The Colors of the Curtains Actually Matter

The ghost of reading comprehension past is going to haunt everyone without basic reading skills so as a forewarning to most of you, if you don’t want to find yourself surrounded by an apparition or ghost just know that there is something you can actively do to change that.

If perhaps I was being serious about this, then answer a few questions for me. Do you know how to think for yourself? Do you have the functioning ability or means to actually understand the world in which we currently live in? Or are you too busy mindlessly doom scrolling through the internet? My guess is no, considering that some of you can’t even get through college without using ChatGPT so why am I even surprised? Writing a paper? Nah I’ll just let AI do it. God forbid you actually read a book. I fear that I may be asking too much of you. 

Let it be known that every single one of your English teachers in high school are all marginally disappointed in you. “Oh but English was a boring and stupid class and not that important” you say, but without looking any of this up, can you tell me what the green light symbolizes in the Great Gatsby? Can you tell me the importance of books like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984? If the answer is no, then maybe this is a good time to pick up some books that require you to use your previously untouched critical thinking skills.

Basic reading comprehension has been on a steep and steady decline over the last few years. As someone who is currently pursuing a humanities degree, specifically in publishing, the amount of people I see on the internet who lack basic reading comprehension and can never see the deeper meaning in books and in everyday life is both staggering and upsetting. With the new fascist nazi regime administration and oligarchy descending over our country at an alarming rate, the ability to think critically for yourself and understand the deeper meaning of things is so incredibly important. Reading and basic literary comprehension are going to be some of your strongest tools and weapons in surviving the literal rest of our lives, fighting back against the world, and protecting yourself from propaganda. 

As stated before, basic literary comprehension has been thrown out the fucking window and we are all worse for it. I’m not sure if most people know this, but roughly 54% of Americans between 16-74 can’t read past a 6th grade level and the national average is 8th grade. Knowing most people, they won’t even read too much into this article to grasp the deeper meaning, and will only see the surface level where I’m thoroughly insulting you for not having basic skills that most middle school children have. 

If you don’t get much from this article, like I inevitably know that you won’t, at least let me leave you with this, “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy.”

George Orwell, 1984