Warning! This post is full of TL;DR fail.
A response and a discussion of value and preference of literature (and obviously other forms of media).
Well, I’d have to agree that one’s enjoyment of something should be enough of a justification to enjoy it, then shouldn’t it also be enough that our own valuation of an object be sufficient, regardless of the considerations of others? And while it is always good to have a verification from another, sometimes we also have to consider that their opinions don’t always matter, or if they do… what we just did was in fact a sunk cost. Or am I trying too hard to justify all the time I spend doing vectors or the fact that I watch TLR … >__________> orz.
Anyways, Mike asked me once again to comment on his latest post, and while doing so, I ended up having a lot more to say than I expected, as can be seen above and below. More specifically, this one line really caught my attention after a re-read:
“I recognized that the information it contained was very much obsolete nowadays, but I read it anyway and hoped to place an external value into it (monetarily, in this case) because there is a cognitive dissonance: …”
Well okay, information doesn’t have to have a monetary or immediate value, nor does the time spent on it (I say this watching the economists cringe). Also, while the book might indeed be worthless in that no one would normally want to read or buy it, the very fact that Mike did either means that he already placed some kind of value on it (sometimes that’s enough …) OR its a sunk cost – he wasted his money (but not necessarily his time) and can learn from this experience.
As a closing note, monetizing it might be inappropriate – like how much would you value spending time with a friend over dinner. There’s the cost of the dinner, and the time spent, but there’s also a derived gain which can’t always be materialized.
And if you made this far … o_____O have some fanservice:
Fatima from Luminous Arc 2 (no North American localization yet). Artist for this picture is Eiji Komatsu although Kaito Shibano does the actual in-game art. The picture itself is from the Limited Arcs booklet that came with pre-orders for the game, or something.
I think it’s a good point. Sometimes value cannot be quantified, but I just wanted mine to be. I very well know I obtained some value from the knowledge I’ve obtained from it, but I wanted to represent it physically, which is, in this case, monetarily.
That’s … not … tl;dr …
I mean, come on, I write 700 words on average and I don’t think that’s tl;dr in a blog post. :)
I don’t think the main issue is how much value you place on the item itself, but how much you place on other people’s opinion of yourself. The only reason I would want to justify liking something would be when others ask me ‘why’, and if I don’t give a shit about what they think (most of the time), I don’t need to answer that question.
I find it a waste of time to justify why I like or dislike something – the fact that I felt those emotions is enough for me. To turn everything into a logical argument just isn’t ME, so to speak.
Similarly, trying to place a value on every thing you read/watch/listen to/do is a futile exercise, and just makes life more difficult to live. I prefer to just like or dislike something, maybe learn from the experience, and then leave it at that.
I don’t usually do that. I think I was just attached to the book for illogical reasons.
I love classics. A lot of people hate them, but I read them nevertheless. The same can be said regarding my love of anime. My parents want me to hate it, to grow up, etc. but I still love it. That book was just precious to me in the irrational part of my mind, I guess.