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DisgustedByMisleadia 100 points ago +101 / -1

Castro had a reason for raising the "literacy rate" in Cuba.

He used the teaching of reading, writing, and even math to bombard students with non-stop Communist propaganda.

I couldn't find it quickly, but a Cuban refugee explained it very well in an article about a year ago.

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2ndenthusiast 64 points ago +64 / -0

and our school system copied him.

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julianReyes 38 points ago +38 / -0

It's been shown through statistics (take them with a grain of salt) that reading for pleasure is on the decline in the United States and Europe, with a high percentage of college graduates never picking up another book after their education completes.

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Uzaka123 6 points ago +6 / -0

That's kind of sad. There's a lot you can learn from books still.

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Paul_Revere 2 points ago +2 / -0

It's been shown through statistics (take them with a grain of salt) that reading for pleasure is on the decline in the United States and Europe, with a high percentage of college graduates never picking up another book after their education completes.

That's one statistic that I don't have to take with a grain of salt. I see it around me every day.

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MSG1000 2 points ago +2 / -0

While that isn’t good in this day and age digital articles, books, audio books, fan fiction, podcasts, etc. a lot of that same stimulation can be had through other means.

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TooBusySaltMining 28 points ago +28 / -0

Yes, you can't push propaganda if your subjects are illiterate.

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julianReyes 8 points ago +9 / -1

Important note: the CCP allows for paper copies of 1984 to be retailed within the country because the Party's view is that proles will be addicted to television and other visual/auditory media while the "Inner Party" will be educated enough to understand the concepts in the book but not turn against the regime.

The research on "theory of mind" has been scant but I for one believe it has a grain of truth.

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majorpribluda 1 point ago +1 / -0

It makes sense. When you know that you are already in the favor of Big Brother (as tenuous as that is), the book must look a lot different.

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zabbers 1 point ago +1 / -0

1984 is an instruction manual for them.

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deleted -3 points ago +1 / -4
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godaddy42 1 point ago +1 / -0

right on.