Again with the patronizing attempt at psychoanalyzing. Kudos on that. Lemme know how it works out for you.

What you seem to be interpreting as "defensive" is my rejection of your thesis, as I saw it in your original post. Admittedly I didn't go into great detail in my first reply, but I at least thought I'd explained myself better in follow-up posts. Perhaps not, though.


And as I mentioned in my previous post, it reads to me as an attack on one genre rather than a defense of another genre. If you say you didn't intend it as such, then I will certainly believe you - but that interpretation colored my response to the post.


I'm going to have to go with Camilla's response here - seeking out new experiences seems to me an equally valid way of continuing one's "intellectual achievement," for instance. Once again, maybe my disagreement stems from the way I read your post; you seem to be saying that reading - and more, reading the "right things!" - is the only way to grow as a person. That's the part that strikes me as rather "elitist."


And here's my other primary irritant in your post(s). Clearly this is your belief, and you are 100% entitled to your belief. The fact that you keep repeating your personal opinion, in such derisive terms, as a fact - you seriously don't see why anyone might take umbrage at that?


Depends what you mean by "result." If, as you claim, your goal is to encourage people to "read outside the box" - then the result is not the same, because you instead appear to be denigrating a certain category of readers, which is completely counter-productive to your stated goal.


I'm afraid it's only based on your misplaced conclusions about my reading habits. I was specifically objecting to your spec-fic-as-fast-food analogy, and rather than inquiring, you seem to have decided to assume that it's because that's all I read is spec-fic. As I've already admitted, I could have made this clearer in my original post - but you also could have simply asked for clarification, rather than making an assumption and arguing based on that.


All that said. I read for enjoyment. It's a leisure activity for me. That doesn't mean that all I read is spec-fic, quite the contrary - I read all genres and formats. Whatever strikes my fancy, be it an epic space opera, the life of Nikola Tesla, the travelogue of a future revolutionary, the Divine Comedy, or some Giants and White Gold Rings. I read what interests me, and sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's just entertaining, and sometimes it's a piece of crap. But I don't read because I feel some obscure need to "better myself intellectually." If you feel that need, and that's why you read what you do, then I can think of no conceivable objection to that. If you think a particular book is Good and Important and that More People Should Read It - you should get the word out, suggest it, tell people that It Is Good! But telling people that what they're reading is nothing but crap - well, don't be surprised when they suddenly don't give a shite about your opinion.