I am not someone who believes that there needs to be an
hierarchy of taste when it comes to enjoyment of what we read, watch, listen,
and play. If you like midget wrestling,
or reading westerns, or watching The McLaughlin Group, more power to you. I believe that the same reasoning goes for
listening to Abba, watching Godzilla, playing Super Mario, or reading romance
novels.
But, while I believe that you can like whatever you like,
guilt free, short of snuff films, and evil behavior, I don’t think that is
necessarily as important as what you watch says about you. The average human spends more time changing
channels on the television and considering the drive thru menu at Arby’s than
contemplating the meaning of life. That
isn’t a criticism. And of course, there
is no way of measuring it that I can be certain, but, the truth is that most
people prefer to avoid the deeper questions, and that is readily found in
popular culture’s media.

So, then, what am I suggesting? I am not saying anything really big, except
this… there have been studies that suggest anecdotally that learning new
things, exposure to new ideas, new concepts keeps your brain active. People learning new things and new concepts
were less likely to suffer Alzheimer’s disease.
Since my mother suffered and died from that horrible disease, I’d like
to think I have some place in telling you, that is a worthy cause to take up.

Personally I am changing one thing for a brief time. I have been working or going through health
treatments or being in hospital for the last two years. I haven’t read for pleasure or watched movies
in that time. So I plan to do some
lovely reading.