Don't Study Shakespeare The Anti-Semite...

[Kidlicious]

Yeah. I don't see how enjoying Shakespeare makes you smart. Although I can see how it might make you think you are smarter than you actually are.

[Asher]

It's one of those things where some people genuinely like it, but a greater percentage of people who claim to like it do so because they're snobby people with low self-esteem that want everyone to think they are s-m-r-t.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Asher


This may shock you, molly, but not everything in the world is as important as plays.

No, it doesn't shock me, because I don't think the 'most important' thing in the world is drama, and never have.

I'd choose the creation of cheap and effective antivirals or a generic cure for malaria over a performance of any play, or the provision of fresh drinking water for instance.

... literacy ... serves a purpose, Shakespeare is just entertainment...

How odd. Over 1500 English words or usages can be traced to Shakespeare- let alone the number of common phrases in modern English which his works either originated or helped popularise.

Shakespeare isn't 'just' entertainment either- his works directly affected French political life and German culture in the 19th Century and were used as ways to criticise and satirise dictatorial regimes from Uganda to Soviet Russia.

He's also responsible for the generation of income from tourists in Stratford in the United Kingdom and at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. That's in Canada.

He's even helped psychologists recognise or describe particular pathologies:

In popular usage, morbid jealousy has been dubbed the ‘Othello syndrome’, with reference to the irrational jealousy of Shakespeare’s Othello...

http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/10/3/207

http://www.priory.com/psychiatry/Morbid_Jealousy.htm

and:

Subject: Leontes' disease

In reponse to David Scott Wilson-Okamura's query about the disease that caused Leontes' jealousy, I have found Patrick Stewart's response.

I had asked him if he believed Leontes was merely paranoid. He replied that his research about the
character had led him to the conclusion that through Leontes Shakespeare is chronicling

" a specific kind of depressive illness. He didn't know about it; he didn't have a name for it. "

A very specific, detailed depressive illness that has a "fixed delusion syndrome."

One branch of this kind of illness is suspicion of one's wife. It's commonplace and it follows exactly the pattern of Leontes.

Absolutely the same.

Including, always, unless it's spotted, the person will always attempt to murder the 'guilty' one...which Leontes does. Yes, he kills her.

He doesn't actually directly cause her death, but he is the reason for it.

And there always follows a long, long, severe depression which can last..16 years."

Patrick Stewart "discovered" this illness during his research of the character which coincided with his just having played a consultant psychiatrist for the previous 18 months.

http://www.shaksper.net/archives/1994/0225.html

That's entertainment....

[Asher]

Originally posted by molly bloom
How odd. Over 1500 English words or usages can be traced to Shakespeare- let alone the number of common phrases in modern English which his works either originated or helped popularise.

Shakespeare isn't 'just' entertainment either- his works directly affected French political life and German culture in the 19th Century and were used as ways to criticise and satirise dictatorial regimes from Uganda to Soviet Russia.

He's also responsible for the generation of income from tourists in Stratford in the United Kingdom and at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. That's in Canada.

He's even helped psychologists recognise or describe particular pathologies:

OH! By all means. Then your comparison of SHAKESPEARE to LITERACY and MATHEMATICS is indeed a very fair and accurate comparison in terms of importance, isn't it? After all, without Shakespeare we wouldn't have 1,500 words. Can you please list those words for my edification?

(Sidenote: I've actually attended the Stratford Festival last year, and I've never been so ****ing bored in my life. Brutal.)

Shakespeare today is merely entertainment. I don't care that you insist the world would not spin without Shakespeare, that he invented English, or that he is the founder of basketball, it's all nonsense.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Kidicious
Yeah. I don't see how enjoying Shakespeare makes you smart.

Reading anything doesn't 'make' you smart- understanding it just might though.

because they're snobby people with low self-esteem that want everyone to think they are s-m-r-t.

Aaaah, bless. If you've never managed to read a whole play of his, just say so.


I won't think any less of you.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by Asher
The difference is literacy and mathematics serve a purpose, Shakespeare is just entertainment

And why would entertainment not serve a purpose?

[Asher]

Originally posted by molly bloom
Aaaah, bless. If you've never managed to read a whole play of his, just say so.


I won't think any less of you.

It's part of the curriculum in school, and I've been to Stratford once. Don't act like you're the only pompous ass in the world to read/see Shakespeare, it's more common than you elitist mind can comprehend.

[Asher]

Originally posted by BeBro
And why would entertainment not serve a purpose?

The purpose of entertainment is to suck up free time and remind people like Molly that life doesn't suck as much as it does. I suppose it does have a purpose, just not on the same level of usefulness as, you know, literacy and mathematics.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by Asher
I suppose it does have a purpose, just not on the same level of usefulness as, you know, literacy and mathematics.

Yeah, literacy is certainly great

[Elok]

The liberal arts are not supposed to be practical. That's what the "liberal" part originally referred to. They accomplish nothing except to make you a more well-rounded human being by exposing you to the thoughts and beliefs of lettered people from throughout history. On some level they anchor you in history, connect you to the human race. At least, that's the case for me. If you're happier without it all, more power to you.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Elok
That's what the "liberal" part originally referred to. They accomplish nothing

QFT.

[Dauphin]

Entertainment may not be "useful", but I know I would be bored ****less without any entertainment in my free time. In fact, I can't imagine leading a happy life without frivolous pursuits.

[Kuciwalker]

Yes, but you don't have to study entertainment at a university level to enjoy it.

[Dauphin]

Why you choose a subject is a different issue to what is more useful to society. Studying entertainment is far more useful for someone who wants to work in entertainment than studying biochemistry is. Similarly to your point, you don't have to study biochemistry to enjoy the benefits of the healthcare drugs it offers.

My point being, enjoying and creating are different things. I assume you have a different focus for your point.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Zoid
Wow, another jew "get out of jail free" card... How many is that now? I wouldn't mind a holocaust or two to get all the fringe benefits...

*ignores second part of comment, attempts to make serious reply instead of rightfully dismissing as a crass troll like others*

How is it a "get out of jail free" card? Their test scores suffered, the school's ranking suffered.

The students bravely made this personal sacrifice to bring light to a subject that they cared about, and a subject that few people discuss. Now people are discussing it. Seems like a great success to me.

You may disagree with their point, but I don't think there is anything wrong with their tactics. Better than just whining on an internet forum when you see something you think is wrong.