Hey everyone!! (I posted this in the description, but I figured I would post it here too.) So, this is basically a part 2 to my original video on Booktok that I posted a few weeks ago where I outlined what I believe are the issues currently (and for the past few years honestly) going on within the Booktok community. I really appreciated how respectful and civil the comments were on that previous video, and I hope we can continue that here. I can't wait to hear your thoughts! xx
In Ukraine, we have this joke: 'Dad, which concentration camp are they taking us to?' 'I don't know son, I'm not into politics'. As a Ukrainian citizen, I find this 'art/culture isn't political' argument beyond eye-rolling as it's often oh so conveniently used to justify forcing Ukrainians into shared spaces with Russians or silencing us for criticizing Russian artists and those cherished Russian classic writers. First thing Russians do on the occupied Ukrainian land is purging libraries and getting rid of our books. Writing is political, reading is political. Bad guys know it, and so should everyone else.
Thank you so much for your perspective!! And I love that joke at the beginning, it speaks so perfectly to how people will stick their heads in the sand to their own detriment.
YES to all of this! Reading is inherently a political act. Otherwise "they" wouldn't try so hard to prevent us from reading. I'm so impressed with your insight and intelligence.
There's so many book banning efforts happening right now, theyre trying to even ban books about historical books banning. To say reading isn't political is baffling, and to say booktok is apolitical that's being political in itself, just like how inaction is an action.
The fact that all the booktubers/book content creators I follow are saying stuff like you are saying, and I haven't encounter any "books are not political", instead I just find people saying YES, THEY ARE. I'm proud of them.
I love this! The whole point of the video was summed up at the 2:00 mark, with the long pause and careful consideration of words and potential criticisms to follow. The people who say it’s not political are the people who are/think they unaffected by politics no matter the affiliation. You just kept hitting the key talking point that I was thinking the further I got into the video. Well done!
This is so well articulated! Yes yes yes! Also especially with any fantasy it’s wild that anyone could say they’re apolitical. Love your commentary on romance as well!
Thank you 😊 and yeah, it also boggles my mind that anyone who reads fantasy could consider themselves apolitical. Idek how one would engage with that genre without acknowledging the overtly political aspects lol
I haven't talked explicitly about politics in my channel. I have read a fair amount of nonfiction history over the last ten months. I just assumed that people understand that history is political. I've been reading books about the US colonial period, and that was definitely political. But most people would just think it was boring.
Before watching the video, and for now just reacting to a question in the video's picture: Yes, every single book is political just like literally everything is political, because literally every book and literally everything relates in some way to how human beings relate to and between each other, including the power dynamics inextricably inherent in literally every relationship and connection between human beings that exists. I might comment more later if I think of more to say after watching the video later.
Love your channel Allie and you have a wonderful heart, it's very obvious, but as someone in their 40s, I was born and grew up under Communism I want to give you some advice from someone who survived living under the Ceausescu Regime in Romania which was the most brutal in all of Eastern Europe in the 80s when I grew up (research it here on youtube if you want insight)... what these extreme regimes do is make EVERYTHING political, every schoolroom had to have Ceausescu's portrait at the front, every book published had his portrait at the beginning and a Communist "message" first before the book started, every movie had a political message.... these dictatorships make sure to turn EVERY art form,, every sport, all the music had to have a "good" political message and all artists were afraid and monitored about their political views... to wish for politics to be imbued into all art and all books is a BIG BIG mistake, it might seem wise at first, but after a few decades it leads to a very dark and constricted place, we were TERRIFIED all our days that one of our neighbours would report us that we expressed a political thought that was not in keeping with the regime and many, many, many people disappeared... being able to have books, art, music, movies that have ZERO politics in it and just speaks to the universal human condition is a BLESSING that you will only appreciate when It is gone... God bless you, and understand that having pockets of society that are FREE from ANY sort of politics is actually a blessing 😊😊😊
There are no corners of American society that are free from politics. To remove yourself from politics is a fallacy and is a political action in itself. I’m a POC, I’m queer, I’m currently unemployed, I’m a woman, I cannot escape politics in any way shape or form.
@alliewithbooks people putting politics before their common humanity leads to the hell of my youth... I have seen the end of this movie, and sadly the West is taking the path of Eastern Europe where people became blinded by this need to have "correct politics" and millions were murdered in Eastern Europe for just their "political views" nothing more (Stalin alone killed somewhere north of 20 million in the gulags for being "politically incorrect" no crime, just opinion), as a Romanian who has seen this tragedy it saddens me for the West taking this path, we have been there, our common humanity is more important than any gender, race, class identity etc. Sadly history repeats and maybe the West will do what Eastern Europe did and after untold death they will realise that this "politics" thing really ain't that deep, our eternal souls and loving eachother is the only thing that counts... dont let "politics" divide you from your neighbour, that's what elites who sit on top want, they want us "peasants" to fight between ourselves over our "political views" and for us to make everything, all interactions into "political" statements so that the divide between us just grows and grows... that's what was done to my Romanian people and they just destroyed themselves... believe me, the less "political" a society is, the more healthy it is, and the more "political" it is, the sicker it is... concentrating on things that bring us together, our common love for beauty, truth, art, friendship, family, nature, fun, all these bring peace and people find ways to work together and overcome differences, but when the elite from the top start including politics into everything, it divides the common people, separates people, so they never come together and understand that they have ALL been improvished and their life options limited by a very small group of elite, mega rich people at the top... that is the ULTIMATE truth of politics... what Bernie Sanders says is truth, the US should be concentrating on the fact that 1% of people own 90% of assets and the other 90% only own 10%, if the people of America addressed just this one issue, it would make it so living standards for everyone would improve drastically and people would have lives of greater opportunity and less stress... so to PREVENT this from happening, the billionaire class (both Democrats who opposed Bernie and Republicans), instead want people to be consumed by lower order issues, and NEVER address the elephant in the room (extreme wealth inequality)... that's how "politics" works, just manipulations and lies, both sides controlled by the 1%... when you get to my age, you will become as cynical as me... and you will realise that politics doesn't matter and will NEVER change anything of BIG significance until extreme wealth inequality is addressed... that's why it's important to keep places/spaces that aren't political, like hobbies, books, art, sports etc. So common people can come and talk and one day they will realise they have more in common than they realise and the love will win over the hate that politics creates... and with true love and understanding, then people actually have a path to improve life, because lasting change will come through love for one another because of our HUMANITY, not our "politics"... just a thought to consider :) ... and that's why art, which is about our common humanity, is so healing :)
@alliewithbooks 😊 to prove my point, I'm a Romanian and at the other side of the world and love your channel because of your infectious love for books and I can see you are a very sweet soul (with great book taste!) And even though I am neither American, person of color or queer, it doesnt matter... ultimately the humanity and soul of a person speaks across continents 😊😊😊😊😊
Is anyone here saying that books should always have a certain ideological message in them? When an American says that books are political, that could be what certain people on the right want, but that's not really what we mean. We mean that books are demonized and sometimes banned from schools and libraries because they feature ideas and people who are not white Christian Nationalists. If you are not a white, Christian nationalist man, then in America you are not considered part of the human condition. Neither are books about you. But if a book is about a white, right wing Christian man, you are the universal human condition. The "universal" part is rather limited, and there is potential to require all books to uplift that category of people, their beliefs and power. Everyone else is politicized in a negative way. No one can escape the constant ways in which they are politicized. Does that make sense? We don't have any art free from politics. We in America never have.
@@alliewithbooks With love, this sounds like anxiety. There has been a tremendous amount of progress made in the past decade and you are safer than you would have been in any other period of time. That is the truth. But when you have anxiety, you see your fears everywhere even when they are not there. Taking a break from the news changed my life for the better. Do you think there may be benefits to taking a break from politics for you?
Girl you’re doing the Lord’s work with this video 👀 book bans say it all. Your video was well articulated and flowed so well it was needed. Reading 📖 and books 📚 are political and it’s great you broke down all these examples of how it is.
Any time people treat Booktok as a monolith, things go off the rails. The people who say it's not a political space are doing exactly that in only speaking to their usage. I would argue they're also wrong about themselves and painfully oblivious, but I accept they're not overtly choosing to be political. I will confess that I've made the same mistake of thinking we''re all more on the same page -- no pun intended -- than we are. I assumed when most people talked about shutting their brain off that they didn't truly mean it to the extent it's become clear that they meant. I just thought they meant they weren't highlighting and book marking and intentionally giving deep thought. I didn't know they truly meant it was elevator music up there and unaware that fantasy novels with war, poverty, a resistance, a somewhat detailed form of government were very, very political. I'm happy with my circle and only had to unfollow 1 person I had already been suss about, but the overall response surprised me because I thought the Booktok numbers implied a lot more literacy. I agreed with the anti-intellectualism concerns/discussion but based on my own experiences with being judged for the books I read growing up my impulse was to project onto others and go to bat for people reading books that are prone to judgement without fully seeing the signs of the underlying issue. For me, that anti-intellectualism argument was more about respecting the different ways people read, including the people who want to go deeper, and now it's about realizing how many people don't have the tools or the desire to understand what they're consuming. As much as I dislike SJM, I feel her fans should do her the respect of attempting to understand her books on at least the first 2 to 3 levels. And I'm now really confused as to what they're taking away. I believe the women thinking they're immune from a right-wing regime while reading explicit materials are in for a shock. A lot of men don't want women "cheating" with books. They also see tampons as cheating. They're jealous. They don't want women to be sexual or experience attraction without them. I've seen the increase in people treating these women as chronic masturbators and perverts. The irony of all the defiant booktok content about reading these books without understanding what you're defying scrambles my brain. That if you're going against respectability you really don't want to empower the people who want to pass laws to keep you respectable.
It's kind of wild to think that books aren't political. I live in a country that was occupied by SSR and guess what was one of the things they did? Burned books and tried to destroy anything and everything related to my culture. Even our language. Any book published would go under heavy censorship. How can you say that books aren't political when they have been used as tools to control what you know about the world? Reading is a powerful influence and can shape our outlook on the world even. Alright I think I got too heated on the end there, but it baffled me just a bit 😅.
Booktok girlies will read a dystopian novel about a protagonist who ends up leading a revolution because they are part of a marginalized group that’s being terribly oppressed and think to themselves “well, that was fun, so glad there was no politics in my book”. 😂
In my opinion, I don't think Booktok, Booktube or Bookstagram is changing. Books have been political from the start. Even the fantasy books which we read have political scenarios in them which, to some extent, are reflecting the real life events. One cannot simply do a formalist reading of a text because, to me, that is harmful and also not possible because even if we limit our understanding of a text to the form or characters of the book, we still have to draw understanding from reality. I think, I could be wrong, instead of booktok changing, people on these platforms are becoming more aware, which is a good thing and might be a little uncomfortable at first. Like Rebecca F Kuang said while promoting 'Yellowface', "Reading about racism should not be a feel-good experience." Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong somewhere.
I actually completely agree, and I think that’s why there’s such a stark divide on booktok. Though, it’s interesting to watch the way booktokers on the left have started to realize that not everyone was on the same page, metaphorically speaking. The community not having these tough conversations up until this point has allowed for there not to really be this need for uncomfortableness that is necessary for real change. I think parts of booktok will change, but there is a significant chunk that won’t because they see no problem with the status quo they have created. It could also be said that booktok is almost designed to prohibit critical thought and expansive ideas because of how short form the content is, but I think that can be debated. I just feel like short form, quickly consumed content doesn’t allow for anything more than instant gratification. And that expectation of instant gratification definitely seems (at least to me) to have trickled throughout the community and informed the way they approach any discourse or uncomfortableness. If it can’t be quickly resolved, they move on.
I follow diverse readers and in my opinion as long as it's not effecting my day to day life I don't care what your political views are as long it's not endangering anyone physically and I say that respectfully for all our health.
Books are not inherently political. Some books are political and some books are not. It is important to learn to tell the difference. The masses are drawn to books, particularly genre fiction, because it is a form of escapism for them from the stress of the heightened political environment. Constantly discussing politics can be fun for those of us who are privileged in society, but very stressful for everyone else. Can you imagine being at the bottom of society and constantly hearing about it over and over again? And you can't stop thinking about your precarious position in society even when you commune with other book escapists? Leaving politics out of discussions is a way to be kind and merciful to those who need a break.
Girl, I’m a POC, queer, and a woman……… I am marginalized and I cannot escape politics. No one truly can. To even be under the delusion that you can escape politics is a privilege. Even that act is political.
@alliewithbooks you have a platform, you're educated, and you're strong too. Don't forget that. You are physically safe. I think what you mean is that you are finding it difficult to manage your stress and find yourself constantly thinking about things that stress you out. You don't need to do that. It's been a tough week. Please take care of yourself. I'm Black so I get it. But it's best for our mental health if we stop leaning into politics so we can see things clearly
Politics is made up of how we live our lives, what we believe to be true and just, how active in our lives we believe the government should be, how we fund social programs, how we treat others, who deserves which rights. How we perceive our community, society, and the world. There's literally no way to write a book and not bring the same values you use in the voting book to populate your fictional world, your underlying beliefs and assumptions. If your characters are diverse or homogeneous. How they solve problems. What ARE their problems? What's the spice level? Does the heroine work for a big corporation and live in a high rise or does she work for a non-profit and live in a tiny house with her cat? (Purrack Opawma.) If it's romance, who does she fall in love with? Same sex? Different race? Who are her friends? Endlessly, politics are on display. A reader's politics are also on display in the books that interest them. In exercising the right to read what they chose. Whether they buy, borrow, pirate, review.
I don’t see how books aren’t political. Politics are woven into books even subconsciously sometimes. How can politics, the state of world not influence books? Look at post pandemic as one minor example and how many books mention it, even in passing. Or books based on the actual pandemic. Ummm ever heard of historical fiction??? A profound genre in books and I think all of those books are political? Totally stand with you and I am so so devastated with the result of the election. I’m scared and angry and mad and so so sad, yes I use books as a form of escapism but they shouldn’t have to ignore what’s going on. Books have impact because of the topics they discuss 🩷
brb while I go write an entire dissertation about this (you just gained a very thankful follower - thankful for a booktuber with refreshingly similar beliefs 🫶)
Hey everyone!! (I posted this in the description, but I figured I would post it here too.) So, this is basically a part 2 to my original video on Booktok that I posted a few weeks ago where I outlined what I believe are the issues currently (and for the past few years honestly) going on within the Booktok community. I really appreciated how respectful and civil the comments were on that previous video, and I hope we can continue that here. I can't wait to hear your thoughts! xx
Reading is absolutely political. Anyone who feels differently isn't looking close enough imo
@@luceinthelibrary exactly!!
Tbh if they can’t see that reading is political they aren’t even looking 😅😅
Anyone who feels differently isn’t actually reading.
In Ukraine, we have this joke: 'Dad, which concentration camp are they taking us to?' 'I don't know son, I'm not into politics'. As a Ukrainian citizen, I find this 'art/culture isn't political' argument beyond eye-rolling as it's often oh so conveniently used to justify forcing Ukrainians into shared spaces with Russians or silencing us for criticizing Russian artists and those cherished Russian classic writers. First thing Russians do on the occupied Ukrainian land is purging libraries and getting rid of our books. Writing is political, reading is political. Bad guys know it, and so should everyone else.
Thank you so much for your perspective!! And I love that joke at the beginning, it speaks so perfectly to how people will stick their heads in the sand to their own detriment.
YES to all of this!
Reading is inherently a political act. Otherwise "they" wouldn't try so hard to prevent us from reading. I'm so impressed with your insight and intelligence.
Perfectly said!!
There's so many book banning efforts happening right now, theyre trying to even ban books about historical books banning. To say reading isn't political is baffling, and to say booktok is apolitical that's being political in itself, just like how inaction is an action.
The fact that all the booktubers/book content creators I follow are saying stuff like you are saying, and I haven't encounter any "books are not political", instead I just find people saying YES, THEY ARE. I'm proud of them.
That’s when you know you’ve curated your space perfectly 😌
I love this! The whole point of the video was summed up at the 2:00 mark, with the long pause and careful consideration of words and potential criticisms to follow. The people who say it’s not political are the people who are/think they unaffected by politics no matter the affiliation. You just kept hitting the key talking point that I was thinking the further I got into the video. Well done!
Haha I am unfortunately a chronic yapper at heart 😅
This is so well articulated! Yes yes yes! Also especially with any fantasy it’s wild that anyone could say they’re apolitical. Love your commentary on romance as well!
Thank you 😊 and yeah, it also boggles my mind that anyone who reads fantasy could consider themselves apolitical. Idek how one would engage with that genre without acknowledging the overtly political aspects lol
I haven't talked explicitly about politics in my channel. I have read a fair amount of nonfiction history over the last ten months. I just assumed that people understand that history is political. I've been reading books about the US colonial period, and that was definitely political. But most people would just think it was boring.
I think we might be at the point where we risk boring some people.
Before watching the video, and for now just reacting to a question in the video's picture: Yes, every single book is political just like literally everything is political, because literally every book and literally everything relates in some way to how human beings relate to and between each other, including the power dynamics inextricably inherent in literally every relationship and connection between human beings that exists. I might comment more later if I think of more to say after watching the video later.
I appreciate this 🫶🏼
Thank you so much for making this video! I absolutely loved it and very much agree with what you said.
Love your channel Allie and you have a wonderful heart, it's very obvious, but as someone in their 40s, I was born and grew up under Communism I want to give you some advice from someone who survived living under the Ceausescu Regime in Romania which was the most brutal in all of Eastern Europe in the 80s when I grew up (research it here on youtube if you want insight)... what these extreme regimes do is make EVERYTHING political, every schoolroom had to have Ceausescu's portrait at the front, every book published had his portrait at the beginning and a Communist "message" first before the book started, every movie had a political message.... these dictatorships make sure to turn EVERY art form,, every sport, all the music had to have a "good" political message and all artists were afraid and monitored about their political views... to wish for politics to be imbued into all art and all books is a BIG BIG mistake, it might seem wise at first, but after a few decades it leads to a very dark and constricted place, we were TERRIFIED all our days that one of our neighbours would report us that we expressed a political thought that was not in keeping with the regime and many, many, many people disappeared... being able to have books, art, music, movies that have ZERO politics in it and just speaks to the universal human condition is a BLESSING that you will only appreciate when It is gone... God bless you, and understand that having pockets of society that are FREE from ANY sort of politics is actually a blessing 😊😊😊
There are no corners of American society that are free from politics. To remove yourself from politics is a fallacy and is a political action in itself. I’m a POC, I’m queer, I’m currently unemployed, I’m a woman, I cannot escape politics in any way shape or form.
@alliewithbooks people putting politics before their common humanity leads to the hell of my youth... I have seen the end of this movie, and sadly the West is taking the path of Eastern Europe where people became blinded by this need to have "correct politics" and millions were murdered in Eastern Europe for just their "political views" nothing more (Stalin alone killed somewhere north of 20 million in the gulags for being "politically incorrect" no crime, just opinion), as a Romanian who has seen this tragedy it saddens me for the West taking this path, we have been there, our common humanity is more important than any gender, race, class identity etc. Sadly history repeats and maybe the West will do what Eastern Europe did and after untold death they will realise that this "politics" thing really ain't that deep, our eternal souls and loving eachother is the only thing that counts... dont let "politics" divide you from your neighbour, that's what elites who sit on top want, they want us "peasants" to fight between ourselves over our "political views" and for us to make everything, all interactions into "political" statements so that the divide between us just grows and grows... that's what was done to my Romanian people and they just destroyed themselves... believe me, the less "political" a society is, the more healthy it is, and the more "political" it is, the sicker it is... concentrating on things that bring us together, our common love for beauty, truth, art, friendship, family, nature, fun, all these bring peace and people find ways to work together and overcome differences, but when the elite from the top start including politics into everything, it divides the common people, separates people, so they never come together and understand that they have ALL been improvished and their life options limited by a very small group of elite, mega rich people at the top... that is the ULTIMATE truth of politics... what Bernie Sanders says is truth, the US should be concentrating on the fact that 1% of people own 90% of assets and the other 90% only own 10%, if the people of America addressed just this one issue, it would make it so living standards for everyone would improve drastically and people would have lives of greater opportunity and less stress... so to PREVENT this from happening, the billionaire class (both Democrats who opposed Bernie and Republicans), instead want people to be consumed by lower order issues, and NEVER address the elephant in the room (extreme wealth inequality)... that's how "politics" works, just manipulations and lies, both sides controlled by the 1%... when you get to my age, you will become as cynical as me... and you will realise that politics doesn't matter and will NEVER change anything of BIG significance until extreme wealth inequality is addressed... that's why it's important to keep places/spaces that aren't political, like hobbies, books, art, sports etc. So common people can come and talk and one day they will realise they have more in common than they realise and the love will win over the hate that politics creates... and with true love and understanding, then people actually have a path to improve life, because lasting change will come through love for one another because of our HUMANITY, not our "politics"... just a thought to consider :) ... and that's why art, which is about our common humanity, is so healing :)
@alliewithbooks 😊 to prove my point, I'm a Romanian and at the other side of the world and love your channel because of your infectious love for books and I can see you are a very sweet soul (with great book taste!) And even though I am neither American, person of color or queer, it doesnt matter... ultimately the humanity and soul of a person speaks across continents 😊😊😊😊😊
Is anyone here saying that books should always have a certain ideological message in them? When an American says that books are political, that could be what certain people on the right want, but that's not really what we mean. We mean that books are demonized and sometimes banned from schools and libraries because they feature ideas and people who are not white Christian Nationalists. If you are not a white, Christian nationalist man, then in America you are not considered part of the human condition. Neither are books about you. But if a book is about a white, right wing Christian man, you are the universal human condition. The "universal" part is rather limited, and there is potential to require all books to uplift that category of people, their beliefs and power. Everyone else is politicized in a negative way. No one can escape the constant ways in which they are politicized. Does that make sense? We don't have any art free from politics. We in America never have.
@@alliewithbooks With love, this sounds like anxiety. There has been a tremendous amount of progress made in the past decade and you are safer than you would have been in any other period of time. That is the truth. But when you have anxiety, you see your fears everywhere even when they are not there. Taking a break from the news changed my life for the better. Do you think there may be benefits to taking a break from politics for you?
Someone made a post that said if you voted for T, you're not allowed to read the new Hunger Games book 🤣 I died the ignorance and irony hit so hard
Girl you’re doing the Lord’s work with this video 👀 book bans say it all. Your video was well articulated and flowed so well it was needed. Reading 📖 and books 📚 are political and it’s great you broke down all these examples of how it is.
Any time people treat Booktok as a monolith, things go off the rails.
The people who say it's not a political space are doing exactly that in only speaking to their usage. I would argue they're also wrong about themselves and painfully oblivious, but I accept they're not overtly choosing to be political.
I will confess that I've made the same mistake of thinking we''re all more on the same page -- no pun intended -- than we are. I assumed when most people talked about shutting their brain off that they didn't truly mean it to the extent it's become clear that they meant. I just thought they meant they weren't highlighting and book marking and intentionally giving deep thought. I didn't know they truly meant it was elevator music up there and unaware that fantasy novels with war, poverty, a resistance, a somewhat detailed form of government were very, very political.
I'm happy with my circle and only had to unfollow 1 person I had already been suss about, but the overall response surprised me because I thought the Booktok numbers implied a lot more literacy.
I agreed with the anti-intellectualism concerns/discussion but based on my own experiences with being judged for the books I read growing up my impulse was to project onto others and go to bat for people reading books that are prone to judgement without fully seeing the signs of the underlying issue. For me, that anti-intellectualism argument was more about respecting the different ways people read, including the people who want to go deeper, and now it's about realizing how many people don't have the tools or the desire to understand what they're consuming.
As much as I dislike SJM, I feel her fans should do her the respect of attempting to understand her books on at least the first 2 to 3 levels. And I'm now really confused as to what they're taking away.
I believe the women thinking they're immune from a right-wing regime while reading explicit materials are in for a shock. A lot of men don't want women "cheating" with books. They also see tampons as cheating. They're jealous. They don't want women to be sexual or experience attraction without them. I've seen the increase in people treating these women as chronic masturbators and perverts. The irony of all the defiant booktok content about reading these books without understanding what you're defying scrambles my brain. That if you're going against respectability you really don't want to empower the people who want to pass laws to keep you respectable.
It's kind of wild to think that books aren't political. I live in a country that was occupied by SSR and guess what was one of the things they did? Burned books and tried to destroy anything and everything related to my culture. Even our language.
Any book published would go under heavy censorship. How can you say that books aren't political when they have been used as tools to control what you know about the world? Reading is a powerful influence and can shape our outlook on the world even.
Alright I think I got too heated on the end there, but it baffled me just a bit 😅.
always love your discussions 💛
Thank you!! Appreciate you watching!
Booktok girlies will read a dystopian novel about a protagonist who ends up leading a revolution because they are part of a marginalized group that’s being terribly oppressed and think to themselves “well, that was fun, so glad there was no politics in my book”. 😂
Thank you for posting this video its very insightful ❤
Thank you for watching 😊
Thank you for the video
"Reading isn't political." Then why book banning exists?
This this this!!
In my opinion, I don't think Booktok, Booktube or Bookstagram is changing. Books have been political from the start. Even the fantasy books which we read have political scenarios in them which, to some extent, are reflecting the real life events. One cannot simply do a formalist reading of a text because, to me, that is harmful and also not possible because even if we limit our understanding of a text to the form or characters of the book, we still have to draw understanding from reality. I think, I could be wrong, instead of booktok changing, people on these platforms are becoming more aware, which is a good thing and might be a little uncomfortable at first.
Like Rebecca F Kuang said while promoting 'Yellowface', "Reading about racism should not be a feel-good experience."
Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong somewhere.
I actually completely agree, and I think that’s why there’s such a stark divide on booktok. Though, it’s interesting to watch the way booktokers on the left have started to realize that not everyone was on the same page, metaphorically speaking. The community not having these tough conversations up until this point has allowed for there not to really be this need for uncomfortableness that is necessary for real change. I think parts of booktok will change, but there is a significant chunk that won’t because they see no problem with the status quo they have created.
It could also be said that booktok is almost designed to prohibit critical thought and expansive ideas because of how short form the content is, but I think that can be debated. I just feel like short form, quickly consumed content doesn’t allow for anything more than instant gratification. And that expectation of instant gratification definitely seems (at least to me) to have trickled throughout the community and informed the way they approach any discourse or uncomfortableness. If it can’t be quickly resolved, they move on.
political ideologies litterallyy come from books and therefore books will forver beee political!!!!
I follow diverse readers and in my opinion as long as it's not effecting my day to day life I don't care what your political views are as long it's not endangering anyone physically and I say that respectfully for all our health.
such an ignorant comment lol
We still live in a society. Don't follow people if you don't care about their rights.
@@amphoteric no its not and she is right. How do you think people feel when democrats come on tiktok and talk so openly about endorsing war criminals?
Books are not inherently political. Some books are political and some books are not. It is important to learn to tell the difference. The masses are drawn to books, particularly genre fiction, because it is a form of escapism for them from the stress of the heightened political environment. Constantly discussing politics can be fun for those of us who are privileged in society, but very stressful for everyone else. Can you imagine being at the bottom of society and constantly hearing about it over and over again? And you can't stop thinking about your precarious position in society even when you commune with other book escapists? Leaving politics out of discussions is a way to be kind and merciful to those who need a break.
Girl, I’m a POC, queer, and a woman……… I am marginalized and I cannot escape politics. No one truly can. To even be under the delusion that you can escape politics is a privilege. Even that act is political.
I agree not all books are political.
@alliewithbooks you have a platform, you're educated, and you're strong too. Don't forget that. You are physically safe. I think what you mean is that you are finding it difficult to manage your stress and find yourself constantly thinking about things that stress you out. You don't need to do that. It's been a tough week. Please take care of yourself. I'm Black so I get it. But it's best for our mental health if we stop leaning into politics so we can see things clearly
Politics is made up of how we live our lives, what we believe to be true and just, how active in our lives we believe the government should be, how we fund social programs, how we treat others, who deserves which rights. How we perceive our community, society, and the world.
There's literally no way to write a book and not bring the same values you use in the voting book to populate your fictional world, your underlying beliefs and assumptions. If your characters are diverse or homogeneous. How they solve problems. What ARE their problems? What's the spice level? Does the heroine work for a big corporation and live in a high rise or does she work for a non-profit and live in a tiny house with her cat? (Purrack Opawma.) If it's romance, who does she fall in love with? Same sex? Different race? Who are her friends?
Endlessly, politics are on display.
A reader's politics are also on display in the books that interest them. In exercising the right to read what they chose. Whether they buy, borrow, pirate, review.
I don’t see how books aren’t political. Politics are woven into books even subconsciously sometimes. How can politics, the state of world not influence books? Look at post pandemic as one minor example and how many books mention it, even in passing. Or books based on the actual pandemic. Ummm ever heard of historical fiction??? A profound genre in books and I think all of those books are political? Totally stand with you and I am so so devastated with the result of the election. I’m scared and angry and mad and so so sad, yes I use books as a form of escapism but they shouldn’t have to ignore what’s going on. Books have impact because of the topics they discuss 🩷
brb while I go write an entire dissertation about this (you just gained a very thankful follower - thankful for a booktuber with refreshingly similar beliefs 🫶)