciously hot take!

[@salemswann7992]

“get politics out of books” what’s next?? get horses out of the rodeo???

[@grinch56]

Not to get political or anything but yes please rodeos are so full of animal abuse it's disgusting 😭

[@deadgirlwalking1117]

THANK YOU. books and movies are art and art is an expression of human experience, which politics are a large part of.

[@anikanamisu2456]

PREACH!!!

[@jacklynsmith9264]

Florida highschooler here, my American history class had a section where it talked in depth about how slavery "benefited" black people 😐

[@wooogie672]

god i am so fucking glad i graduated from FL high school back in 2021 😭😭 it wasn’t anywhere close to as bad as it is now and it was only 3 years ago… even in 2017 my freshman english teacher debunked/criticized the “states’ rights” narrative when we were doing a discussion before we were set to read “to kill a mockingbird.” he was a great teacher and basically just kept asking questions to get (hopefully all) of us to realize how untrue that rhetoric is! idk if he said this one exactly, but they were the kind of questions that are like “states’ rights to do what?”

[@kappadarwin9476]

Back in 2011 my history went through great pains to talk about the evils of slavery. It was a system where only a handful benefited and even that was a stretch. Black people didn't benefit at all. But I would like to hear those explanations on how they did. It would be a good laugh in an ironic way.

[@taryndancer29]

I'm class of 2010 but in Canada. In Canada we didn't learn about black Canadians/slavery at all....

[@angellover02171]

Jesus take the wheel

[@inezaa]

Woah 🤯 this country is really regressing.

[@selunescorpio]

yeehaw nation is more concerned with books in schools than guns in schools

[@PinkHairPluto]

yup

[@ilovedoomedyaoi]

on god bro

[@Reginald_Ritmo]

You do realize that guns and weapons are banned from being brought into US schools, right? I would really hope you know that.

[@beanz26]

@@Reginald_Ritmo They are talking about the fact that republicans care more about restricting what books people read than putting restrictions on gun ownership. (If you somehow have managed to avoid any news about the 58 school shootings that have happened in 2024, maybe you should read the news more often.)

[@Doc27901]

Chidori pfp ‼️

[@kiddi_lol9489]

It's strange how quickly anti-intellectualism finds a space everywhere, even in places where your intellect should be a defining factor of the situation (imo). Like, with books for example, not everything you read is made to make you feel good. Just like not everything in life is made to make you feel good. We have pain receptors for a reason, folks. I understand the pursuit of an escape through fiction, but understand that there is pain to be felt everywhere, things to discuss in every sentence and it should be that way! Books are literature and literature is art, art imitates life and life is full of unfun, political and hurtful topics. Just as it is full of beautiful things, just like art (books, specifically here) To say that books shouldn't be political is to deny the writer their outlet, to deny them the space to express their thoughts and feelings the only way they might know how or want to. I'd also like to talk about choice, If I don't want to read a book with a political under/overtone, I won't. It's still very much your job to pick and choose what you fill your brain space with. It is not every nor any writer's responsibility to cater to anyone but themselves. I hate how entitled and bitchy that sounds, but it is true. Almost no one wants to read a story about exactly how heinous sl*very was, nor the hol*caust, but I'd also like to argue that it's important to have these stories present, fresh in our minds to not repeat their atrocities. Authors are allowed to make reference to, draw inspiration and illustration from anything. EVEN THE COLOUR OF THEIR BLOODY UNDERWEAR WHEN AUNT FLO PASSES IN. But yeah, not everything is a feel good book with no real consequences; you're allowed to want and consume that sorta stuff, but not everything will be that way, nor should it as it lies about the human experience, which would just be a f*cking travesty.

[@nia356]

Nothing is funnier to me (not really) than people who primarily read and "enjoy" fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian literature but complain about politics in books.

[@RamonaGelosi]

I remember people asking me why would I read dystopian books bc "you don't have enough with the real world?" and I was like...I read them for a lot of reasons: to find solutions (if that's even possible), to find comfort characters that think the things I think and say the things I feel, to feel like I'm not the only one, to help me understand the actual real world (example: I see something happening and people think that "it's no big deal" but...I've read enough times about it to notice that it's a major red flag and should not be taking lightly), it's also a controlled space where the things that happen in that world are not happening to me (like it's not MY life at risk?). My point is that all of those reasons ARE POLITICAL and that's ok. I could focus on idk love triangle stuff in the book, but a major part of the enjoyment is political. sorry for the rant, I needed to say it somewhere.

[@ghostinyourcloset]

agreed! granted, i mostly read for escapism and entertainment rather than finding profound ideas or thoughts, but i thought everyone was aware that books are political. especially dystopian, most of the time its a comment or discussion about the current political climate (see: 1984 by george orwell or the hunger games by suzanne collins). i think people forget that books have the author's biases inserted into them, regardless if its on purpose or not.

[@Eosinophyllis]

Lit too. Like do you actually read dostoyevsky or do you just quote him because literature is very political

[@RamonaGelosi]

@@Eosinophyllis period

[@edgysnarfbrownie5778]

That’s actually what made me stop reading them for a while. All of the real world themes hit too close to home and made me depressed. Im not trying to have a hobby that makes me depressed.

[@tatummorrison3440]

ALL ART is political. ANYTHING made by a human who has their own political opinions is inherently political. It’s just part of the voice of the author.

[@TheDishonerableBede]

All art has some form of meaning, but not all art is political. A picture of a tree can just be someone thinking, "That's a nice tree, I'll paint it". That's it, it's not political.

[@thinkimbored104]

​@@TheDishonerableBedemost of them does though if they have reached a bigger audience especially or sometimes it is the author , painter... choosing to be apolitical or trying to be apolitical which is political in itself ironically

[@Lemoncakelover678]

​@@TheDishonerableBedeThe thing is, even if the tree isnt intended to be political, it can be interpreted as political. Thats the fun of analysis, even if art isn't intended in a way, it's used to interpret meaning

[@timebomb4562]

You see when people say keep politics out of media, they mean keep the politics I don't like out of media

[@jevaadame6760]

The Scarlett Letter made me cry because I felt so stupid in high school and I had to go to tutoring just get more of it! But it’s so good when someone who is willing to help you understand what the author meant, the words you don’t understand, and having patience with you for you not only to learn but understand the depth and meaning behind the whole book!

[@magdelineadler4284]

I just wrote and deleted the biggest rant I've had in months. Thank you for making this video. Illiteracy is a huge problem in this country, there's definitely a push against people reading, or even going to school (#unschooling). In the online book communities, such toxic people, I can't even with Booktok. With Instagram I can at least choose whose posts I see, except with Reels (ugh). I don't understand people who believe politics "has no place" in books. Delululand. Book bans are insane, libraries being threatened, and people will still post online that "Booktok is my happy place. Good vibes only". Ugh.

[@arbyswitch5580]

I wonder if the booktok folks who read mostly smut realize that their ability to legally and freely consume erotica is, you know, a political thing. I'm glad to live in a time with pretty lax "indecency/obscenity" laws, and I am afraid we all have to relish this moment while we can. I put indecency/obscenity in quotes bc I personally do not endorse that kind of conservative puritanical thinking, but it's the way that kind of legislation (which is truly just censorship and a violation of personal autonomy) is often labelled.

[@johnnam1380]

“Protecting the children from books” yet my students go home and watch the craziest anime I’ve ever heard of 😂 Loved this video ❤

[@alisha-9889]

I love this! One of my favourite things about books is the power they have to help people understand the experiences of others, or to help us question our worldviews

[@valeriarossini543]

“The mere ability to read is political” !!! I feel like we are becoming more and more stupid, so smart videos like yours are more than welcome and very much needed

[@justwonder1404]

0:11 - girl, I'm not an American and I *wish* that fact had spared me, but I've just had to leave Ukraine for the winter so it absolutely didn't. While I totally get why someone would want to read to escape reality (trust me, I totally relate), you can't really escape politics as long as you're reading something written by a human hand. Russian occupiers would wipe out and ban Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar books on the occupied terrtitories of Ukraine, but a Ukrainian says a word about how messed up Russian classics are - and they're a nazi who unnecessarily politicizes literature. Because our enemy *knows* literature is inherently political, they just want us to believe it isn't. I guess that's the case all across the world. I had no idea there were laws against literacy of Black people, but in retrospect... yeah, that kinda tracks, sadly. P.S. agree, separating the art from the artist is a coping mechanism for those who love a book written by a person they don't agree with. No one *actually* has any obligation to do that if they don't want to.

[@adrianoctavio]

My assumption that at least the fucking book community would have some level of being able to read between the lines might be worse than my assumption that the fighting game community would be the best at emotional regulation because of how much discipline it takes to get good at them. Maybe I'm just stupid

[@xboxpenguin8705]

You're so right about the fgc, still love it though

[@jilliansummers5659]

Just found this channel and I dig it! This video reminded me of the quote, "Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known." from Chuck Palahniuk.

[@ingridfitz5677]

What? Just escape reality? Some books are great for that. However, the vast majority of fiction books out there have aspects of real life ( Natchez Burning, Demon Copperhead ) Are these people aware of a whole huge genre of books called NON FICTION? Yes! There are books out there about real things! 😆

[@sun.5165]

based Demon Copperhead mention. love that book to the moon and back, mainly because it broke me and fixed me back up in the span of 500ish pages.

[@Lemoncakelover678]

Non fiction also included political books as well such as those from Marx and Mein Kampf. Even fictional books often are based on politics such as 1984

[@zelpazz]

Politics is everything for us humans, it’s the reasons we’re here today. So naturally, the stories and art we create will always be connected with it one way or the other

[@liamhodgson]

They did surgery on the grapes of wrath

[@arbyswitch5580]

Cracking me up /and/ reminding me I should really read Grapes of Wrath (it was never assigned reading in my English curricula and I didn't have the ability to allocate focus to dense reading if it wasn't a school assignment)

[@XOTakkunXo]

I'm a bit stoned listening to this. I just heard romance and cannibalism. How necromantic 🧟

[@devinclark3102]

Florida’s banning of queer and black literature is absolutely insane. Funnily enough I actually got to read Toni Morrisons Beloved in my senior year of high school in Florida. The government is so insanely out of touch with the majority of Florida residents and the gerrymandering of the districts in favor of conservatism is the main contributor to this. I truly fear for so many people I care about here.

[@caiden3396]

I think what was originally meant by not making everything political is people want to engage in escapism at times, away from annoying people and topics of a heavy, negative nature, specifically politics as that's what so many people are exposed to so often. Then, it turned into people making a HUGE deal out of things they're disinformed about and too sensitive too, people running away reality instead of accepting it, and people trying to instigate drama and exploit the anger of others.

[@topcatfan]

Exactly, i just want to play a video game without being reminded of why I'm trying to distract myself

[@chriswildfire]

I don’t think that they mean books aren’t political but instead they don’t want to think about the current election and use books to escape that which I feel there’s nothing wrong with that

[@RamonaGelosi]

The first adult/young adult book (you know, when you start exploring what you like to read bc you are not a kid anymore even tho I was 12) that I read as a hobby was The Hunger Games...IMAGINE IF I HAD THE NERVE TO SAY THAT BOOKS ARE NOT POLITICAL ARE YOU KIDDING ME. If you want to scape from reality that's cool, but even the most comfort book you can find has politics on it (or the background, or the reason that it was written it's political). Also let's get things straight: POLITICAL IS NOT A BAD WORD!!!!!

[@LadyJ95]

I am on Booktok but Booktok didn’t get me into reading and the fact that a certain side of Booktok says books aren’t political is crazy.

[@zippyzippad]

MY FAVORITE DIVA 💜 SPITTING FACTS

[@abiliv-lf9tz]

Nice pfp ❤️

[@brandonsclips7741]

loving games as my favorite avenue of art is frustrating because Gamers can be (not always) some of the least receptive to any and all theming in storytelling or seeing anyone different than them. Ive seen posts freaking out because some military general on the screen for like 30 seconds in a cutscene in the latest Warhammer was a woman Most of these dudes would not survive a Yakuza/ Like a Dragon game. Get a grip, brother.

[@arbyswitch5580]

From what I understood of Warhammer (not endorsing this at all, and I could easily be mistaken) I thought that it literally was not possible to become a space marine if you're a woman? At least, that's what I was told when I asked my friend if I could join their overwatch campaign but like, did my character absolutely have to be a man? And the explanation went like "blah blah blah ubermensch yadda yadda biological essentialism etc etc." I mean no hate or shade and my recollection is probably fuzzy. Help me out here if you don't mind!

[@brandonsclips7741]

@arbyswitch5580 From my understanding, Women are held in high regard in Space Marine lore. They aren't technically the boots on the grounds, rip and tear, types. But more tacticians and morale. It's like a Greek Spartan thing. Where the men really looked to their wives for approval. So seeing a lady giving commands isn't really that big a deal. That's just my perspective and understanding. But Space Marines are a parody of like facism type things in general. Anything that isn't human, even if it's living and breathing is less than. So really as long as you're human they won't care either lol

[@arbyswitch5580]

@@brandonsclips7741 thank you! My guess is that there's a non-zero contingent of Warhammer's fanbase that missed the satirical element? Sometimes that happens :/

[@hiimnotizzy]

NO BUT ACTUALLY I DELETED TWITTER RIGHT AFTER THE ELECTION TOO 😭😭

[@abiliv-lf9tz]

Good Twitter probably ain't all tha all that stay safe 😭

[@Themoonishereagain]

You did the right thing

[@dollguts9801]

why didn't you delete it earlier...

[@hiimnotizzy]

@ IDK 😭 i had it so i could get updates on my favorite singers, and when people i watch go live!

[@HelenFire420]

WURLD coming back with an important dose of reality. Something that has been severely lacking with certain individuals…

[@the-postal-dude]

the part about people trying to censor shit because the content makes them uncomfortable is so real. this goes on so frequently in online gen z fandom spaces and it's so upsetting. especially when they're talking about traumatic experiences being explored in fiction, trying to "stand up for the survivors" only to censor the survivors when they disagree or find that fiction cathartic lmao

[@RamonaGelosi]

YAAAASSSSS FOR DELETING TWITTER ✨ also I love your Goodreads updates, I swear they make my day so don't apologize for just reading

[@Ev3_6]

Your mispronunciation of Xerox is sending me 💀💀💀 We are now in an age when Xerox is no longer in the common vernacular 😂 I feel old. Loved the video. Your commentary and analysis is spot on. ❤

[@amayajiselle7096]

your videos just keep getting better and better

[@OllyAlright]

I haven't finished the full video yet so if anything I say is in the video beyond where I am right now I'm sorry. Also this is kinda long so bare with me. I think it's weird for this section of BookTok to deny or straight up say there shouldn't be politics in literature or in any form of art. I take art as an elective in school and looking through the textbooks you can see how politics was intertwined with art and literature for a very long time. Sometimes politics were the whole reason art movements and styles were created, some movements were used as political propaganda and some were made to oppose the political climates at the time. There's a reason why so many scholars point to literature and art when discussing political climates of the past and not looking back at the news at the time, because news can be (and has been) very biased and not show the true feelings of a whole population. That's why book bans are happening right now, governments wants to take away the thing they know can educate people beyond the school systems they control. I'm a South African, so a lot of things in my country were built off propaganda and withholding information from the public. Art and literature was one way we managed to break from that system. One of the things that made the world more aware of the horrors of Apartheid was literally a photograph. I went to an Art gallery and it showcased the alliance South Africa and Palestine had through art, it showcased letters and paintings about the struggle Apartheid placed upon us and showed how this alliance and struggle was created as a response to the terrible happenings of the time(and continuous struggle of Palestine) and now all that art is used as a vehicle for education. Like it or not any form can be political and it has been for generations. I know I used art as my main example but we can find many cases of literature used as a tool to education on the past through perspectives of the marginalised. Anne Franks Diary, Edward Said's "Orientalism' and Angela Davis's works, just to name a few different kinds of literature that not only tell about how politics, war and bigotry shapes peoples lives but from different writing styles too.(Anne Franks diary has been banned multiple times from schools, it was just a diary from a Jewish girl and what happened to her during a war because of her heritage. But that's 'too political' in the eyes of many.) I understand feeling uncomfortable, that's okay. If books are your way of escaping, then escape. But don't deny politics from literature completely when people are out there who use writing and any form of art to express their feelings on politics or deny those the opportunity to learn from literature. To deny this is to deny what literature can be and the power it holds.

[@biteofdog]

I feel bad for the young generation, religion should not be interfering with public schools in controlling what can be taught or what books should be banned. There are christian school's that folks like that can send their kids to.

[@imporish1456]

as a student majoring in English lit... it's actually crazy that people are saying 'keep politics out of books'?? literature is the mirror that reflects the world... I sometimes fear this is what happens when people refuse to engage in literature with depth & just want shallow surface level dark romance alpha stalker warewolf shit

[@bigoreoenergy3123]

This video should definitely go to my "IMPORTANT FILM" file on YT bc reading is so important. But I also love reading.

[@bug688]

Omg A Short Stay In Hell is absolutely mind boggling with how it messes with our perspective of time. Zoroastrianism terrifies me now.

[@fernandodecarlosmalcher7977]

I really hate when people complain about politics in media, just because there's politics in movies, shows, and specially books, doesn't make them bad, is how they handle them, not to mention that some of the best books in history have political undertones, animal farm tackles many issues, mostly inequality, dune was a metaphor for colonialism, something tackled by many books at the time, the handsmaid tale is about sexism, and farenheit 451 is a book where the firefighters burn books... look me in the eyes and tell me there's nothing political about that, I dare you

[@theturtlemoves9171]

“separate the art from the artist” refers to being able to criticise art without it being taken as an insult to the artist. people often misuse to shut down criticism 😅

[@Kaileighblue]

Don't call me out for my monster smut.

[@WURLDSTAR]

i support you!!….. from afar

[@Nagasakevideo]

"some level of censorship should be implemented" is insane and absurd. No way bro, no exceptions

[@paulhammond6978]

Thanks for a black American's perspective on literacy/ignorance as an aspect of the past of slavery. Not something I specifically would have thought of. I would say that the most topical perspective of reading as a privilege right now would be what the orange man said about ignorant people, and the way that Maga in general is pushing the anti-intellectual, anti-education line. Keeping people in ignorance is clearly a big part of the Maga far-right project.

[@chocolateoreo6489]

Truly, WURLD you are speaking facts!!❤ I love the way you are talking about the topic of politics and how books are influenced by political ideologies! I’m sending you and all of us love through this shit show of the election!

[@Saddestbassist]

YES OPENING WITH CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS MUSIC IS 10/10! AH SORRY ITS MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY CHART

[@carolynwurst7994]

100000/10 video my fav piece of media in a while

[@durandaldevil]

I agree about secret story. Fantastic book. Hoping they make a movie soon.

[@swampwench]

12:27 LITERALLY LIKE !!!!!!

[@3006mas]

new wurld on a sunday, we’re eating good today.

[@AbcDef-bw4zp]

love this could listen to u for hours talking about this tytyty

[@rachael9352]

Throughout the world, for CENTURIES, people have been fighting for the right of literacy. There are people in other countries that do not have the ability to be educated, to become literate, even today. There are women in other countries without the right to read, write, and even speak. The fact that people do not think the nature of books and literacy is innately political comes from a place of privilege and a lack of empathy.

[@themysticmungis4125]

omg two videos so soon? this is the highlight of my week :)

[@standimitri5438]

This video is so good I've learned so much, laughed, recontextualized and reflected!

[@MMHay16]

alright but the Scarlet Letter is an insane social commentary about (among other things) how the voices of women just get shouted over and everyone has dark secrets and it's tragic that more people weren't paying attention

[@user-te5po4bu8o]

The ones who were stunned when the authors of books with the most unsubtle political themes blocked them were hilarious

[@hope2dust]

The issue isn't if media/entertainment is politically charged or not. The thing ppl don't like is being preached at. If you can tell a nuanced, gripping story about a lesbian protagonist, great. All for it. But if that same protagonist doesn't have much of a personality beyond bashing the patriarchy and using leftist buzz words/terms, that becomes a little too on the nose and most average ppl don't want to consume that type of content regardless of what their personal politics might be. I'm a liberal and even I do not like that. You never want your audience made to feel like they're being talked down to. Storytelling is a seduction. You want to enchant the reader, not bludgeon them over the head. So it's when you hide your politics in the themes and narrative rather than outright stating them, that is the more desired approach. Escapism plays a big part of entertainment, and the vocal minority that screams against woke politics in media really mean they prefer some level of escapism in the stories they consume and don't want to be preached at. I honestly wish there was a more nuanced discussion about this beyond one side attacking the other, because that's not really what the conversation is about at the core of it.

[@tyvn2283]

except that isn’t what people are saying? like sure things can be written poorly and i agree that talking down to your audience isn’t the best way to get your thoughts across but that’s not really the argument. it is much more people wanting to completely turn their brain off and not being able to acknowledge in the slightest way politics impact all the media around us even if the work itself isn’t some political manifesto. they want to act as if everything doesn’t have to be political while they read these fantasy books about fantasy war and fantasy political maneuvering? people acting like none of it is political while almost if not completely exclusively reading books by cishet white authors with cishet white characters? it’s about people thinking reading doesn’t have to be political because they have or think they have the privilege to turn away from all of that, to not have to acknowledge or critically think about those things (which is in and of itself a political choice) because it’s their escapism! it’s for their own comfort! and (to these people) it’s bad to make them confront that. and how that is an issue because it is a fundamentally incorrect belief

[@hope2dust]

@tyvn2283 I agree to a certain extent, but as I mentioned, that is a small minority, and I don't even believe that's what they mean when they say it.

[@tyvn2283]

@@hope2dust i mean i doubt how small it is exactly but even if it were i think that it is still an important point to discuss because it is a harmful and ignorant belief to hold. so i think it is something worth addressing regardless. and while i try to give people the benefit of the doubt and to not just jump to worst faith interpretation how do you know that isn’t what they mean? like i am willing to give you maybe some people do just mean they don’t like when the politics in something are expressed in a really preachy way and are aware of politics role in anything anyone creates but there are plenty of people who aren’t saying that. because if they were we would see people correcting their statements but they aren’t. instead people are out here saying “it doesn’t matter who people in their audience voted for because this is a safe space and book spaces shouldn’t be political” and people who push back against the criticism of the lack of people’s critical reading/thinking skills and lack of ability to acknowledge the bare minimum of this kind of thing’s existence because reading should be allowed to be escapism and they shouldn’t have to think about stuff like that. and i would argue none of that is a separate issue from saying they don’t want to engage with something because it’s politics are too preachy. because who gets to decide what is too preachy when there are people willing to say books with a lesbian character who is written like anyone else is too much? who gets to decide whose escapism matters more than the people who are negatively impacted by book bans, by the politics of publishing companies, who have to be told they should just coexist in an space with people who do not care about their rights as a human person because it’s not about politics?

[@hope2dust]

@@tyvn2283 I agree to the point that some people simply don't want any modern political ideology in the entertainment they consume. I think it is a minority who actually feel that way, because I'm of the opinion that most ppl are just poor at articulating themselves, but regardless, they have that right to think whatever they want. People should not be told how to think, and there are going to be some who are more conservative and don't agree with us. That's life. A good portion of the population is ignorant. Welcome to the human species. Maybe I'm of the age where I just don't care anymore and have lost faith in ppl, but you're not going to change anyone's mind by calling them toxic or harmful in their thinking. This is the problem with American politics. Both parties live in an echo chamber and refuse to hear what the other side has to say, which breeds extremism. The left goes harder left to counter the right going harder right, and nobody is willing to concede ground. It's pretty gross tbh. That said, book bans are nonsensical. Consume the media you want. If you don't want politics in your entertainment, don't consume politically charged narratives. It's that simple. That's something I'll never concede to conservatives. We should not ban art in any form because it makes us uncomfortable. Just don't watch it/read it.

[@tyvn2283]

@@hope2dust sure it would be naive of me to act like we can live in an utopian world where everyone believes the “good” thing but i still think that it is worth trying anyway. that it is worth criticizing toxic and harmful mindsets because while maybe not every single person will change their mind some people will or maybe the people who are poorly expressing their thoughts can take this information to better be able to articulate what they mean. and while i agree that attacking and berating people isn’t a helpful way to educate or inform anyone none of the videos i have seen criticizing this reaction have done that nor do i think that calling said mindset harmful is bad. also i don’t think it’s wrong to call that mindset harmful when it is, when trying to explain to people this isn’t some silly little difference of opinion but does have weight and actual impact on people (themselves included). like i don’t care if the people who believe this sort of thing are in the minority or that there will be some of those people who will never change their viewpoint i don’t think any of that is reason enough not to criticize said behavior when people can/have changed and can become more informed on what they are talking about. so sorry to hear you feel that way

[@OYSTERANIMATEZ]

wake up babe WURLD POSTED 🫡🫡

[@AbcDef-bw4zp]

pls tell about the books u read this month and your methods for reading so fast while retaining info. 18 is a LOT

[@WURLDSTAR]

i listen to audiobooks but i tend to doze off sometimes so i do A LOT of immersive reading (listening to the audiobook while physically reading it)!! i absorb the story better when i can physically see the words and also hear the proper pronunciation :)

[@sourcandyspite]

do you think there is a niche to be filled where someone can read the tiktok girlie books and try to communicate the revolutionary, progressive themes that they are missing out on? not that these books are typically good or groundbreaking, SJM and Hoover in particular have horrible things in them, but they arent without themes that are anti-war or feminist or about oppressive systems

[@Emilypaigebooks]

This is the first video of yours I’ve seen and omg instant sub

[@uhhhhidektbh]

Yet another top tier youtuber having to pay ny rent so tragic

[@WURLDSTAR]

what

[@uhhhhidektbh]

@@WURLDSTAR ongoing yt joke that when a youtuber posts videos more frequently means them needing money

[@abiliv-lf9tz]

Ain't politics everywhere? Am a teen n even I got involved :l

[@The_Slammy_Jammy]

LMAO rewatching ant arc with my bf rn i got flashbacks

[@jacobp.2024]

What I think people are trying to vocalize is that they have read books which failed to integrate their politics properly. I've definitely read books where there was ham-fisted messaging. It sticks out very sorely when it's not done well.

[@ache5813]

OLIVIE BLAKE MENTION!!!!!!!!!

[@StephenSinclair-d6n]

Got my first book out next year. I write for several YT channels. Political stuff is always inseparable lol....

[@Mitzy655]

I think what we need is a good (yet very hard to achieve) in-between. We should be able to have our transgressive books while also trying not to breed any more Peter Sotos'...

[@riskydash11]

TWO WURLD VIDEOS IN TWO DAYS WE ARE WINNNING💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 COMFORT KZbinR

[@Cries_In_Vampire]

I got curious and looked into what books are banned. Charlottes web is banned in some school districts????? What???? The reason given was that talking animals is inappropriate and blasphemous 😂

[@SilverPisces98]

Love this!

[@lestatsluv317]

We need the fun books to recover from the heavier books (I finally got around to reading Beloved two years ago and that book fucked me up so bad, I needed months to recover and when I did, I turned to Penelope Douglas....I know, I know... But Damian got me out of the reading slump with his psychotic obsessiveness...😂). I am a Pagan and a Witch and The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite novels....I can promise y'all, the only witchcraft in that book was Tom Buchanan making it to adulthood despite having just two brain cells to rub together. 😂😂😂 Now while they are ripping the Pagan and Witchcraft books out of the library, who is going to tell them that this shit survived two THOUSAND years of punishment by death and STILL it is alive and well and is growing faster than ever? We know how to be an oral tradition. Until the past sixty years or so, it has only ever been an oral tradition. Burn every book on how to perform a Full Moon Ritual or do a spell for protection and we will just pass on the knowledge of how to do it by demonstrating it.....also, most of us have a Book of Shadows with information collected through the years that we can teach from as well. That's just an exercise in futility. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Now who wants to teach Moms of Liberty what 'futility' means? 😂 Can they remember their holy book by heart? If they want to play....they better come prepared. You better read up, Holy Rollers. 😂 Poor people, especially poor women, were also kept from reading for the same reason they didn't want enslaved people reading. An ignorant populace is easier to control. And yes, reading, just the act of reading, will always be political for that reason. I do think right now, booktok has been taken over by people who didn't read until later in life and I get that. When I was a little bookworm growing up in the 90's, I had to legit fist fight kids on a regular basis because bookworms just enraged bullies. If you read for fun, you were a loser. And many of these people, in my opinion, were either the popular kids who pushed that or they were just worried about being one of us losers. It's never too late to get into reading. But please, if that's you, keep your fun stuff but also challenge yourself. Read a little bit of everything and if a book seems too hard at first, read something a little easier and come back to it later. That's what I did as a kid and I was reading at above a 12th grade level by fourth grade. It isn't because I am so smart. It's just because reading is like building muscle.... the more you do it, the stronger you get at it. And that's all my little lame ass did (I had only a few friends and they were bookworms too... hanging out with us was a real exciting time...😂😂😂). If you retain stuff better by listening to it, listen to it. You can also listen while following along with a physical or e copy to get you more familiar with words that are a little harder. There's no shame in starting late but please don't try to kick people out of a book lover's space who were here long before you decided to pop in... and don't ever get it twisted. Reading will always be political. 😊 Everyone, stay safe out there. Stay well. Keep reading. Much love to y'all. 💜

[@Erik-fn7kj]

Wait that vacuum kinda cute what anime is it from?

[@equinoxcrow]

HunterXHunter, she's one of the villians

[@waltzmacandcheese]

Hetalia!

[@WURLDSTAR]

LMAO

[@chopstick3555]

AMAZING VIDEO!!!

[@youcantcatchme.]

I like ur videos 👍🏽

[@karenbednarz4700]

Truth

[@ACWhoCares2]

I hate that everything is poltical like at this point it's a second before someone puts an ISM on breathing

[@mai-kx3wo]

live laugh love WURLD

[@KA7L3N]

This is a sign to bring back the splatterpunk movement

[@LuckyLucifer25]

First time watching you but omg girl your smils is so gorgeous 😍

[@rythnuhh]

I only read political books

[@asthy2793]

i read the handsmaid tale, and how the fuck can someone neglect politics in books. This entire novel, alongside with many other titles even less political, detail the strugles of minorities in certain governments that repress their rights and freedom, dehumanizes then and try to get rid of anyone who stands up against it, if you dont see the similarities with reality, whats the point of reading at all

[@NosManJr]

I like how often youn't care if i care (no sarcasm)

[@pestkaislearning]

NO BC FOR REAL how do you keep politics out of books. thats like- is that even possible?

[@breannajefferson912]

And then Frederick Douglas then proceeded to not teach his wife how to read. 😅 sooooo.

[@paulhammond6978]

WHy is it "Lauryn Hill's internet"? Just because she's a person that people have talked about on the internet before? (Maybe I'm just not getting the joke)

[@WURLDSTAR]

i just really like lauryn hill lol

[@HighMcKie]

I love you

[@somemicrowave145]

me: in pain cause it took my class like 5 weeks to finish one singular book that wasn't that long

[@msjkramey]

You can read and analyze books outside of class. But some people in your class need that extra time. They deserve to have it so that they can fully digest the ideas and practice identifying literary devices and subtext. Pick out a book that sounds good, read it, and then watch someone analyze it online. Compare notes with that person. Engage with the people talking about it. Or start a bookclub with people who read at a similar pace. It can be online or in person

[@arbyswitch5580]

I mean, one of the courses I was gonna take before I dropped out of college was a full semester exclusively studying Dante's divine comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso). In depth analysis of a work can occasionally take more than three class periods! I'd like to argue that it should.

[@eamin4423]

Fun u started with mentioning Percy Jackson. Growing up with strict parents outside of the US I never read the series and now being an adult I decided to give it a try as I loved the Greek mythology as a kid. So I downloaded it and it's like so americany-whitewashed bigendered and heterosexual. I got through two books and closed on the third when Artemis was introduced. I didn't like how it went on at all. In addition, this book is incredibly political considering america-centristic point of view on the world, literally naming the US the centre of the world and making it the reason gods moved there tf

[@pizzadogma]

Ur surprised that a book written by an american author is american centric? Literally any author would use their nation as the center of the world for audience market sake

[@marcogianesello6083]

Anyone who thinks that politicizing art discourse equals some sort of higher intellectualism is a complete fool that either has never seen the results of that line of thinking, or worse, they've seen it and think that's smart. The "all art is political" spiel is a useless truism that only sounds clever and insightful if you want to use it as an excuse to pontificate and moralise instead of thinking. On some level it may be better than people churning out crap on booktok, but on another level at least those people do something and engage with it because they actually enjoy it. Ideologues abusing the universal quality of art to spew the bullshit they already thought anyway are a far more cancerous breed, and the fact that they try to pass their egomania and ideological possession for intellectualism because "muh political subtext" is fucking disgusting.

[@Aypher]

Not really sure the point of your comment.. So bringing politics into a discussion on a piece of art is foolish because its trite to say art is political?? It really sounds like you're falling for your own critique of egomania as a facade for intellectualism.

[@marcogianesello6083]

@@Aypher no, bringing politics into a discussion of a piece of art can be insightful, I'd argue it's mostly useful for contextualizing in retrospect once the actual time has passed and things can be examined holistically without agenda or bias involved. But there's a fundamental difference between exploring the political angle to augment context and understanding and possibily appreciation, and reducing the meaning of a work of art into some cheap five word slogan that you can moralize for the purpose of instrumentalizing the discourse around it and mark it with some arbitrary label. One is adding a component to the perspective that may further understanding, the other is a sterile exercise in dogmatism that demands you assign an ideological agenda to things so that you can asses the merit of the art on how morally "acceptable" you arbitrarily deem it to be using some twisted version of "deat of the author" as an excuse. Once you start treating the mere act of pulling politics out of art as some intellectually superior endeavor for its own sake, over the emotional and personal experience of it in a universalizing sense, then what happens is that the whole discourse around art becomes a platform for ideologues and wanna be intellectuals to perform a race to the bottom for who can perform the best(worst) mental gymnastics to make the whole thing about their own brainrot. And yes, the whole "all art is political" notion IS. a useless truism because the only way in which that statement makes any sense is if "political" translates to "made by and involving people". Which describes absolutely nothing about the thing itself, nothing about the intent, nothing about the execution, nothing about the relevance, nothing. It's about as intelligent as saying "all things are made of molecules" when asked to describe something. That notion would be useful for the mere thought experiment of saying "there are ways in which societies shape their media production in ways that become apparent only in retrospect when seeing their cultural ethos as a whole" , mostly in a scholarly effort. It's not a get out of jail free card to pretend like whatever political shit you come up with is relevant, or sensible, or adds to the conversation, or to moralise like a philistine. Coincidentally the people who always feel the need to bring that notion up like to use it as an excuse to pull crap out of their ass and derail the discourse into an exercise in self congratulation like "I managed to come up with a reason why peppa pig was actually about colonialism all along, I am indeed very smart and well read". Anyone can play that game, it's just a stupid game to play, and people who actually care about art just know better than to play it

[@idehogo3969]

Why delete Twitter? All I’m getting entertainment for me coz I new this was gonna happen and I’m just having a gud time watching the chaos 😂

[@lordfreerealestate8302]

We don't want to support Elon musk, who has turned it into a hellscape.

[@idehogo3969]

@ nahh

[@Hunter-ck1zy]

To be honest I kind of disagree with a decent amount of this video but I don't feel that I would be able to properly express all of my thoughts in a comment. I will say in general response to the main video thesis though that while yes the ability to read does have a political history in the US and the west at large, in modern day it has become so ubiquitous and almost necessary to exist in western society that I feel it has lost its political nature here at least. It would be almost the same to say the ability to speak English or generally communicate at all with is political, it can be used for that yes but that isn't its primary function. This isn't to say there isn't any literature that is political, that would be an insane claim, but there is a major distinction between literature as a political statement and literature as entertainment.

[@arbyswitch5580]

To be honest I kind of disagree with a decent amount of this comment. Do you not realize that because the expectation of literacy is so ubiquitous in the US, people who struggle to read are incredibly disadvantaged, especially economically and politically? Also, being adamant about the separation of literature as political and literature as entertainment is an AWESOME way to find yourself deeply shooketh when *oh shit oh fuck* political content seeps its way into your entertainment time.

[@Hunter-ck1zy]

@arbyswitch5580 Yes people who struggle with reading are disadvantaged, but the ability to read is not intentionally withheld from them as a political tool. The ability to read has essentially been democratized at this point and the tools to learn how to do so are essentially available to anyone who wants to learn, and in fact is encouraged due to the expectation of literacy that you mentioned. There are also freely available tools such as text to speech that is available on almost every electronic device that displays text to further make reading available even to those who struggle with it. And as for your second point I wasn't making the argument that art as entertainment can't be or doesn't contain political messaging, more that it typically isn't the primary purpose of art as entertainment. You can get a lot of value from studying the politics of fiction but you can also just read the fantasy adventure story for the fantasy adventure and not even give a passing thought to the politics. Additionally with the rise of art as "content" often the political messaging if it's even present becomes so confusing, contradictory, or extremely watered down that it is essentially making no statement at all. My point was mainly that I don't think it is incorrect to consume art as entertainment only as entertainment and not look deeper.

[@MF_Floppa]

just saying, we can calm down on the music go down to 10% maybe

[@nope19568]

i feel like those types people could read the hunger games and say its not political, they hurt my brain

[@kesukisquid]

reading monster smut is my self care🙂‍↕️

[@CoreenMontagna]

What’s your StoryGraph handle?

[@J.1.0.1]

Best youtuber

[@allisarcadia]

Yeah. Expected it, really hoped that it wouldn't happen. I also deleted Twitter! Have you thought about moving to Bluesky? [bsky]

[@J.1.0.1]

HIIIII

[@outlawdiva]

omg i just started reading all about love tooo, a book i really loved and got into since i started reading again is my indian boyhood by luther standing bear🤎 i just like read ndn boyhood bc it one of the few kinda good old books written by an indigenous author that i could find at my hometown’s library, and they have like all his books at my uni so im Eatingggggg rn