Is Triviality Anything Other Than Becoming Meaningless?
Culture and Publishing Service of Iran’s Book News Agency (IBNA), Mohammad Tabatabai, writer and journalist: Today, a large portion of human information intake comes from virtual spaces. Social networks (especially Instagram in our country) play an influential role in providing information to society.
Just review in your mind how much you spend in virtual spaces throughout the day. Don’t misunderstand; I’m not talking about people addicted to virtual spaces, nor about those whose work involves virtual spaces. I’m talking about ourselves, ordinary people who routinely visit virtual spaces daily and receive a lot of information (regardless of its accuracy) from them. Receiving information from virtual spaces in the realm of culture and art is no less, if not more, than in other fields.
Today, obtaining information about many plays, films, concerts, exhibitions, and cultural and artistic events in general, as well as information about many cultural and artistic products and goods, is easier for us through virtual spaces. This is why cultural producers and activists in this field have paid special attention to virtual spaces for promoting and informing about their productions and activities.
Books, as one of the most important cultural goods (from a commercial perspective, a book is a commodity), have occupied a significant portion of virtual spaces in recent years. In this area, we encounter two general categories of content: one that focuses on the status and importance of books and promoting reading, and another that deals with introducing and advertising books. So far, everything is good; reading is to be promoted, and books are to be advertised, and what content could be better for virtual spaces than this?
Naturally, no sensible person has the slightest issue with producing content to promote reading and advertise books. However, the problem begins when, in the first category of content produced for books (promoting reading), the goal is lost, and in the second category (advertising books), the goal (selling books) justifies the means. This is precisely where triviality enters. Content produced for books becomes devoid of meaning, and what is triviality if not the emptying of meaning?
It’s not that I want to sanctify books as cultural goods or assign them a special status; the discussion is about producing content devoid of meaning. Some advertisements for selling books are no different from promotional content for selling cosmetics. When we talk about the necessity of preventing the loss of meaning in content produced for books in virtual spaces, we mean that, firstly, we must remember that we are talking about promoting reading and advertising books, not stomachs, cosmetics, or any other commodity. In fact, we must be careful that this is a book, not, for example, a salty snack or clothing. Secondly, we must know that we are producing content for book enthusiasts (publishers, booksellers, readers) and to attract new audiences for books. Paying attention to these two points can largely save us from falling into the pit of triviality in producing book-related content and can help us achieve the two goals of promoting reading and advertising books.
Bluntly, what is seen in some content produced for books is more about the blogger’s self-promotion than about promoting the book or encouraging reading. No, don’t misunderstand; I’m not talking at all about the appearance, beauty, or face of the person interacting with the audience in the produced content. In fact, the attractiveness of the speaker or presenter of a clip, and the graphical and visual appeal of the content, is an important principle that should not be overlooked. My point is about the text of the produced content, its manner of expression, and, in fact, the individual’s behavior and speech. To be clearer, perhaps one can promote a book with coquetry and boost its sales, but one cannot do anything for books (in general) and for promoting reading. Let’s put formalities aside; a blogger’s self-promotion for selling books is nothing but triviality. To put it simply, in some videos produced in the name of books, nothing benefits the books or reading.
The rapid growth in the number of book bloggers and the increase in content produced for books in virtual spaces (read: Instagram) is not necessarily bad; it can even be good. However, it becomes problematic when the book is marginalized, and the main subject and goal become something else entirely. This is an issue that should not be ignored.
