Thursday, February 2, 2012

Books and the End of the West

"Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this text that doesn't change. Will there still be readers 50 years from now who feel that way? Who have that hunger for something permanent and unalterable? I don't have a crystal ball. But I do fear that it's going to be very hard to make the world work if there's no permanence like that. That kind of radical contingency is not compatible with a system of justice or responsible self-government."

Who is this and what is he talking about? The Constitution? A radical Supreme Court decision? The right to bear M-50s? No, this is Jonathan Franzen, the well regarded American author, talking about....e-readers! E-readers are going to undermine the democracy, ruin our search for human rights and destroy the justice system.

Hyperbole is a fine and dandy technique but at some point does exaggeration undermine how seriously you will be taken?

No comments: