The Triumph of the Philistine

The modern philistine has won, and it is becoming more apparent with each passing day. Before you are quick to judge my opening statement you should consider your environment, your friends, yourself. Today, what are the things that are valued more, or at least, more of? A good book, or a tablet game? A classic movie, or a youtube video? An art exhibition, or scrolling through art on search engines?

The truth is that although there are still a great deal of people that still read books, and possibly even visit art exhibitions, I assure you that the number of individuals that do not is most likely somewhere in the tenfold. In an age where books are written after the movie script and not vice versa, what are we to expect? Also in a time when people spend their time scrolling down from image to image, abhorrent joke to joke only to forget each one with each passing swipe, where are people’s metaphoric gazes?

The attention span of the current masses have depreciated, I dare say, to that of a toddler. I realize this is a generalization, and a pretentious one, but frankly it needs to be said. There even have been studies done to show that reading has had positive effects on the cognitive abilities of individuals, as well as emotional intelligence. Professor James Flynn has “> level of people visiting art exhibitions and museums has also depreciated since 2002 in the U.S, which is also rather worrying. Brian Kisida’s New York Time’s