Can a book corrupt?

[Bancini]

if books cannot influence us, why do we read them?

[weltanschauung]

if books are so powerful over people's minds, why is it that humankind hasnt yet become better by reading the bible. it is a mystery. and a very mysterious one.

[Trilaque]

Anything can corrupt if you give it the ability to do so.


However cliched that statement is, it remains true. If you let something take control of you, bother you, confuse you, then you are the product of your own ignorance.

[Bancini]

i am not a believer, but I would say that there are people who have become better from reading the bible...and worse

[weltanschauung]

thats not the point.
the point is that there's nothing outside that is to be held responsible for someone's change of behavior. the change comes from within and not from without.
if someone choses to believe the care bears are gods and therefore lords of wisdom, its not tv's fault. the problem is that common sense isnt on sale at wallmart.

[Bancini]

so you are saying there are zero external influences? they are all internal?

[subterranean]

Agree that it's not the ideas, but more on the decision to impose the ideas. Ideas remain as state of mind until we put them in to action. And I think a matter intepreting the ideas is also important here otherwise there wouldn't be such controversy as banned books.

[weltanschauung]

so you are saying there are zero external influences? they are all internal?

hey dude, check this out:

but DONT READ IT, or you might wake up a magician!!!

or this:

dont read it or you might wake up a murderer!

or this:

DONT READ IT, YOU MIGHT WAKE UP A JUNKIE!







well, i advised you.

[subterranean]

Or this



Though I heard some tricks don't really work.

[weltanschauung]

[Bancini]

i'm not saying books brainwash people, but you make it sound as if there is no possibility of influence from a source outside of our own bodies

[weltanschauung]

there's only influence as long as you want it to be. its only forced upon you if you allow it to.

[Ydfkdy]

A book can corrupt only if you allow it or iff you are looking for a book of corrupion.

[Wilde woman]

Originally Wilde invented a name-THe secrets of Raoul- for the book that has such an influence over Dorian, but in the final version, the book is never named.

A little off-topic, but I couldn't let this pass. Has anyone else heard this? I'm wondering where this bit of information came from? Every edition of Dorian Gray that I read has agreed that the yellow book is Huysmans' A Rebours.

And if this is true, who was Raoul supposed to be?

[subterranean]

i'm not saying books brainwash people, but you make it sound as if there is no possibility of influence from a source outside of our own bodies

Hi, Bancini. I undeerstand your point and I agree that some certain group of people (e.g. children) will tend to take things literaly and do whatever things that are written in the book they read. But this doen't mean we can directly say the book itself is corrupt. But when we talk about adult readers, then I personally don't agree if some books are considered as corrupt just because there are negative instances after some people reading the said books. Books don't corrupt, people do.