The most dangerous thing in novels?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Wujigege, Oct 7, 2021.

  1. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    You have anti-vaxxers equivocating taking vaccines to being raped.
    It shows how tone deaf society is to rape and sexual abuse
     
  2. heyaoi

    heyaoi Well-Known Member

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    If your argument is that humans are influenced by acts they've read, then the "woman gets raped by MC and falls in love with them" trope is more dangerous imo
     
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  3. Xian Piete

    Xian Piete Author of many mediocre stories

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    What is the MOST dangerous thing asian novels let us believe?

    A few things come to my mind such as... Murder is ok if someone slights you. Rape lets someone you find attractive fall in love with you. Stealing things is ok if it lets you become more powerful. Being wealthy is winning and not being wealthy is losing. Shortcuts and cheating are better than hard work. If your life sucks right now it will only become better if you die to a truck. Might makes right.

    Honestly, though I think the vast majority of readers understand the difference between fantasy and reality. These stories are popular because they are like mind candy. They allow people to escape from reality and travel to a place where you can jump out of your car and beat the guy who cut you off into a pulp without facing the reality of jail, lawsuits, and in the worst case your own ass-whoopin'.
     
  4. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    Stockholm's Syndrome comes to mind.

    It's why I usually avoid harem and romance genres on here.
    This means I usually don't read anything but Sword Dynasty and Carnivorous Hunter are a breath of fresh air

    Escapism is nice but when you spend a majority of your time on it then it's dangerous
     
  5. Xian Piete

    Xian Piete Author of many mediocre stories

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    Even drinking too much water can kill you. As for how much is too much, I suppose that would depend on the individual.
     
  6. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    You have readers who say they have an exam tomorrow but can't stop reading a novel.
    It is obvious, that people are addicted to the escapism.
    It is also a poor comparison, drinking too much water will cause physical pain.
    You can also throw up.
    You don't feel any pain with reading too many novels at one sitting
     
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2021
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  7. Alexcia

    Alexcia Belle of Banter

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    Locked up and torture.

    It's basically a no-no for me, no matter the reasons. Even if it's out of love or possessiveness or whatever reasons. It's just so wrong to do that! Relationships are all about harmony and TALK! AGREE! no forcing pls.
     
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  8. Greater thunder

    Greater thunder Well-Known Member

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    This bit twigged a memory.

    I remember reading the manhwa for Volcanic Age and the bit at the beginning when the MC(of reliving his life all the way back from childhood kind) (re)started training in some foundational art of his school, he didn't reject working hard at it like every other disciple, he just combined said hard work with doing it in an improved way discovered by some future famous person who was nice enough to spread it so all disciples benefit.

    And thought to myself, it is pretty good an author luds both hard and smart working together as a means of improving oneself.

    This kind of message of course, goes out the window as more needs to be written fast later on and MC starts coming across all kinds of wealth (money, manpower, techniques,...) by taking short leaves from the sect(disciples apparently can't go out long unless on a mission or approved to go out).
     
  9. Dr_H_16

    Dr_H_16 Well-Known Member

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    About 24/7 news thing... I can't understand why anyone would wach those. There's nothing like that in my country and it's common for those who seek to watch the news to be 'scorned/disdained' (I don't know the right word. 'side-eyed/eye-roll', maybe?), as everyone were of same mind that it's just a waste of time to think about something that will never impact our life.
     
  10. Fluffums

    Fluffums 【R-18 Researcher】【Seeker of Moe】

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    Well, a news program is in theory supposed to be about things that affect your life. It includes weather forecasts, road closures and construction, upcoming and current events that you may or may not want to go to (or might get in the way of your plans to do something nearby). And when I was younger, I would watch the news every morning in winter in hopes of finding out about school getting cancelled.
     
  11. Dr_H_16

    Dr_H_16 Well-Known Member

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    ...it is now? If there's some news that will actually affect my life, I always got it from either my neighbors or a notice from the government of my area. Everyone somehow always know if there's a construction before it even began. Aside from a few festivals in certain holidays there's usually no event happening. If there is something new happening, there would be tons of advertisement beside the road. Lastly, road closures and weather forecast never mattered to me, maybe because traffic jam only occur like a week every year and there's never something worse than a heavy rain in my area.
     
  12. WhiskeyWolf

    WhiskeyWolf Active Member

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    I think you guys got this entire thing backwards. Have you ever wondered why some many novels of similar themes come out of China? Why a nation with a brutal, all-controling totalitarian system would harbor a zeitgeist this - what's the word - 'ruthless'? Novels of this type are merely a pale reflection of a way of thinking that may seem almost alien to most of you.

    But at the end of the day are they wrong? Depends, do you believe that violence is the supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived from?
    Tell that to Castro, the man that almost started WW3 and exploited the Cuban nation for decades, only to die of old age in a life of luxury.
     
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  13. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    The media makes the culture as much as the culture makes the media.

    You cannot say that as it obvious examples as fashion that media doesn't affect a society.
    Product placement is a big deal for a reason.
    https://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html

    https://www.ebsco.com/blogs/novelist/dangers-reading


    "
    Then come the psychological side effects of reading. One typical symptom is guilt over unfinished (or untouched) house chores or homework, neglected relationships, unmade phone calls, and unresolved issues -- all because we've abandoned reality, yet again, to do something we love the most -- reading. To compensate, we multitask, sleep less, get up earlier, and go to work tired.

    But that's not all. Do you remember how you good you felt until you read that book about a cheating spouse? Before that, you didn't worry about the faithfulness of yours. You also did not obsess over rare diseases, traffic accidents, bacteria-laced foods bringing on an epidemic, cunning identity theft, or an internet predator lunging at an opportunity to con you out of your life savings. The list goes on. Books deliver ideas vividly, viscerally: readers hear the criminals plot inside their minds, feel the destructive viruses penetrating a human body, and agonize over the betrayal of those whom we love and trust. And this is how reading an enthralling well-written book can result in a nagging worry or fear.

    While relating to protagonists' experiences is common, some readers also over-identify with fictional characters -- and not in a good way. Feeling too much empathy for characters in crisis situations can be detrimental. S
    "
     
  14. WhiskeyWolf

    WhiskeyWolf Active Member

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    Who are you trying to say is influenced in this case?
     
  15. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    I am saying that the age of readers is declining. Loots of teens reading these novels. People are getting desensitized to things like rape and abusive relationships.
    You have many on here who say they jus turn 18 and have been in the forum for years
     
  16. WhiskeyWolf

    WhiskeyWolf Active Member

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    'Lots' is not really saying much. Besides, how many of those 'lots' won't be able to distinguish between right and wrong? Again, those are all escape fantasies and some of them are really badly written. I think the issue you have raised is somewhat overblown. Not to mention people from different cultures will each have their own interpretations.

    Again, this is an escape fantasy. If you want to really get desensitized just watch the news and the real misery of this world.
     
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  17. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    I am not in the mood for this discussion. Let's agree to disagree.
    Cheers!

    A parting gift from me:
     
  18. Bachingchung

    Bachingchung Well-Known Member

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    These novels aren't really the danger itself, the declining educational system is the root of most problems. We need to understand that depiction doesn't mean promotion. These horrific examples are put into these novels, to make people aware that such are happening in our world. If our young readers are really that gullible to be influenced by such obvious bad acts, then we can't really put all the blame to these novels, for raising such stupid children.

    Anyway, to answer your question. I think some authors wrote young characters to act as an adult, whether in terms of responsibility or sexuality. These 10 yo. or younger characters have inner turmoils about relationship towards the opposite sex, family problems and politics that way beyond their age. It's so unsettling to read, I'm screaming inside my head "just give a Goddamn timeskip!" Whenever I read something like this; Unfortunately, it seems this is even the new normal now, kids this age are more open to this kind of thoughts nowadays. They could brush it off under the mask of clout chasing, but children stopped being children in such a young age nowadays.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2021
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  19. WhiskeyWolf

    WhiskeyWolf Active Member

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    Didn't you make this thread?
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2021
  20. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    This thread is over a week old.