Misery reading

People come up with all sorts of excuses to feed their appetite for other people’s misery:

Such as it’s “important” to understand the evil that ordinary-seeming people are capable of; it’s “necessary” to be fully informed before forming an opinion

In reality and unspoken is that reading about other people's misery makes you feel better about your own life’s shortcomings, because at least you didn't go through that stuff

But then a joint, a glass of wine or whatever does it for you makes you feel better as well.

Reading about other people's misery is not a harmless state of mind, feeding on other peoples horrible lives is not smart

Reading about victims of abuse ought not pass for entertainment either.

Misery is now an enormous business; in Britain alone the misery book sector is worth about £24m.

One book Dave Pelzer’s A Child Called It and its sequels, have spent a combined total of 448 weeks on The New York Times’s bestseller list, even though many doubt its truth

What is interesting about misery literature is that its readership is estimated to be 80% to 90% female, with the bulk of sales taking place in supermarkets.

Presumably, during the weekly shop, the typical customer picks up a volume about a child who was abused or some other misery tale

Are these the same women who are expressing their grief and anger all over the Internet:?

Nobody can tell what will stick in their minds but for sure reading about other peoples misery is more likely that something you read will stick in your mind

That’s why simple logic says it is not clever to let young children watch horror films or read horror books

It doesn’t take a child psychologist, to point out the harm that such soul-polluting material might cause.

Do we not see that our world is being shaped by so many reading about horrific abuse to others?

Interestingly this genre probably hit its peak during our most financially affluent time

And now in these financially constrained times perhaps we will develop an appetite for books that make us happy

.

Lets hope so.because misery reading cannot produce happiness and a little more happiness would not go amiss at this time