I ran a minor experiment to try to justify my reading reason, which was that reading can offer different perspectives in which it can expand one’s thinking process. I wrote two words on the board: “Obamacare sucks”. This is an opinion: a controversial and somewhat arrogant statement with no evidence to back it up. My goal of this experiment was to see how people reacted to this idea.

Andrew responded: “No, you suck.” Ok, that’s a fair opinion and a different response than I thought I would receive. So let’s say my statement had a negative impact on Andrew.

Tom responded: “ I agree, the healthcare system needs reform.” Tom and Andrew’s responses to my comment are very different; one is in agreeance and the other got so ticked off, and then I got the backlash of an insult

So where do these responses leave me and my reading reason? Andrew and Tom perceived this statement in different ways, as stated above. They both now see the other side of their beliefs and can try to understand why eachother see the same issue differently. All they have to do is listen and attempt to comprehend the reasoning and then they can put to the test whether they deem the polar views as rational or not. It’s important to always see both arguments in any given topic to further enhance Your central argument. Furthermore, you become more well rounded and can somewhat sympathize with whatever the other is thinking.

Everyone has a bias. How are these biases formed? Nicole said that: “My parents are on opposite sides of the Obamacare situation, so I am kind of in the middle.” Nicole’s biggest influences were from her parents. Books can have to same impact and the same influence on your beliefs and biases. Authors write books in favor of something and it’s the way a reader responds to the text in which the text has meaning and reason. The text means nothing without a reader who creates an opinion and strong understanding of it.

“Literary work has two poles, which we might call the artistic and the aesthetic: the artistic refers to the text created by the author, and the aesthetic to the realization accomplished by the reader.”

Any book or quote can have strong meaning. What is meaningful to me may not be meaningful to my peer. It is each person’s reaction and view on ideas that makes people different and then these differences can change each other’s beliefs. People become who they are based on nurture; whoever makes the biggest impact on you strongly alters and molds your personality which results in modified outlooks. Reading ultimately offers endless opinions, and different opinions are what makes everyone unique.