> > Gabriel Gudding wrote:
> > >Generally speaking, I think the more one reads, the more education one
has,
> > >the less likely one is to support something like this, this massively
evil
> > >and wrongheaded and utterly fucking stupid action.
> >
As mentioned, I realize these comments were meant to be general ones:
How I wish they were true. Well-read and humanitarian are two very
different things.
For instance, as I have just read in April's Atlantic Monthly, Adolph
Hitler read books obsessively, annotating each one. Although, most were
destroyed by the Russians, at least 10,080 were recovered and are housed in
the U.S. Library of Congress and Brown University. They span varied
subjects from The Words of Jesus to Vegetarian Cooking; art and history.
His personal secretary described him as "reading constantly".
I believe writers especially tend to ascribe qualities like goodness and
kindness to intelligent (well read) people. I've worked at universities and
publishing houses. I did not see much kindness or goodness. Intellectuals
talk a good game, but most seem to me cruel in their behavior and driven by
insecurity, like most people.
Sarah
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