Robert Tulip wrote:No, you have it backwards. BE compared me to a creationist for saying “ I think if you don't enjoy it you should stop reading, as that is a sign that perhaps you are missing something, have other things on your mind, and may be better waiting until later.” If somebody went about saying the Mona Lisa, or the great works by Van Gogh or Mozart are boring and outdated, it would hardly be surprising if people engaging in critical discussion of these works asked if those respondents are missing something.
No offense, Robert, but I believe I know what I said. I compared you to a specific, egotistical creationist who quite often attacks those who criticize his views by suggesting that they "missed something," or "didn't read it right." By telling me and DWill and anyone who doesn't like
Don Quixote that we don't like it because we "missed something," you took the same line of defense as Stahrwe, instead of accepting that we are all allowed to have our own, differing opinions about a
work of fiction.
I can't believe I even have to do this in this thread, but here is what I actually said:
bleachededen wrote:I finished the book, and no, it did not get any better. I did not have anything else on my mind, and I didn't miss anything. I simply didn't like it.
...That doesn't mean it isn't still an important piece of literature, or that you can't stand by it and like it as much as you want. But I, along with everyone else here, am entitled to my own opinion about the book, and just because yours happens to be in the minority here doesn't give you the right to criticize our reading habits or reading comprehension just because we disagree. You're sounding a bit like Stahrwe, I'm sad to say, and I think maybe you should take a step back and look at this topic a bit more objectively. None of us are attacking Cervantes or Don Quixote, we just don't particularly like the book. And there's nothing whatsoever wrong with that.
The bolded and italicized parts are the statements I am actually responding to. If you could take a step back for just a second and remember that we're talking about literature, a subjective art form, here, you may be able to see less emotionally that what I am saying is not a personal attack, but an attempt to explain my view to you logically, which is somehow failing, no matter who agrees or explains further.
I also apologized for comparing you to someone whom most of us have such little opinion of, but remained firm in my assertion that you are refusing to let people have their own opinions without "lacking" any intelligence, reading comprehension, or maturity of some kind.
bleachededen wrote:And I apologize for the Stahrwe comment. I just wanted you to consider the voice you are putting forth to us who aren't in DQ's fan club, and that just because we don't like a book doesn't mean there is something wrong with us. That is something someone like Stahrwe would suggest, and I think you are better than that.
This is the point I really wanted to drive home, because what you suggested, that we are "missing something" or don't know how/when it best suits us to read, is a personal criticism, and not just expressing a feeling of shame that we don't appreciate the book as much as you. You actually feel, as you admitted, that anyone who doesn't like
Don Quixote must have something wrong with them.
Robert Tulip wrote:I do think, just my personal opinion here, there is something wrong with people not liking Don Quixote, as they are missing something in a great and enduring classic of modern literature.
And I feel that anyone who thinks that way about a work of fiction, a work or art, must have something wrong with them, because that kind of narrow-mindedness is what is rampant in the creationist ilk, and just because you have disdain for them doesn't mean that when you think like them and attack like they do that you are any better. I personally think you are better, but you're being very blind and very stubborn about this Cervantes business, and I really think it would be best to just accept that some people will like it and some won't, and that there is nothing wrong with them if they don't. Nothing. Nothing at all. Given a different book to discuss I have a feeling you would say the same thing.
On the matter of The Mona Lisa or the paintings of Van Gogh, I can totally understand someone finding them boring and outdated. Why not? They're works of art, too, separated from us by hundreds of years, and just as subjective as any other work of art. They were innovative for their time, they did great things, but that doesn't mean anyone HAS to like them or be lacking in some aspect or another. While I personally love Mozart, I know many people who don't, finding his music too repetitive or with "too many notes," and I do not think any less of them, as long as they allow me the right to love Mozart without making me feel something is wrong with me because I do. It's all subjective, it's all art. Yes, they are classics for a reason, but that doesn't mean that every single person likes or has to like them. That's what is so wonderful about people -- we can like what we like but still like others who don't necessarily share that passion. When we don't accept others who share different opinions, we shut ourselves off from learning new things, and become as delusional and ridiculous as Stahrwe and anyone else who refuses to hear new viewpoints. I know you are better than that, Robert, so I hope this gets through to you as a plea for understanding and not as an attack, because it is in no way meant to be an attack. I just want what I've said and am saying to be clear.
On the matter of whether or not anyone likes
Don Quixote, I think we all need to agree to disagree. You like it, others might not, no one is lacking anything either way, and that's all there is to it. We need not duel anymore. We're all the same, just have different tastes. 1,2,3, end, please?