This is a book examining the cultural significance of reading. We’ll pull out a few highlights.
David Ulin talks about the purveyors of fake news working hard to normalize that which should never be normalized[1]. We see it both in the content the anti-Semitic content that Elon Musk shares on his social media site, and in how Israel is making everyone in Gaza out to be terrorists. Both of these scenarios are people trying to make us loose empathy for others. We need to remember to stand against this.
Ulin also says, and I agree with, that online comments highlight distraction and diversion masquerading as public dialogue[2]. This is shown as 3 lines of vitriol in comments is praised by everyone, whereas a deep discussion of the different sides of an argument is laughed off. Many of us are unable to concentrate through a long argument so we boil everything down to black and white scenarios.