#4

Having to prepare for the coming class discussions, I have read through the 4 readings assigned for this week. It strikes me how similar their content is, both within the 4 readings, as well as earlier assigned ones.

At its core, the issues raised are gender and miscommunication, and the possible solutions for the problem. These are issues that have been written about since 1990s, with Gray's "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus". Yet, they are discussed again and again. Authors and writers do not seem sick of it, neither do readers. Even though the underlying reasons and solutions seem to be repeated over and over again, readers seem to be perfectly alright with reading them over and over again.

I wonder if this reflects a problem in our society today, that we like to read self-help books to make better sense of the situations we are in, the world around us. Yet, we have significant inertia as to doing something about it. What we know is not translated into actions; we do not make the effort to do so. We like to read about the problems, feel that someone is offering us empathy, feel that we are not entirely at fault such that we can forgive ourselves. We like to wallow in our problems. Even if we understand from earlier writers that these are inherent problems due to inherent differences between gender, we still like to read the same material over and over again.

I wonder why we never seem to get bored with the same content, merely rephrased and repackaged with new scenarios. I also wonder why all the advice seem so similar, yet readers still are receptive to it such that magazines still publish these articles.