>All reading is good, but is all reading really equal?

Equal in what? And why does it matter if it is?

I saw that one as well. Rolled my eyes and decided to watch something else. He's a book snob in the worst meaning of the word. There's a lot to be said for intentional and in-depth analysis while reading. But there's nothing wrong with reading for pleasure, reading things that aren't "beneficial", or reading things at a pace that doesn't suit him.

Not everything we do has to be a character building or spiritual growth exercise. Maybe that's what some people want to do with their ennui, but I have never felt that emptiness of soul that needs to be constantly filled to stave it off.

I've always thought that this idea is largely linked to classism in many ways. Either from someone who is on the top of the chain who wants to feel better about themselves because they aren't like the unwashed masses. There seems to be a trend towards self flagellation in the upper classes, especially, where everything has to be unpleasant. Read unpleasant things, make it homework, make it about self improvement etc just to stave off the ennui of spiritual stagnation.

It's just a form of masturbation imo.

Nah, I count them unless I only finished like 20 pages or something. It's not a goal thing, but a check off my list kind of thing. If someone wanted to talk about it with me, I'd clarify for them that I read up to a certain point so I probably couldn't discuss everything about it. That said, yes, I do. If I read to a certain point, I know if it's worth finishing.

God bless you. These sound amazing.

Not really a crazy take. I have had three friends who are Spanish speakers, for instance, who found formal language directed at them disrespectful because it's like "I don't know you". There's a certain "distance" that can be read as disrespect or insult, there.

I'm not sure, because I don't speak the languages the other replier knows about, but the "distance" they are talking about could be that the informal version has a dehumanizing context like calling someone else "it" instead of "they/he/she". Languages evolve, so as these languages evolve there's going to be a wide range of discourse on it.

My father gave up trying to read it to me (when I was a child) and for himself decades ago. You wouldn't happen to be a grumpy old Greek man named Sotiris, would you?

It's almost like my point is that it has nothing to do with what someone has personally experienced or what is statistically "relevant". The use of the Greek canon and heritage to create fantasy worlds has nothing to do with Greek authors. The interest is formed from something else.

It's almost like that was my exact point. There is more than statistical presence of something that garners interest. If you'd taken even a passing interest in reading what I've written, you'd have seen that you should have been saying that to someone else besides me as that has been my point this entire time. No one here is of Greek heritage, yet they think that Greek heritage is popular in fantasy because of how many Greeks there are (in the same vein as their arguments towards other kinds of fantasy that focus on other European heritage).

I just said that modern fantasy is European based. Way to paint an argument as disingenuous as possible instead of attack the real one. Reread what I said. Fantasy, as a whole, has links to many cultures over many time periods. Fantasy is heavily related to mythology. Unless you think that only Europeans have magic and mythology related stories?

Once again, you are taking two examples of writing that don't relate. Rap and most poetry is highly personal. A fantasy story is not. To say otherwise is just wrong. Participation only matters when participation is allowed to exist. You have willfully ignored every point because it hurts your feelings. We can see that by saying that I'm trying to erase European history from the creation of the modern fantasy genre when that was never stated.

You keep running into the point and then walking away from it. There are societal factors that keep certain people from being able to write certain things with the same reach as others. You can argue that until your face is blue, but that's the truth. Modern standards on what fantasy should be keep out authors with different ideas. Modern standards and racial biases also keep out certain groups. Sociological factors also do which are semi-related to racism as well also keep out certain people from writing and being published. Is that so hard to understand?

Should we dance around the subject for a few more hours so you can prop up nonsensical examples like rapping about Czech Republic when the foundational precedent of rap is always a highly personal narrative and was made by and for a specific group of people in a way that writing (as a whole) and fantasy (as a whole) was not?

You have made arguments many times painting my side of the argument to mean that I want to force writers to only write what I want them to write, that I think a gun should be held to their head. No. Me and OP are asking a question. You are hilariously missing the point because the truth isn't convenient for you. White authors and white European fantasies are the norm. They sell better. They are published more. They have nothing systemically holding them back from the publishing industry in the same way. They are not held to the same standards and can write whatever they wish. They, like you and all of us, are subject to the world we live in which only cares about white Europeans. It isn't a statistical interest. It's a historical precedent based off of white supremacist colonialism from white Europeans to break it down to the most straightforward deconstruction of the argument.

For one, their stats were behind a paywall and it wasn't just about sports but anything aerobic or strength gaining related. People who go to the gym do not equal people who are involved in or interested in sports. People who go on walks or do yoga does not equal people who watch sports.

If its inspired by themselves, why are there so many Greek fantasies and characters and heritage represented when Greeks make up 1 or less % of the population and the authors themselves are not Greek?

I'll remind you of your argument for you:

You said: Most Americans are white, so their interest goes to white characters. Your implication being that the interest is based only on statistics not on other factors that go into this interest.

I said: I am Greek, and most white Americans are not Greek. Yet, American fantasy has a high saturation of Greek based fantasy despite the population. I asserted, because there are a lot of people interested in Greeks and a small minority of Americans are Greek means that the interest isn't about statistical presence in America.

You said: What is your skin color? Implying that because I am white, I should be interested in European cultures other than mine.

I said: But the whole premise you are defending states that it is about heritage. Why are Polish people interested in my Greek heritage? Why should I, a Greek, be interested in English fantasy?

You said: No one is talking about Greeks. Those Greek names could be anything, even though you specifically asked me to define how I knew the fantasy I read was talking about or referencing Greeks in some way.

Why jump into a conversation when you didn't even read what other participants said? I shouldn't have to break down all of your arguments into the context of the conversation for you. To say it's reaching that an entire society with Greek names, Greek appearance, Greek social mores, based off of what Ancient Greeks did with a pantheon similar to Ancient Greeks is note based on Greeks is insane. You just want to be right. You just want to hear yourself talk. Some guidance: instead of jumping into a conversation you refused to read when you just want to talk, buy a microphone and read aloud to yourself.

OP gives an example of this. White is the default in media. It's how our society runs. Look at the OP, they gave an example of how people lashed out when their perception ran counter to reality because they assumed the default.

No, it didn't. It has existed for well over a 100 years and has roots in many cultures. Modern fantasy is definitely based on European writers, however. No need to be condescending when you can't even grasp basic concepts such as access.

Reread, king, your comprehension is busted. We were talking about EUROPEAN and specifically English medieval period being overly represented in this chain of comments. The talk was about how interest is based only on your heritage (somehow). So, why should I as a GREEK find any interest in other Europeans just because I am pale? (I am part Turk.) Yet, I don't have to find that. My SPECIFIC heritage is represented more so than the population should dictate.

It doesn't have to explicitly state lineage. When they are calling characters Castor and Acastus and Penelope and described with dark curly hair and dark eyes and olive skin, I know they are using my heritage as a building point for their fantasy culture.

Whose words was I parroting?

Look at the statistics. Who is watching sports? Who is encouraged to be in sports as a career? Who is given funding? Who isn't? If women consistently make less and their sports is not watched and they make less because of this, do you think it has the same effect as male sports on men?

There are less white rappers because it's a genre created by black people that talks about the black experience and was created in the last 100 years. I guess you think that only Europeans know how to write? :(

Poetry and speculative fiction are two entirely different things.

There's a very big population of non-white people or even non-European people in the world. I'm glad that you think that representing even one of those groups who at least makes up half the global population is the same as the obscure experience of a small village in a small country in Europe.

Unfortunately for you, I am just as happy at the idea of the Czech people getting represented as any other group. You're the one who has a vested interest in defending ideologies that exclude them. :(

Greek Americans only make up 1% of the American population (I'm being generous here, as well, as I've seen as low as .5), yet I can find plenty of books that include me whether through realistic fiction, historical, science fiction, post apoc, and even societies based off of mine in fantasy. Why is my race so well represented in America when we are predominately not in America?

And, yet, many white Americans are writing about fantasy cultures that do not exist and are based on European cultures they are not a part of. Funny.

It's almost like a system has been created that isn't based on what's interesting but what is allowed to continue.

Why do you think that there are less African fantasy authors? How many are authors and how many write for their own pleasure and never go further?

Yet, all the "arbitrary" people you talk about like redheads, short people, even nascar drivers have a tendency to be portrayed more frequently. Hm.

Also, I gotta say that it is mindboggling how you can use an example that literally has you stumbling into the point and ignorantly use it as proof of your point:

>On the same page, why is the WNBA waiting for men to watch the WNBA while women do not do that in the first place?

Women, from the time they are born, are not urged to move in the same way boys are. This happens from birth to death. We have proof of this. Boys are urged to do physical activities, watch physical activities, find comradery and even their own personhood in sports.

Girls, on the flip side, are rarely urged to do these things (once again, from the moment of birth) in the same way boys are. Women are told they are weaker and so it is pointless to perform these things. Women are discouraged from it (teenaged boys can beat you).

Funds, from school and onwards, are almost always dedicated to male participant sports. Self-perpetuating cycles.

Sociological factors win out. Why would women, who are actively discouraged in multiple ways for generations on a societal and individual level, from participating in sports be expected to consume enough sports media to hold up the industry they are actively discouraged from participating in, in every level?

You didn't have to say it, it's implied. American authors writing about medieval fantasy European is their culture?

We aren't saying people aren't allowed to do anything. The fact you are reducing a question of why to trying to instigate erasing the opposite way is telling.

Why is it arbitrary?

What slippery slope is there? Are you telling me that if every form of media never depicted a white man you wouldn't be questioning it?

Who has the money, owns the most capital to push certain stories? 🤔 Who owns the businesses that make it possible for something to become popular?

>why are we expecting authors

Why do you feel so attacked as to assume something from people asking a question? We aren't asking everything to be inclusive, we're asking why everything is exclusive.

Provoking discussion is the worst thing in the world 😔