Problem? People do not read,

[JitterbugPerfume]

and a large portion of those who can read do so at a fourth grade level.

Of the rest of us who can read at a decent level ,many just don't.

The demise of Newspapers have contributed to the problem , and many of the papers that are left have been dumbed down.Take a look at the top ten at Amazon! Sara Palin is number one.Commentators on TV are actually asking Hilary if she aims to read it!

[The Straight Story]

1. I can read, and I think you meant Fourth instead of forth (which is a programming language)

:)

[JitterbugPerfume]

3. Thanks!

that one got past me!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. how about 4ourth?

or 4th?

[kentuck]

2. It is true that every network and every cable news station...

were pushing her book this morning. Why? What will be the end result?

[Mz Pip]

4. I wonder if Sarah read

Hillary's book. Somehow I doubt it. Maybe one of those commentators that is always fawning over sarah should ask her that.

Besides Hillary has better things to do than read some ghostwritten piece of lightweight fiction.

[discocrisco01]

5. People Just Do Not Pay Attention to News

Most people that I talk to do not really pay attention to the news. Because they do not, they do not take the time to properly study the issues and really understand what Sarah Palin's message really is.

I hardly read newspapers now. I can get most of my hard news from the AP and news analysis for Pacifica radio. It only affects the reporting of local news and my newspapers, The OC Register, is nothing but the gospel of conservative thought. No thanks.

[sandnsea]

7. Oh geez, not AP

You are not getting news if you rely on them. Sign up for emails direct from the government and read that. Read foreign news, the BBC, Canada, India, whatever. Just not the friggin' AP. They suck.

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. when I was much younger

I read the newspaper with a dictionary and an atlas close at hand. Now they are so inane I barely bother.

I listen to Thom Hartman, Amy Goodman and Rachel Maddow among other Progressives, and read Progressive books , both fiction and non fiction.

I miss reading a good Newspaper . As far as I am concerned it is the best way to be well informed ever invented

[C_Lawyer09]

24. I like Amy Goodman

Have you read any Naomi Klein? She's pretty good as well. My mom and step-dad worked in newspapers the entire time I lived at home and for some years after that. The failure of papers makes me sad. I don't know how this correlates, maybe pay... but the quality of reporters and composition of the news desk seems to have dropped measurably as well, although that is solely a judgement call.

[JitterbugPerfume]

26. I read Shock Doctrine

She is amazing

[C_Lawyer09]

29. I thought so too

No Logo is another good one.

[Luciferous]

8. I read at least a book a week

but they aren't usually intellectually stimulating books- mostly mysteries :)

[JitterbugPerfume]

10. mysteries are cool!

[izquierdista]

11. Hillary may aim at it

But I don't think 'read' would be the correct verb to use.

[JitterbugPerfume]

13. I thought her answer was

very diplomatic!

[anonymous171]

12. Newspapers failed because they became print versions of 24 hour news shows.

Journalism died long before papers did.

[NightWatcher]

14. and the internet has surpassed the need for papers

you expect me to wait till tomorrow when I can click right now?


To quote Thom Hartmann, no one complained about the loss of the buggy whip industry when cars were invented. There is still some journalism out there, it's just not in some paper. You've got to find it.

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. investgative reporting

is quite often the missing link on the internet. There is some good stuff out there but you have to dig through a lot of crap to find it

[Missy Vixen]

15. Eighty percent of American households did not buy a book last year

EIGHTY percent.

I'd rather have people reading "dumbed down", than not reading at all. Then again, I am a romance author, and quite used to those who believe the only acceptable reading material for anyone is the classics. :eyes:

Here's a hint. Nobody but the liberals will actually read Sarah Palin's tome.

[JitterbugPerfume]

17. I am impressed by anyone

who can actually write a book!It takes a kind of discipline that I simply do not have, and I do not look down my nose at people who read them . People have different tastes in literature , music , food and every other area of living . It is what makes the world go 'round

eighty percent! That is just unbelievable !

[Missy Vixen]

18. You are so kind

Thank you so much!

Writing a book is like anything else. One page at a time. ;-)

I belong to a professional guild; we see a lot of statistics re: the publishing marketplace. I just about fell out of my chair when I saw that 80% one. It's awful. I want people to read. You're right -- if they're reading, even if it's something I don't care about, at least they're reading.

I am hopeful that the generation currently devouring "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" will continue to read, and pass that love of reading on to their younger siblings as well...

:hug:

[NC_Nurse]

19. I loved Jitterbug Perfume...and Skinny Legs and All is probably my fav book of

all time. ;-)

I haven't had much time to read lately, but I love it. My kids all read a LOT. One thing I did right as a parent. :-)

[JitterbugPerfume]

28. I love Skinny Legs and All!

have you read Another Roadside Attraction?

[NC_Nurse]

32. I started it once. Never finished. I should try again...

[Liberal In Texas]

20. I mostly agree, but Palin's book is on the best seller list due to large bulk

purchases and most of them will be given away by RW radio stations, "think" tanks, etc.

I doubt many of the freeps and the other poor sods who end up owning one will ever actually read more than a few pages. More likely they'll be displayed on coffee tables and bookshelves.

[WinkyDink]

21. Glenn Beck's radio show offers it for $4.95; comes with subscription to NewsMax.

[tonysam]

22. What makes me laugh about people who cheer the "end" of dead tree newspapers

is when all of the newspapers go online and with no paper alternatives, they will be charging for subscriptions. You won't be able access them at all like it is now.

Nothing is free.

[Toots]

23. Why are you writing this to us instead of send us moving pictures?

Somebody must read.....

[elocs]

25. I must confess, other than online I read very little and I don't really read books anymore.

I have a college degree (Mass Communications major and an English minor) and I once loved to read books, but just don't care for it anymore. For pleasure I listen to books on cd, but reading books now puts me to sleep (they also do not make print as big as they used to). Although I'm not sure how reading things online somehow does not qualify as reading or gaining knowledge and becoming well-informed.

[JitterbugPerfume]

27. I have a big problem with small print

I can not read paperbacks any more. I guess it is according to what you read online,and judging by your posting here at DU I am sure that you judge the quality very well.

[Deja Q]

30. People stopped buying newspapers. That's the problem.

At least with the newspaper industry.

[Paula Sims]

31. They also don't bother to think

People just don't know how to discern information anymore. IF they read it somewhere then it MUST be true. How many right-wing nuts, when confronted with facts that dispute what they "know" reply "I didn't hear that". Today, the information is out there, it just requires a bit of effort. It seems like our minds have gotten dependent on the 'remote control' of "news-bites" and that's all we "need". Don't bother with the facts, don't have time for those, and I can't EVER be wrong.

I was going to ask what ever happened to the scientific method and then I realized it was too "sciency".

[DU GrovelBot]

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[AwakeAtLast]

34. I'm sure you can read better than the average Freeper, Grovelbot!

:rofl: